Reference no: EM133796140

Assignment: PR Plan Project

Your PR campaign plan should be in PowerPoint format. It should be creative and professional. Imagine you are the PR professional working at a PR firm, and you are stepping into your client's office to present a compelling PR proposal. What kind of PowerPoint presentation will impress your client and make you stand out in the pitch? Keep that in mind when you develop your PR Plan for this project. You will make your PPT slide professional and ensure that the details are well-communicated in the notes to help the instructor understand your plan thus help the grading. Your instructor will grade BOTH the slides AND the notes.

PR Plan Project

A. To design your PR plan, study Chapter 6 and 7 (research, campaign planning, communication, and measurement) and watch the video above.

B. In real-world scenario, PR agency most likely prepares their proposals and present to their client in PowerPoint format. Therefore, your PR plan will be in PowerPoint format.

a. You will put the most important information (the gist that you want to show to your client) in the PPT slides.

b. Also need to include additional information and details in the PPT notes (the note of the same PPT slide). The instructor will grade your PPT slides and information in your PPT notes.

C. Your PR Plan in PowerPoint format with notes should include the following elements (based on Chapter 6: 6.6, page 155-164):

Elements/Components

I) Research/Situation analysis (7 slides minimum, must include details and elaborate in PPT notes)
II) PR objectives (include additional info in PPT notes if any)
III) Target audience (must elaborate in PPT notes)
IV) PR strategy: (must elaborate in PPT notes)
V) PR tactics (8 slides minimum, must elaborate and include details in PPT notes)
VI) Timeline (include additional info in PPT notes if any)
VII) Evaluation (include additional info in PPT notes if any)
VIII) Budget (include additional info in PPT notes if any)
IX) Professionalism

PR Plan Components

Your PR plan should cover the following components:

Title Page

The title of the proposal, the client's name, your agency name and a list of all agency members.

Table of Contents

List all items in the report. Make it professional.

I. Research/Situation Analysis (7 slides minimum)

The research/situation statement should be as real as possible, given the fictional nature of your scenario. In other words, you should use real research to develop your plan. This part includes (I) research and (II) analysis.

Research: you have done secondary research and primary research. Now you need to analyze the research findings of secondary research and primary research. In this session, describe all research methods youused to collect information. Let your client know that you designed the PR campaign based on highly reliable information resources. Your client will be impressed if you tell them that you developed the PR campaign based on a series of research conducted by your agency.

A. You FIRST present secondary research (research existing information):

1. Methods (one slide): indicate the sources you referred to in this secondary research. Let your client know that your research and analysis is based on highly reliable information sources. You should research (a) your client's organization website & social media sites, (b) the competitors' website/social media sites (if any), (c) recent years' media coverage about your client, other websites or blogs talking about your client, (d) market/industry report from library or website (if any), other published data regarding your client's business.

2. You MUST present your key findings (3 slides minimum): What are your major findings from preliminary research? Your analysis should include: the organization analysis, the industry/competition analysis, the media coverage & website/blog coverage, industry report (if any). You need to elaborate all your findings.

B. You then present primary research (generate new and original data):

In-depth Interviews - required: You already conducted three in-depth interviews by Week 4 to understand how target audience think of your client business and if there is any issue/opportunity. In your interviews you asked awareness, attitude, behavior and media use questions. And you also completed three interview transcripts by Week 4. Now you need to analyze the interview transcripts and report the following on PPT slides:

1. Report your sample and method (one slide): How many interviewees, demographic info of interviewees (explain why you think they are representative of the target audience). How did you conduct the interviews (Phone? Virtual? In-person?).

2. Your interview questions and key findings (two slides minimum): you MUST summarize your key findings from the three transcripts. What are major findings from your interviews? DO NOT insert the interview transcripts here. You already submit the interview transcripts in Week 4.You need to summarize the findings here.

Survey - Optional: You are encouraged to do informal survey and report your survey method (how you did the survey), report demographics of participants and report survey findings in the proposal (preferable two slides). This primary research is completely optional.

C. SWOT analysis (one slide): based on the secondary and primary research findings (described above), do SWOT analysis. Then conclude: what is the major PR problem (or opportunity) for this campaign? Your conclusion will lead to your PR objectives.

II. PR Objectives (one slide in bullet points)

Your objectives should directly relate to your situation. Use "Information-Attitude-Behavior" objectives. Refer to the examples in the PowerPoint and the project video guide.

III. Audience (one or more slides)

Define your target audience by demographics and psychographics as appropriate to your scenario

A. If you only focus on one group of audience: one slide

B. If you have identified primary and secondary audiences (for example, you think on-campus students are your primary audience, and off-campus students are secondary audience for your campus campaign): make one slide for each audience

IV. Strategy (two slides minimum)

A. Key Messages (one slide): A set of key messages (2-3 messages) delivered to target audience.

B. Visualized PR strategies (at least one slide): Describe your PR strategyin a visual format that will allow your campaign to achieve PR objectives. It is your big story, rationale/theory. In addition to the visualized strategy, you also need to use narrative to explain your story/theory. You can also develop campaign theme here. Please refer to the campaign planning tutorial on Blackboard.

V. Tactics (many slides, detailed tactics, 8 slides minimum)

A. Describe in sequence the specific communication activities that will put your strategy into action. Design as many tactics as appropriate for your specific scenario. You will fully develop the tactics you are suggesting in your plan.The tactics/programs should include (a) earned media tactics: mass media tactics, publicity, etc. (b) owned media tactics: controlled media tactics such as your own website, newsroom, brochures, posters/flyers, (c) paid media tactics such asadvertising or sponsored news (d) shared media tactics: interactive/social media tactics and (e) event tactics and/or interpersonal tactics.

B. Refer to pages 4 and 5 for additional details on developing tactics.

C. You are encouraged to design something in the tactics session. For example, you can design poster/flier if you could and include here. In the case of social media/Internet tactics, you may either set up dummy pages/accounts/sites or describe what you would do. For example, if your team is suggesting the use of Twitter, you do not have to set up an account. You can list or design sample tweets and suggest how often they would be sent, etc.You may earn up to5 points of extra credit if your design work is professional and impressive.

VI. Calendar/Timetable: 1-2 slides. In this section, you will discuss the starting and ending dates for the campaign and the sequence of activities, with appropriate timelines for each activity. Please make sure the general time frame is consistent with the time frame in your Organization and Campaign Selection.

VII. Evaluation: Two slides. Describe how you will evaluate the success of your campaign. Refer to Chapter Six and social media analytics tutorial on Blackboard/Group Project. Your evaluation should include two components:

A. Traditional evaluation: (a) Media coverage/exposure; (b) Audience awareness; (c) Audience attitude; (d) Behavior or results. Your evaluation and your PR objectives should be related.

B. Social media evaluation/analytics: (a) social media message exposure, (b) engagement. (c) influence.

VIII. Budget: List your (a) PR service fee, (b) Out-of-Pocket (OOP) campaign cost: the significant cost items of the PR campaign, and (c) contingency fee (10% of OOP).

A. PR service fee: Estimated service hours or project fee.

B. Out-of-Pocket (OOP) campaign cost:Make a table and specify the names of direct PR-related cost items without estimating the amounts, using the $ sign to represent the money amount, as this is a hypothetical project.

C. Contingency fee: indicate the percentage (approximately10%of total campaign cost).

Elaboration on Tactics

Describe in sequence the specific communication activities that will put your strategy into action. Design as many tactics as appropriate for your specific scenario. You will fully develop the tactics you are suggesting in your plan. The tactics/programs should include (i) earned media tactics: mass media tactics, publicity, etc. (ii) owned media tactics: controlled media tactics such as your own website, newsroom, brochures, posters/flyers, (iii) paid media tactics such as advertising or sponsored news (iv) shared media tactics: interactive/social media tactics and (v) event tactics and/or interpersonal tactics.

To understand earned, owned, paid, shared media, and event tactics, refer to the following textbook sections:

I. Two media models about PR tactics in Chapter 6 & 7. Understanding the two media models will assist you in structuring and writing the tactics section effectively

A. PESO tactics (Chapter 6): Learn PESO techniques (6.6.4, page 159-160) and integrate them into your PR Plan.

B. Integrated PR media Model (Chapter 7): Learn the five types of media and communication tools (7.1.2, page 171-172) and incorporate them into your PR Plan.

II. Earned (Mass Media) Tactics (Chapter 11):

A. Write news release (11.2)

1. Would you write news releases for your campaign? Specify frequency and timing.

2. What news release topics do you suggest?

3. Identify local media for press release distribution.

B. Pitch media for news story ideas (11.3)

1. Would you pitch influential media? Propose a unique news angle.

2. Specify the media outlets you would pitch.

C. Prepare fact sheets and consider media kits, previews, tours (11.4)

1. Would you prepare fact sheets or assemble media kits for your campaign?

2. Would you consider hosting media previews, or organizing media tours for your campaign?

D. Organize press conferences and media interviews (11.5)

1. Do you plan to organize press conference or media interviews? When?

E. Reach radio and television audiences (11.6)

1. Would you consider reaching radio and television audience?

2. Specify local channels for news release distribution or invitations.

III. Owned Media Tactics: Chapter 12 (12.2, page 350-356)

A. Client's Website Use (12.2.1):

1. Would you suggest using your client's website for promotion?

B. Online Newsroom and Blog Page Creation (12.2.3, 12.2.4):

1. Would you propose creating a newsroom or blog page?

C. Promotional Materials (Not covered in Chapter 12):

1. Suggest materials such as posters, flyers, brochures for owned media tactics.

IV. Shared (Social Media) Tactics: Chapter 12 (12.3-12.4)

A. Utilize Current Social Networks:

1. Identify platforms your client currently uses.

2. Specify engagement strategies, post types, and post frequency.

How will you effectively engage the audience on your existing social media platforms? Please provide suggestions for social media posts to promote the campaign. Specify social media topics, types (e.g., posts, URL links, pictures, videos), and indicate the frequency/timing of social media posts.

B. Suggest Additional Platforms:

1. Propose new platforms for campaign promotion if needed (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, TikTok, etc.)

C. Consider collaborations with social media influencers.Whom do you want to work for campaign promotion?

D. Other social media campaign ideas?

V. Paid Media Tactics:

A. Propose adverting ideas, considering various media venues. Note that this is a PR class. We don't learn advertising in this class. Just propose some ideas if you think appropriate for your campaign promotion.

B. Specify the suggested media venue. Would you consider advertisement for newspapers and magazines, or would you consider commercial for broadcast? Maybe outdoor billboards? Or paid banners in website? Or advertising in social media?

C. Timing for advertising: When would you suggest doing the advertising?

VI. Event Tactics (Chapter 13)

A. Develop promotional events tailored to your campaign.

B. Choose suitable PR events from Chapter 13 (e.g., Opening ceremony? Meetings or Seminars? Banquet? Cocktail parties? Celebration event? Cultural event? Sponsored concert? Sponsored Art event? Plant tours? Open House? Exhibition?)

Address the above questions as essential details for executing your campaign successfully. These ideas form your PR tactics. Organize and structure them into PowerPoint slides.