Here at It Works, we believe that any project worth its salt needs a brief in order to work efficiently. Whether it’s content, SEO, or digital PR, creating a brief before getting started makes sure that everyone’s singing from the same hymn sheet. It acts as a point of reference for the team, keeping everyone organised and working in the right direction.
We’ve already covered the information that should be included in a content brief, but what about digital PR campaigns? What details need to be set out before work can properly get started? We’ve laid out all of the key factors below so that you can ensure your campaign is as streamlined as possible.
Campaign summary
First off, a brief won’t be much good without a campaign summary. Afterall, all of the targets and deadlines you include will be useless if nobody knows which campaign they actually relate to, and what the whole thing is supposed to be about.
This bit doesn’t need to be too in depth though – a quick paragraph should be enough to do the trick. Mention what the campaign is going to say and how it’s going to say it, making sure you convey the purpose of it. Why does it matter and what do you hope to achieve? This will help all parties understand what they’re working towards.
Assets
What are you going to need in order to run the campaign? What content will you have to create (think press releases, landing pages and content for any other channels involved in the campaign). Will you need any creative assets like videos or infographics? Think if you will require any data or widgets for the website. Remember to include any brand guidelines for these, too.
All of this will allow the team to understand exactly what needs to be worked on in order for the campaign to run smoothly. You can even begin to assign tasks at this stage, too, if you think it would be efficient to do so.
Targets
The most important targets to include on a digital PR brief are target audiences and target publications. This will outline who exactly you’re hoping to reach and, essentially, how you’re hoping to reach them.
You don’t need to mention specific journalists or publications here, just the kind of sites you’d like the campaign to end up in. For instance, do you want coverage from mainstream national news sites, or is it more valuable for you to get into reputable industry publications instead? You could even look at targeting blogs and influencers if those are more likely to get the desired results.
Of course, it can also help to include some goals for the campaign as well. These can be on anything from volume of coverage to social media engagement. Remember to make them SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timebound, in case you didn’t know) so that you don’t set yourself up to fail.
Key dates
Finally, make sure you set deadlines for all of the above. It can help to work backwards here so that you can see the domino effect of when everything will need to be ready and when you’ll need to get started.
Think of when you hope to publish the campaign, then consider when all the content and assets will need to be ready for. You should also think if any part of the campaign will need to be reviewed and approved by other parties, like the other teams or organisations involved. How long will they need to review and approve everything in the campaign?
Try to leave some leeway when setting these deadlines, too. Setbacks are inevitable in projects of this scale, so giving everyone a bit of extra time will allow you to mitigate any issues you come across. If things are looking tight, it might be worth reconsidering the publish date so that you don’t end up with a campaign that looks rushed and half cooked.
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Find out more helpful digital PR insights over on the It Works Blog, or click here to explore our collection of free resources. Alternatively, if you think you might need a hand with your brand’s digital marketing, get in touch with one of our friendly experts, today, to find out how we can help.
