Making a Marketing Plan for 2014 – Part 3 – Publicity Plan

It’s January. That means your marketing budget is (hopefully) refreshed, and you are ready to start 2014 with a new ferocity!

I’d like to encourage you to take the first few weeks of January to make a plan for the year!

3. Publicity Plan

Remember – advertising is what you (typically) pay for – but PUBLICITY is exposure that you get without paying for it.

Publicity works best if it’s done strategically. So as you look at you schedule and plan for 2014 – be thinking about what things you can leverage!

Here are some things that are newsworthy –

1. Hiring (particularly major hires, or hires of people in the public eye, or the creation of multiple positions)
2. Major organizational changes
3.  Sports Team  / Community Sponsorships
4. Volunteer / Community Service Projects
5. Charitable Donations
6. Opinions on newsworthy items

In the instance that your company is doing something that COULD get NEGATIVE press – lets say you know you’ll be laying off workers in several months – you can do your best to leverage that situation – use positive publicity as much as you can before and after the negative event – and in relation to those events that could create negative PR – try to be honest and helpful with whatever information you can make public.  Remember – “No Comment” sounds like you don’t CARE about the public perception…. if you can’t comment on a situation – find a comment you CAN tell the public.

Just some things to think about! Let me know if I can help you out!