Never underestimate the power of a good brief.
The success of a PR campaign heavily relies on how well the agency is briefed.
In today’s fast paced business landscape, effective communication and strategic marketing play a crucial role in shaping a company’s success.
Public Relations (PR) agencies serve as valuable partners and effective communication with your PR agency is key to the success of your campaigns.
A well-structured brief serves as a roadmap, ensuring that your agency fully understands your goals and delivers impactful results.
In this blog, we'll delve into the essential steps to effectively brief your PR agency for optimal results.
1. Understanding the PR Brief
A PR brief is a comprehensive document that outlines the scope, goals, target audience, key message, and other crucial details of your PR campaign.
It acts as a guide for your PR agency to create tailored strategies and it is important that you complete this as thoroughly as possible.
2. Defining Your Objectives
Clearly define what you aim to achieve with your PR campaign.
Objectives can include:
- brand awareness
- product launch
- crisis management
- reputation enhancement
- footfall
- clicks
- purchases
- sentiment shift
- share of voice
Having specific objectives will help guide the agency's efforts and demonstrate progress.
3. Know Your Target Audience
Identify your target audience's demographics, interests, and behaviours.
A deep understanding of your audience helps the agency tailor their approach to resonate effectively and choose the most appropriate channels.
Understanding where your audience is allows your agency to develop a cross-channel recommendation which may work across owned channels as well.
If you are unsure how to do this, some agencies, like tigerbond, can do this analysis for you as part of the onboarding or project set up.
4. Crafting the Key Message
Craft a compelling key message that aligns with your objectives and resonates with your audience.
This message will be the cornerstone of your PR campaign and your PR team can help with this using their industry knowledge and skills.
tigerbond can work with you to develop this and sharing the key message you want to portray early in the process means we can discuss the hierarchy of messages to develop the perfect strategy.
5. Leveraging the Power of Storytelling
Humans are wired for stories.
Provide your PR agency with the key elements that can be woven into a captivating narrative to engage the audience.
6. Providing Relevant Background Information
Give as much background information about your company, industry, and any ongoing campaigns as you can.
No-one knows your company the way you do, and this context helps the agency grasp the bigger picture.
It’s all about getting under the skin of the wider business and it is helpful to know your ambitions, growth strategy, key drivers, key challenges and industry innovations.
It helps us form a strategy and approach that doesn't just tick the campaign box but works more widely to deliver too.
7. Setting Clear Expectations
Communicate your expectations regarding the campaign's tone, style, and desired outcomes.
Clarity prevents misunderstandings later on and means that Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can be agreed upon and reported effectively.
8. Timelines and Deadlines
Outline the campaign's timeline and crucial milestones.
Clear deadlines keep the campaign on track and ensure timely execution.
9. Collaboration and Feedback Mechanisms
Establish how you will collaborate with the PR agency.
Define feedback mechanisms to maintain a seamless working relationship.
10. Budget and Resources Allocation
Be transparent about your budget for the campaign to help set expectations for both sides.
Discuss how much of the budget will be allocated for resources like media buying, events, and content creation.
11. Measuring Success and KPIs
Define KPIs to gauge the campaign's success.
Whether it's media coverage, website traffic, or social media engagement, KPIs provide measurable goals and provide lessons for making improvements.
12. Flexibility and Adaptability
PR landscapes can shift unexpectedly.
Ensure your brief allows for flexibility and adaptation to changing circumstances.
13. Maintaining Open Communication
Foster open and regular communication with your PR agency.
Address queries, provide updates, and be responsive to maintain this communication. One of the best ways of doing this is to arrange regular check-in meetings, whether that be weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.
So, what have we learned about briefing your PR agency?
In a competitive market, a well-briefed PR agency can make the difference between a successful campaign and a missed opportunity.
By following these steps, you can ensure that your PR agency is equipped to create and execute strategies that resonate with your target audience, enhance your brand's reputation, and achieve your PR goals.
Ready to get started? Contact tigerbond and discover the difference a well written brief combined with a team of PR experts can make!