What makes some PR campaigns successful while others are

flops? While there are a lot of variables in every PR

campaign, I've come to realize that the most successful

campaigns share 4 things in common.

1. They have a goal - Goals provide us with direction. They

give us something to work toward, and they make it easier

for us to track our progress. When building a PR campaign,

your goals need to be very specific (don't try to do too

much at once), easy to measure, realistic (do you really

have the means to make this happen?), and deadline driven.

When setting a timetable, it's important to remember that

unforeseen obstacles will pop up and some mistakes will

probably be made. Give yourself a little extra time so that

you aren't constantly working from behind and rushing to get

things done.

To give you an example of goal setting, Johnson & Johnson

launched a campaign in 2002 to encourage more young adults

to pursue a career in nursing. The reason for this campaign

was that it was projected that there would be a shortage in

the number of qualified RNs in the years to come. According

to Johnson & Johnson, the goals of this campaign were to

"enhance the image of the nursing profession, recruit new

nurses and nurse educators, and to retain nurses currently

in the system."

2. They have a detailed plan for reaching that goal - Once

you've come up with your goal, the next step is to create a

detailed plan for reaching that goal. In other words, don't

just fly by the seat of your pants, dumping a press release

here and there hoping something will happen. It won't. You

need to determine the exact steps that need to be taken to

reach that goal. Who do you need to reach out to? Which

media will be most effective at helping you spread your

message?

Going back to the Johnson & Johnson example, the company's

plan to reach their goal of recruiting more people into the

field of nursing involved spearheading fundraising efforts

to create more scholarships for nursing students, building a

website to educate young adults about the benefits of a

career in nursing, and creating different recruitment

materials (buttons, brochures, posters, and videos) to

distribute to high school students.

3. They are well researched - Research is the foundation for

all successful PR campaigns. Sometimes, you have to do your

own research from scratch through polling, interviews, focus

groups, etc. Other times, the data has already been

collected, and you just have to sift through it.

As it relates to the Johnson & Johnson campaign, research

was a key to its success. The company had statistics about

the projected shortage of qualified nurses, student

enrollment in nursing programs, the perception of the

nursing industry by young adults, and more. By having this

information, Johnson & Johnson was able to see where they

needed to focus their efforts to attract more nurses.

4. They are constantly monitored and tweaked as needed -

Successful PR campaigns are typically monitored throughout

their duration and again once they're completed. Tracking

your results during your campaign is essential to seeing

what is and isn't working. If you aren't getting any closer

to reaching your goals, you need to go back to the drawing

board to find new tactics for achieving success.

Johnson & Johnson has been monitoring the results of their

nursing campaign. According to Ruder Finn PR, the results of

this campaign are:

-- 8% more freshmen enrolled in baccalaureate programs after

the program launch from the prior year

-- 82% of nursing schools contacted saw rising applications

and enrollment for the fall

-- Johnson & Johnson witnessed great acclaim from within the

nursing community

-- DiscoverNursing.com is #2 Search result for "nursing

scholarships"

-- 3.2 million unique visitors and over 50 million pages

served to date on the site

-- The site allows search of 1,400 nursing specific

scholarships and ordering of promotional materials

What are some other characteristics of successful PR

campaigns?

Gotta boogie,

Mickie Kennedy
Founder, eReleases.com
CEO, eReleases.com & Press-Release-Writing.com

http://www.ereleases.com