For any business or organization, public relations is often one of the main keys to success. Having a good public image and interacting well with customers, clients, and others can go far in determining success year after year. However, as is the case with public relations, there are always times when certain campaigns fall short of their goals and expectations.
When a PR pitch fails, there are often many reasons why. To make sure future public relations endeavors produce the necessary results, it’s important to know how to revise and revamp a campaign to guarantee success.
Creating the Plan
While it takes tremendous amounts of time and money to create an effective public relations plan, the fact is there are no shortcuts to those plans that work best. The plan should always be the roadmap toward developing successful relationships, so any plan that failed previously should be carefully examined to see what if any parts worked and what didn’t. Objectives, which need to be very specific, measurable, and realistic, may need to be reexamined and adjusted accordingly.
Conducting Research
In some PR campaigns, failure can be attributed to a lack of research or perhaps incorrect research. A critical component to gaining publicity, research must be used before, during, and after a campaign in order to achieve the best possible results. Pre-campaign research, which is used to help define objectives, is often the culprit that leads a campaign astray and should be carefully examined if an outreach campaign failed. In many cases, using surveys to gather customer data can prove to be very useful as to the failings of a campaign. As most businesses and organizations are keenly aware, customers and clients are usually more than willing to say what is on their minds. Therefore, if the search is on as to why a PR failure occurred, asking customers or clients may provide the answers.
A Question of Credibility
If there is one thing that will doom a PR campaign every time, it is when the credibility of a business or organization is called into question. This is why it is important to have a clear plan on how to use the media during a campaign, for the media can prove to be an organization’s best friend or worst enemy depending upon the circumstances. If an outreach campaign failed due to a lack of credibility, all is not lost.
While it may be somewhat difficult to reestablish and rebuild a public image, it can be done much quicker than many may think. In general, the public has a short memory and in most cases is willing to give any business or organization a second chance. By reaching out to the media and working closely with them to provide the public with as many details as possible, credibility can be gained once again and a campaign that failed the first time can do quite well the second time around.
While it’s not uncommon for public relations campaigns to fail now and then, the good news is that by taking a close look at why they failed, most campaigns can be revised and revamped to create success. Key messages that need to be delivered to the target audience are always revised and revamped numerous times before the actual campaign is delivered to the public, and as a result increased understanding and awareness is often the result.
By being willing to admit mistakes were made and attempt to understand how and why they were made, virtually any business or organization can come back strong with a public relations campaign that will produce great results.