Your 2007 PR Strategy

(Cont'd)

Make a list of all of your events through December 31st. Now get a large 12-month whiteboard calendar or desk blotter calendar like they use in schools. Go month by month and start plotting your timeline. If you have a big announcement like a grant, merger or pilot program that will come at your winter board meeting, add it to your calendar. If your annual scholarship program is announced in March and the winners are selected in June, mark those on your calendar too. Log your fall golf outing, your employee retreat, awards dinner, the Governor’s budget address and everything in between. Don’t forget seasonal news that may affect your industry. For example, if you work in the real estate field and got some great hits on the press release you wrote last year on “winterizing your home,” make a calendar note to send out a new one in late 2007.

By the end of February, make sure you have already developed and/or updated your crisis communications plan too. This should be a priority on your calendar.

By going though the next eleven months, you can plan some of your PR journey. Of course there will be plenty of room for surprises. After all, isn’t that the fun and excitement of PR and news; not knowing exactly what will happen??!!