December 09, 2016

Holiday Planning

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The holidays are filled with family time, fun with friends, gift-buying, festive traditions and so much more. Businesses are winding down for the year, school is out, and many people are pausing to reflect on this past year – what went well and what still needs improvement. In public relations, we don’t have much downtime, but it is always important to stop and evaluate all your effort to continue to improve for the next year. If you have a few spare hours over the next weeks, compile some data, recap your efforts and figure out where you should pat yourself on the back and where you can spend a little extra time.

Social Media
Recent statistics on this year’s election mark it as the first ever election where more money was spent on digital ads than print ads. Social media is a huge component of the digital sphere. Creative graphics and engaging posts are a great way of building a following, but you also need to know more about your followers. Utilize tools like Sprout Social or Facebook Insights to find who exactly is following you so you can fine-tune your messaging and planning for 2017.

Media
Journalists get hundreds and thousands of media pitches each week. In public relations, you want to make your client stand out from all the chatter. Take your downtime to plan out unique pitches for your client’s milestones and annual events. Take a new approach and see where it gets you. Check out PR pro Michael Smart’s methods on how to customize your pitches to get the most coverage.

Community
You want to make sure your clients are heard. By building their footprint in their community, your client will have stronger pull and can build up goodwill within their community. This requires a personal touch, so take some time to research chambers of commerce, rotaries, special holidays and events to see how you can position your client to be a part of the efforts. Check out community calendars and see what’s coming up for 2017.

Make the most of the holidays this season and spend valuable time with friends and family. Don’t forget to carve out a few hours to reflect on this past year and how your projects panned out. Set yourself up for success in 2017!

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