Plan. Do. Communicate.

A successful communication strategy involves three things:

1. Planning
2. Doing
3. Two-way communication and interaction with the client

As PR professionals, we’re in the business of providing strategic communication counsel to our clients. It’s our job to help clients build their brand, share their message and reach their communication and strategic business goals. We spend countless hours understanding the client’s mission and goals, developing brand strategy and building strategic communication plans to support both.

That part is easy.

It’s the doing and the communication that gets a bit tricky.

In order for me, you, or any other PR or communication professional out there to do our jobs, clients have to help us help them. On the flip side, we have to educate them about how we work and the importance of their involvement in the process. No matter how good our plan is, without a coordinated effort from both PR professional and client to execute, the communication goals will never be met.

In the day-to-day hustle and bustle, it is easy to lose sight of the long-term strategy. It’s easy to be distracted by the crisis (which, likely is not really a crisis at all) or opportunity that is happening RIGHT NOW.

You’ve been here. The client calls and asks you to do something that is out of scope or does not do anything to build their brand or meet their strategic goals.  Don’t fall into this trap (speaking from experience, it is hard to free yourself).  Remember, it’s our role to provide strategic council. That means, whether our clients realize it or not, they are paying us to look out for their best interest, which means we may have to advise against what they are asking us to do. Bring it back to the communication plan and ask, “How does this help us meet the strategic goal?” If it doesn’t, then it’s not something that should be pursued.

There are also times when the client seems to be totally disengaged and no matter how hard you try there just isn’t any response or forward progress. In these instances, it is important for both parties to evaluate whether or not it is in their best interests to continue the working relationship.

The very best way to stay on track is to be in constant communication with your client.

• Use your phone and meet in person when possible – email is great, but having a discussion makes a world of difference.
• Understand what they have happening in other parts of their organization and how they work internally with their teams.
• Involve others from their team in calls and meetings when appropriate.
• Solicit feedback on work you’ve done and collaborate as much as possible.
• Talk with them about current events and if their organization has opportunity to be a resource or is being impacted (it may not always be obvious).
• Be a resource. Even if you don’t know something, find out.

PR is ultimately about relationship building. So, practice what you preach. Developing relationships with your client is the key to helping build their brand, share their message and reach their strategic goals through their communication activities.

- Jenn Connor

(p.s. A great post on this topic went up on the Council of Public Relations Firms recently. ‘Being Great, Not Just Good’ is worth the read!)