Hostetler Public Relations

Build a public relations plan that stays the course

Rae Hostetler · Jan 15, 2025 ·

Public Relations Plan It happens regularly. A team is in the midst of executing a plan and suddenly someone walks through the door with a new idea. They read and article about a new trend. Sounds great. But it can feel deflating and even overwhelming to the professionals working on executing a public relations program.

Yes, public relations plans need to flex and change based on the current business environment. Yet jumping on trends without a solid understanding how the communications tool works can feel like adding one more thing to the to-do list instead of a strategic move.

Remain nimble/flexible with a plan
What is your public relations plan for the year? It’s important to have one in place and to continue moving forward. The plan will change if someone leaves the company and capacity gets tighter or your industry has a major announcement. There’s a difference between checking in and adapting and completely changing course. If a new communications trend falls into the mix, let the team talk it through to determine how it would strategically benefit the goals in the plan.

Keep it simple
A Forbes article from January ranks simple #1. I 110% agree. Simplicity is the essence of good taste. The essence of any public relations plan is keeping it simple, easy and manageable. The age of digital has created the perception that PR is a complex system that feels hard to navigate. It doesn’t have to be hard if you don’t want it that way. Bottom line, if everyone on the team doesn’t understand what you’re doing and why, then it might be time to step back and figure out why.

Set goals
What are three things you want to do this year and how will goals be accountable? I say three because I truly believe focusing well on a few initiatives at one time is the best way to succeed. Perhaps your website hasn’t been updated to work for your business in years. Think about the steps and time involved to make that right in a year’s time. Consider what you want that website to do for your business and how it will be measured (the goal).

Know your audience
Most business owners and leaders know their audience: internally employees, externally prospects, customers and so on. It’s critically important to think like your audience is thinking. If you’re running a global business, consider this. A McKinsey study shows people around the world have very different mindsets related to returning to “normal” activities. Here’s the contrast among those who reported, “I’m already doing them:”

81% in China
36% in America
18% in Mexico

Qualitatively speaking, during a recent local business meeting, a group was asked if they wanted to move Zoom meetings to in person. The trend is going back to the office, right? The business professionals preferred to stay online. They like the time earned back in their day. It is important to them.

Know the message
If your company doesn’t have a document that outlines the message, you should. We consider this document similar to logo colors and use. The message is part of your brand standard guidelines. Review it with this lens:

An Ernst & Young survey shows that 59% of surveyed consumers are more likely to shop locally in the long term. Is your business local or selling local goods? Should it be in the message?
A Consumer Index Report by Suzy Consumer Insights shares that 65% of consumers are more likely to support a brand that cares about the same social issues they do. What’s your community relations program and do you share it?

Know your tactics
Externally study after study shows it takes a person four to seven times to hear from you to recognize and remember your business. What are those four to seven tactics? Tactics include (but are not limited to) social media, media relations, business conferences, websites, SEO, PPC, speaking engagements and on and one. Think about how they could change in the future. For example, sending a mailer to a business several years ago when everyone was working at home didn’t make sense. Yet sending that mailer now might be a great idea.

Consider how the message gets communicated within the workplace or at home offices. Employees trust their managers. Are managers prepared to continue sharing critical company news as the year unfolds? Are they trained to deliver the message, and more importantly, do they know the message?

Share your public relations plan
Working quickly or without pulling in key team members sometimes means we inadvertently skip critical steps, including sharing information with or getting input from the right people. Remember to share your public relations plan with the professionals in your workplace who need to know. For example, public relations can impact the sales team generating leads. Does the director of sales know the plan and buy into it?

Public relations planning… by the numbers

Rae Hostetler · Nov 11, 2024 ·

We’ve had a lot of great conversations with business owners thinking about how to approach building a public relations and marketing program. Some have ideas and staff doing a great job working to execute. Others have ideas but no staff to do it. Still some don’t know where to start.

A common thread in these conversations are the questions we’re asked about a model for communications/marketing. I’d call it a best practice or rule of thumb that comes down to these numbers:

1) Have one plan. It can change. But work from one and just one as a team. Maybe you try something PR Planning that doesn’t work. Change the plan by removing it. We all get busy. If there’s a tactic you’d like to try but don’t have time this month, shift the idea. Keep the plan on paper and electronically for everyone to see/review and change.

3) Do three things well. Many times people come to the table to brainstorm ideas and the list gets long really fast. Review that list and think about three things your team can do—well. What will generate the most revenue and where can the team focus efforts. This is very strategic and should be the start of your plan.

5) Allocate budget. Rule of thumb is 5% of revenue (not net) should be allocated to marketing/communications. More if your company wants to grow. Budget for marketing/communications.

7) Be consistent. It takes 4 to 7 times for someone to hear and see your message for them to remember you and potentially take action. What feels like over communication is often just that—communicating your image.

Make email work for your public relations strategy

Rae Hostetler · Aug 22, 2024 ·

With so many professionals working from home this year, communications reps like me are using email in campaigns more often than not. As the year lags on here’s the question: Are we suffering email fatigue?

PR Strategy

Perhaps. But I believe when used properly and well, email newsletters and updates can be effective to meet goals in a public relations strategy. Why? I have proof.

One of our global clients work in an industry that’s been extremely dynamic this year. We support writing and sending email updates on industry trends and impact to their clients’ business. Last week an email was sent, and their sales team had email replies from prospects asking for appointments. This tells me people are still opening and reading emails. And in this case, it means new business.

Here are five tips for creating effective email campaigns as a tactic in a larger public relations strategy.

The list: Constant Contact, Mail Chimp and other like email systems allow users to create segmented lists. A public relations strategy should outline your target audience and the segmented lists should line up with those targets. Think clients, prospects, trade associations, chambers and so on.

Sign-ups: Have a sign-up segment set in your email system and link via your website. Then be sure to see who signs up. Promote the sign ups in social media, in your store front, on your business cards and any other communications tool you use.

Content: This is a fancy word for what you want to say to your readers. For our retail-oriented clients, we write about products and things to do. For our business to business clients we write about topics and trends that impact customer business.

Think visually: It’s true, not everyone wants to read a long blog. Paring down content into a graphic tends to help readers grasp the content even if they don’t read the entire article. Canva is a great online tool that’s affordable, user friendly and helpful for creating visuals. Also visually think about your fonts. Consider different sizes and colors for readers to easily see what you’re saying.

Open Rates/click throughs: After you hit send in your email tool, you’re not done. Look at the open rate and how readers clicked to articles/links. Consider about how you can make improvements in the next email.

If you’re interested in making email work for your public relations strategy,
let’s find a good time to talk by phone, Zoom or in-person.

Public relations and marketing strategy 2022: Stick with the basics

Rae Hostetler · Dec 13, 2021 ·

The New Year is coming, and that feeling of a fresh calendar always builds a sense of possibilities. Often business leaders want to hear what’s trending to catapult business in a New Year. Our recommendation, stick with the basics and focus on these three areas.

Plan, measure, adjust. Remote and hybrid work is now normal. And that means a strategic marketing/communications plan is essential. Team members need to understand business goals and how their job fits into the bigger picture, especially because they are not all in one place working together five days a week. Creating a plan doesn’t mean hours of laborious work. It means getting the basics documented and shared for focus and understanding.

Based on business goals, what’s the company message?
What are the goals for marketing communications (choose three to do well)?
Who are your key audiences to reach and achieve those business goals?
Document objectives and tactics to support those goals, along with who on the team is responsible for getting the work done. Consider processes, too.
How will you measure effectiveness to ensure accountability and smart spending?

Business leaders who track results of marketing and public relations campaigns can easily see where to adapt and adjust. If a campaign isn’t tracking, why continue that sunk cost?

Focus on employees—their experiences and education. Good employees are hard to find. So why not focusing on the ones you have?

A December 2021 Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce study shows what we already know, employees are thinking about moving on. The study shows a quarter of professionals currently employed plan to look for a new job in 2022. This data echoes national studies. Why?

Employees want to feel valued by being paid well, having work/life balance, realizing growth/advancement opportunities, and working at a company with a good culture. How many times have companies conducted employee opinion polls only to disregard the results? Business leaders say they want questions and feedback from employees about the direction of the company, but do they really? Now is the time you should listen and respond to what employees have to say.

They are in the driver’s seat. Retaining current staff and building a solid culture is essential in today’s business climate. Companies responding are using “stay” interviews. Instead of waiting for an employee to leave and have an “exit” interview, top talent is being asked for their feedback to find out what they need. What they’re saying isn’t a surprise.

Professionals want to trust their managers and hear directly from them about what’s happening at a company. They want to be upskilled with training that gives an opportunity for growth, advancement, and challenges. This makes strategic internal communications that builds culture more critical than ever before.

Still can’t find staff. Think about finding contractors who can complement your workforce—both from a strategic and tactical standpoint. Then treat them as an extension of your team.

Consistent marketing communications—it’s critical. How many starts and stops has your business made with new programs and initiatives? One ad, one news release, one prospect meeting, one employee event isn’t going to create a dramatic business shift. Consistent and strategic communications regularly measured against a marketing communications plan will.

Over a 30-year career I’ve seen the fascination on the faces of business leaders who learn about the latest communications tools—news releases, websites, blogs, brochures, social media. They’ve read a book or gone to a professional session where someone has talked about great success using a new tactic. Now they need it and want it too.

Reality is a well design internal and external communications strategy executed with patience and flexibility (coupled with a thoughtful culture) moves a business’ goals forward. Always ask: how will this be measured. And remember, doing something once rarely makes an impact.

What is an independent PR agency?

Rae Hostetler · Aug 2, 2021 ·

Business owners looking for public relations support and counsel often discover an independent PR agency is better suited to fit their needs. What exactly is the difference between a firm and an independent? If you’re shopping for a partnership, here are a few things to keep in mind.

The PR Firm: Easy answer, a firm is a traditional business with owners, management and teams of people who do the work. If a new client signs on for ongoing work or a project, a team is assigned to strategically oversee and do the implementation. And yes, that costs money. Many Indianapolis PR agencies have qualifications for new clients that can bust a business owner’s budget quickly. These PR firms specialize in working with large corporate customers and segments of government.

The sole practitioner: That’s where the advent of the independent PR agency comes into play. We’re also called sole practitioners. While we operate individually, many of us partner on larger projects to build capacity. We have go-to partners for website programming, creative services, public relations tactics, strategic research and more. For mid-sized business owners and non-profit organizations with a focus on budget, partnering with an independent is budget friendly and partnership driven.

Evolution of the independent PR agency: Two decades ago when I started working as an independent, my business was called freelancing. We didn’t talk about home offices, and we used answering services to ensure business owners knew we were legit. Today independent PR agency professionals are considered part of the gig economy. We take work seriously, yet appreciate the flexibility so many have discovered over the past pandemic year. Many of us maintain home offices and use coworking space to supplement for meetings and collaboration.

What to ask an independent: If you’re ready to consider partnering with an independent PR agency, here are a few questions to ask a professional to get a sense about their work and style:

How long have you been in business?
What’s your specialty?
Can you share recent PR work successes?
Who are your partners that support client work?
What’s your typical week in the office?
What’s your rate? How do you invoice for work?

What to keep in mind: Often prospects have a point of view that since someone works as an independent the price will get better. While independent PR pros might be more in your target budget, these professionals still have bills to pay and a family to feed. Be respectful when it comes to the budget conversation. Yet expect the work to be streamlined, and when the right PR pro is your partner, expect a high-level of customer service.

And remember… my team and I are always looking for new client work. We’re happy to answer the questions outlined above in a conversation with you.