5 Steps To Spring Clean Your Public Relations Efforts

Just as our wardrobes are constantly going in and out of style, PR materials created at certain periods in a company’s lifespan can become stale and show signs of aging in these fast-paced times. The spring season is a great time to get a jump on refreshing older PR materials that need a boost, including media lists, press release templates, and more.

To help you along your spring cleaning journey, we’ve rounded up the top five areas to focus on this season to ensure your PR strategy is prepared for a strong, efficient summer!

Five Areas of Public Relations to Focus on this Season

Clean Up Media Lists

The media landscape is constantly changing and with that comes a rotation of editors to and from different publications as well as those who have left the industry entirely. Understanding this, it’s crucial to ensure your media lists are up to date with the most relevant and current writers. Cue spring cleaning! Take the time to do your research and get rid of any contacts on your list that you’ve either received an email error (that signals their email address is no longer working and likely they are no longer at said media outlet). You can also use tools like Cision or Meltwater to find new contacts to add to your list!

Declutter Press Release Files

Spring cleaning is a must for old, unfinalized files such as the many press release versions saved to your computer. Now is the perfect time to rid your folders of any files that are not the final version to make room for more. This is also a great way to organize and declutter your files – no one likes to look at a jumbled mess when searching for a specific release.

Revisit Your Pitch Strategy 

Another way to use this cleaning season is to reassess your pitches. Really take a look at what has worked, what’s trending, what has warranted a response from the media, or what hasn’t. This is the perfect opportunity to tweak and alter any messaging or angles that you’ve noticed are either no longer relevant and/or not garnering any attention.

Revitalize PR Plans

After you reassess your pitches, use that knowledge to revitalize (if needed) your PR plans! We recommend building a plan for your PR activity 6 to 12 months out for targeting both trade and consumer media. Spring is a great time to revisit any previous plans and add to them when strategizing for the rest of the year. This is also necessary if you’ve learned of any new product launches or news that came about AFTER you’ve created the PR plan. To better understand how to create your own PR plan, read this post!

Realign Your Trade Ad and Press Release Schedule

For food marketers, spring is a good time to take a closer look at your upcoming trade advertisements and make sure that the messages on your ads are going to align with the press releases or other editorial info you plan to place at the same time. This reinforces your messaging to easily distracted audiences who need to see things multiple times to make strong connections. You can build your trade ad schedule based on the PR plan you’ve created or vice versa!

 

Spring isn’t the only time to refresh your PR strategy! Set monthly reminders for yourself to reflect on the month before to see what worked and what didn’t. Take note of what you find and use this knowledge when planning ahead. Looking for someone to help you stay on top of all things PR? Schedule a call with us!