Time to spring your PR and marketing plans into action

It’s fair to say that most of us are more excited about the start of spring than ever before. The prospect of warmer weather, building plans, and the new roadmap out of the current lockdown, give some light at the end of the tunnel.

Spring is traditionally a time for fresh beginnings and a period when many businesses set budgets and outline plans for the financial year ahead. If you are developing new PR and marketing activity then, firstly, take a step back and work out what you want to achieve. Here are five key things to consider:

• Research and review

Take time to define what the brand message you want to share is, who your audiences are, what content is valuable to them and how they want to receive it. Setting goals gives you long-term vision and ongoing motivation. To make sure these are reachable, follow the SMART model.

• Digital acceleration

There’s no doubt that the growth in digital communication has accelerated rapidly over the past year. According to the Digital 2020 – July Global Statshot report, produced by We Are Social and Hootsuite, 346 million people worldwide went online for the first time over the previous 12-month period. Businesses have had to adapt to COVID-19 related measures and take a digital-first approach, to keep in regular contact with employees, customers, and suppliers, and maintain brand awareness.

• Make your website shine

Your website acts as the hub for your online presence, and with increasing numbers of people accessing the internet, it’s more important than ever that it inspires and engages audiences. Many different elements go into having a good website, but ensuring it has a clear user journey, which aids research of the products/services you offer and navigates the route to buy is vital. When building or redeveloping your website ensure it is fully optimised to help search engines match your webpages to the keywords that people are using to find content, services, or products.

• Influencer endorsement

People are increasingly making purchasing decisions based on the opinion of others. According to the 2019 Content Preferences Survey Report, 92% of respondents give most credence to peer reviews/user-generated feedback. The trustworthiness of the source is also important, with 97% of those surveyed placing a higher emphasis on the source – up from 78% in 2018. This means it’s becoming more important than ever for businesses to build relationships with influencers who resonate with your brand. Ensure your campaigns are aligned with key influencers and their network of followers and contacts.

• Multi-channel approach

It’s clearly more important than ever for businesses to be visible and easily found online. However, the people you want to influence buy on trust and relationships and can be reached through a whole range of communication channels, digital being just one of these. These include media coverage, broadcast, internal communication, events, brochures, video, infographics, newsletters and much more.

A reflection of your business

If you are making new plans, they should be based upon a clear and coherent PR and marketing strategy that mirrors your overall business aims.

At Ceris Burns International, we are experts at managing a company’s reputation and getting authentic, meaningful stories out into the world through multiple channels, from digital and social media to traditional print media. We’re ready to spring into action but we also take the time to ensure the messaging is right, telling stories that can genuinely inspire and reflect your business needs.

To find out more about how we can help with your communications planning and your engagement with audiences nationally and internationally, let’s talk!