You can design a successful media plan and arrange your public relation campaign with these simple

steps. The first

step is to define who you are as well as the challenges that you are facing. Determine your goals and establish them
as smart objectives.

Do you want to establish your expertise, or do you want to create goodwill among your customers, suppliers and
community, or do you want to generate sales or leads, or do you want to lessen the impact of publicity or a corporate
crisis? Once you have determined the expectation from your public relations, you can create a media strategy
centred on that goal.

The next step is to identify your target market. Determine these by asking these questions. Whom do you wish to
contact? How will you gain the consumer's attention and trust? What do those customers care about? Where can
they be found? Once you have determined your target market, you can start planning your media mix to identify
where your PR campaign will appear as well as what it will exactly say?

It might be beneficial to examine your competitors' public relation outreach, as this can give you an idea of the media
outlets to target, as well as the messages that you should and should not convey.

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For example, ads selling chocolates will be positioned in a slot with the highest number of children viewers on
stations such as Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network between 5 to 7 pm, when most youngsters watch cartoons. The
fourth step is to begin your research and plan media opportunities for your campaign. What modes of
communication will you employ to convey your message to the public?

Here are a few examples. Articles and press releases, appearing as a source in news articles, success tales of
customers, editor's responses, press conferences, interviews and media tools, appearances on radio, television or
podcast, seminars, workshop and speaking engagements, sponsorship for events, social media marketing, influencer
marketing, digital marketing, AI or data driven marketing.

As you begin your hunt for chances, call out to media contacts you already have or look at chances for establishing
media partnerships such as networking events.

Create a schedule for your public relation campaign, after you have connected with your media contacts and learn
about opportunities. Also, look for the media sources that you will be appearing in as well as the type of presence
that your firm will have.

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Any subsequent measure that you will need to take a timetable for marketing reach presentation via social media or
email, what will happen with other marketing and sales initiatives during or after your campaign as you plan your
timeline, by matching your peer appearances with impending sales.

For example, to increase motivation for those who are learning about your company to become consumers. You can
also build special landing pages, email on boarding or discounts for people who find out about your company
through your public relation efforts.

You also need to come up with a budget in the PR plan to ensure that all the PR campaigns are built accordingly.
Finally, take the necessary measures to track the success of your public relation effort.

These are some examples, lead generation and conversion, figures for sales, additional inquiries from media, social
sentiment shifts, pre-ordering a new product or services, number of people who attend workshops or events.
Evaluate the outcome at the end of each stage of your campaign, you should measure how your media campaign
integrates with the rest of your marketing as you track its results.

Public relation allows you to reach your target market without the cost of advertising, but it should not be your only
marketing technique. By developing a thorough media strategy and incorporating it in the rest of your marketing
strategy, you will position your company such that it grows and thrives.

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Can you sell food to someone who already ate or a comb to someone who has no hair? The answer to all these
questions is no, because these people do not have the need or want for the product. They do not see value in it.
Think of your marketing announcements as a product. If there is no value or interest in it, nobody's gonna buy it, and
hence it's not newsworthy.

If you look at it from the PR term, you will learn what is newsworthy. To know what is newsworthy, you must focus on
one question: is this generating value? Now, this value is for both the journalists you will reach out to and the final
audience for which the story is written.

Here by value I mean, is this news generating a tangible or intangible benefit for the consumer? Is the news
something that will generate conversations? Is this a story worth telling? When these questions are added, a list of
events can be drawn that can be called newsworthy.

So, there are events such as a product launch because people like new things and they like to follow trends. For
example, Seltos from Kia, was launched. It was a huge success as far as media coverage is concerned.

Launching a new company just like a new product is another thing that gives people a conversation starter, but it has
to be significantly big. Whether the startup got huge funding or when merger or acquisition happened and
companies are reborn.

The acquisition of Uber Eats by Zomato again attracted a huge amount of attention. It was covered by major
newspapers such as the Economic Times and the Business Standard, and also by online blogs such as Livemint and
Yourstory. Apart from these events, where organisations achieve major milestones, it becomes newsworthy and
negative news is often newsworthy for the media.

Now, you know what is newsworthy, but is that enough for the news to reach the audience, and the answer is no.
Knowing what is newsworthy is just 50 percent of the work done. The next step here is knowing who should the news
be pitched to or who is the right person to talk about it?

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But how do you know that? For you to effectively communicate with the journalist, you must understand their area
of coverage. Now, what does that mean? It simply means that if you are in the finance industry, you will reach out to
a journalist who covers finance, M&A and not someone who covers crime or technology. You must approach
journalists from a common ground of interest.

It is all about building a relationship with them, and this relationship should not be a transactional one or a one-way
relationship. You should not contact them only when you want them to write something. Rather, the relationship
should be two ways where you also add value to his professional life.

Continuous communications must flow between you and them where the relationships become mutually beneficial.
Some of the things to do include you reading their stories outside of your organisational interest and engaging them
on the content of these stories.

Now that you know what is newsworthy and who you should go to with the news, the next question that will come
to your mind is: how do you approach journalists and how do you build media relations? Is there a specific channel or
way they must be approached? We will deep dive into it in the next segment.

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In the previous segment, we looked at what is newsworthy. In this segment, you will learn how to pitch to journalists
and grow media relations. As discussed in the previous segment, products cannot be sold until they hold value for
their buyers.

So, when you reach out to journalists, make sure you give them a value driven, clear and concise message. For
example, let's say you are launching a new product called AirTamer, which is a wearable personal air purifier. Now, if
you want to pitch to a journalist, how do you write a value driven message?
Here, you must remember that the journalist receives hundreds of messages every day, almost similar kinds of
requests are being received. So, how do you differentiate? First, you must narrow down who you reach out to. Make
sure the content that you are about to pitch falls in their coverage area.

Second, when you are reaching out on the email, make sure the subject line is catchy. Keep in mind, it's just like
pitching your products to your customer and hence it's important to gain their attention. Keeping the AirTamer
example in mind, you just can't go and say that you want a new product to be reviewed, which is an air purifier.

You should appreciate that there are numerous such products already available and therefore journalists may not be
interested in it. So, the subject line itself needs to catch the attention of the journalist. So, when you say the first ever
wearable air purifier AirTamer is getting launched in India.

So, we'll see how many ticks in the box that we have done, we have written new, we have written first-ever, we have
written new technology. We have talked about nationwide. All these keywords are going to make it newsworthy for
the journalist.

Further, the third thing to keep in mind is to make sure you personalise your emails, address them by their names,
talk about their channel if possible. Fourth, make sure to end your pitch with a simple question or action that is
desired from them. Fifth, try and write your pitch with an angle, create a hook, connect your pitch with recent news
or any trending topic that's going on.

This way, you will be able to create more value and interest in the media. Apart from these, according to a study by
Fractal 39 percent of the journalists want content that is exclusive to them, and since that could also be one of the
offerings from your side to them.

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Another insight from the same study suggests that 64 percent of the journalists and publishers feel that a personal
connection must be established before pitching. Hence, you might be pitching right all along, but they might not get
accepted just due to the transactional nature of your pitch.

Hence, you need to ensure that the focus is not just pitching to a journalist but maintaining and growing a long
lasting relationship with them. But how do you introduce yourself or form a relationship? There is no exact science.
There are different methods that may work for different people.

For example, you can start following a journalist on their Twitter handle, retweet some of the posts that they would
be doing, or you can strike a conversation with them about a few ideas that you've had when you actually read their
posts or their stories.

Or you can also reach out to them on LinkedIn or send direct messages on their blogs. The idea here is to engage with
them and their content, so that you understand their thought process and knowledge, and at the same time, when
you are pitching your ideas and thoughts to them, they will also get a peek into your thought process. The bottom
line here is to establish a common point of interest.

Let's suppose, you have a food tech start-up, just food which is organising a food fest next month. You are reaching
out to a food blogger called Jaya. She has already written a post on ABC company's delivery operations analysis on
her blog. Her blog is called Food Crunch.

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Your pitch should look something like this. Dear Jaya, I really loved your post on ABC Foods. They are doing some
pretty good stuff behind the scenes. I loved how they are looking at a futuristic angle of food delivery, which is bound
to disrupt the industry.

So, let's stop now and see what you've done in the first para. You've established a personal connection with her. You
have also captured her interest and told her that you know her coverage area. Going back to the email. We will
continue to say I thought you might be interested in the Giving Back food festival, which is one of the biggest food
festivals in Asia, organised by Just Food.

The food here for the fest will be pre-ordered and focuses on zero wastage. Also, for every 10 food items we sell, we
donate a meal to someone who is underprivileged. Therefore, to put it simply for every 100 plates customers order,
we will fill 110 stomachs.

Now, let's look at what we achieved in this paragraph, you have successfully given her the value proposition and what
is it that you are doing in the festival in a very clear manner, by saying for every 100 plates consumers orders will fill
110 stomachs.

You have offered her the angle that may interest her. Going back, you would continue the mail by saying we would be
happy to offer this story exclusively to Food Crunch. Our CEO would be pleased to speak to you for this story and

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finally, here you have nicely closed the email, with the offer of exclusive content and giving her a clear call to action.
The next step of this pitch is to come up with a catchy subject line.

So, when you're writing a pitch, there has to be a subject line, and that has to be catchy. I had two subject lines in
mind. One subject line is donate when you eat or celebrate giving back. Let's find out how effective each of these are.
I used CoSchedule to find out how effective these are.

CoSchedule is a simple tool that scores your subject lines out of 100, based on the words that were used, the length
of the subject line and so on. You just need to sign up to use this tool. Now, donate what you eat had a score of 64
out of 100 on CoSchedule and celebrate giving back had a score of 60.

Now, here you can look at the positive word list and improve your subject line or go with the subject line with the
higher score and send your email.

One of the most common strategies for public relations is news articles. Now, let's look at an example of Mamaearth.
It brings Sarah Ali khan and Amrita Singh together on screen. Why is this newsworthy? Two celebrities, a mother
daughter duo, are on the screen after 35 years.

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Plenty of elements make this newsworthy, hence Mamaearth managed to be on the news without having to
advertise itself. Another PR strategy is customer success stories. Examples of customer-centric approaches are
provided by many famous companies such as Amazon, Lego and Netflix.

One such example is Just Eat. A customer makes a cheeky request with her online takeaway order and the restaurant
fulfils her request. This is a classic example of being in the news for quick customer success stories. You must have
seen one too.

Newsletters, brochures or catalogues, usually serve the purpose of informing you what is new in their organisation,
either to promote new products for sales promotion or to build long-lasting relationships with customers. Unsplash, a
free stock image sharing platform sends two different newsletters, one that is sent every week and comprises
featured images and the other one that is sent every month and provides updates within their organisations on new
partnerships and of other such news on the platform.

Let's see how Amazon.in created a press release to announce their flagship, Great Indian Sale initiative. The first layer
is headline and subheading. The first layer that is the headline is the most important element and one that catches
the eye of the reader. It shouldn't be more than six to eight words long. Your heading should be catchy and drive
some curiosity.

Amazon goes straight to the point and titles it as Amazon.in announces the Great Indian Sale. For the ones who
haven't seen its pre-launch advertisements, the headline can cause a certain amount of curiosity. A subheading can
be used to state something unique about your campaign.

It should ideally be between 10 and 15 words long and should act as a pitch for users to dig deeper into your
write-up. Amazon decided to highlight that it is going to be a three-day or a 72-hour deal marathon running
throughout the day.

They later elaborated on the benefit of this aspect in the body of the writer. The next layer is the introduction. Ideally
in a sentence of 30 to 40 words, the writer must cover the five W's and one H such that most noteworthy information
is covered.

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In the case of Amazon, the introduction has who: that is Amazon, what: that is 72 hours sale, where: that will be
Amazon.in in the website. Why: that will be new year shopping and savings, when: the event is between
21st January to 11:59 pm on 23rd January and how: that is all deals every hour across hundreds of categories and
crores of products.

As you can see, Amazon has structured this information into a paragraph. Before the introduction, the place and date
of release must be added, so that the media personnel, as well as the audience reading it can be aware of the exact
timelines. The third layer is the body of the release. After you have established your five W's and one H in the
introduction.

You mentioned the specifics about your event campaign in the body. This should develop every aspect that was
introduced in the earlier paragraph. The body can also be used to present something exciting about your brand that
you want the consumer to know.

This should ideally be two to three short paragraphs long, not any longer. Crisp information is always consumed with
more interest than a very detailed write-up. The case cited by Amazon takes care of these aspects. For example, it
mentions the range of products on which there will be discounts, attracting consumers interested in different
product categories.

It highlights how consumers can access these deals and be notified of their preferred categories. It also lays emphasis
on further discounts that consumers can avail using select payment vendors. Amazon also certainly communicates
the launch of 40 plus international brands into its ecosystem, which would not have been as impactful as a
standalone story. In line with its business strategy, it again lays subtle stress on why it is better to shop using the
Amazon app.

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The next layer is the conclusion, ideally a paragraph. The conclusion should reinstate the focal point of the release
and consist of a call to action for the reader. It is also considered a best practice to add a quote by a senior member
of the management team, highlighting the brand's rationale behind the announcement and why they think it's
beneficial for the consumers.

In the case of Amazon, you can see how it has once again laid stress on the sale on its websites and the app. Along
with the range of products, it consumers can access. The last layer is the company information. At the end of the
press release, it is usually a common practice to give the reader an about us or a corporate summary.

This is high level information that usually comprises founding date, background information, range of products,
slogan or tagline, or principles of the company link to the website and any awards or honourable mentions. Amazon
has two corporate summaries, one about its parent company and the other about Its Indian subsidiary, together it
covers information about the founding date, principles of the company, background information, etc. You can access
the sample of the press release at the end of this page.

Here is a seven step process towards writing an opinion piece. The first step is selecting a topic, extremely crucial for
getting your opinion piece right is your topic. If you are going to praise your brand, the audience will not perceive it
more than a paid news story. It seems like an ad, it is important to be subtle about promoting your brand and it
should fit in with the topic you have chosen.

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For example, let's assume you want to promote your brand Flipkart and you want to get it published in a leading
newspaper or online. If you get an article written about Flipkart hitting 1 billion sales on Big Billion Day, that is not an
effective PR article.

It looks like an ad. Instead, if your article talks about the startup revolution in India and how Flipkart has created
more millionaire businessmen in the last 10 years, it is more subtle and a general reader would be more curious.
Flipkart can also write about how it is promoting small time sellers from rural pockets of the country.

That is PR. That's a good article to write about. So, the key here is intelligent integration of your brand story in the
overall news story. Next, you need a catchy headline.

Let's be honest, the chances that your exact headline gets used by the publication is going to be very low. However,
it's your headline that can grab the eyeballs of the media personnel, considering the number of op-ed articles they
receive every day. The headline should be eye-catchy, ideally, should have only around six to eight words and reflect
the essence of the topic.

So, if you were to write the op-ed for Flipkart, the headline can be start-up revolution creates more millionaire Indian
businessmen or from founders to millionaires the Indian start-up story, and this looks like wow. The third step is
writing the hook.

This is the first thing you write, and this is your selling point. A great op-ed article will start with a fascinating stat that
would amaze the readers. If a stat isn't available, a rhetorical question will suffice too. You can see that the Flipkart
article starts with the following stat.

The top 15 start-up founders of India are cumulatively worth an impressive rupees 57,500 crore according to a study
conducted by Hurunch India. You can add another point to justify the stat. Next, you have to give an introduction.
After presenting the stat, it is important that you introduce your topic in the first para.

It should give an overview of the topic you are writing about. The next step is to state your main point. This is the
start of the body of your text. You need to establish the main viewpoint in this section of the writer.

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In the PR article by Richard Branson, you saw how the main point was the need to travel more for individuals to break
away from the sense of fear caused by terrorism. Moving ahead, state reasons to support the point. The writer needs
to mention two to three reasons, to substantiate the main point established earlier in the article, you can cite
external sources and even link them to your article, if that is what is going to validate your argument.

Finally write the conclusion, like every story should have an ending. Restate the main points such that it remains in
the minds of the readers. This would look like you have successfully proved the argument or viewpoint or topic you
introduced.

Press Conferences or interviews and media tours remain an effective way of public relations. This can be a pre-game
interview during an ICC World Cup match, a world tour of BTS: Love Yourself campaign or the Inbound Conference by
Hubspot. Another strategy is sponsorships.

Sponsorships are often financial support for events, places or experiences that allow you to target certain
populations. Sponsorships improve a company's image and, in most cases, promote public relations. The next one is
digital PR.

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From the Roman times to today, the landscape of PR has drastically undergone a digital makeover. Its purpose is to
reach manifold audiences and have a significant impact. Now, let's discuss this, what this integration means for public
relations?

SEO and SEM would mean more traffic to the website and more awareness generated with better ranking and more
backlinks. Social media engagement means building more relationships with audiences, brand recall and sometimes
instant feedback mechanisms.

More content formats, such as blog posts, Reels, stories, videos, podcasts, newsletters, emails, e-books and
infographics would mean authenticity and diversity. Display marketing is more experiential and interactive today than
ever before. All of this naturally paves the way for digital marketing shaking hands with public relations.

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