Chapter 46: PR Planning Assignments and Templates

Key Takeaways - Structure beats improvisation: A template ensures you never forget critical campaign elements. - PESO integration is mandatory: Every plan should address Paid, Earned, Shared, and Owned media. - Measurement comes before launch: Define KPIs before you execute, not after.

This chapter provides a practical template for creating a Digital PR plan and an assignment to help you practice your planning skills.

A Simple Digital PR Plan Template

You can use this template to create a plan for any Digital PR campaign.

1. Background

• What is the campaign about? (e.g., "We are launching a new line of eco-friendly running shoes.")
• Who is our main competitor? (e.g., "Allbirds.")

2. Goals

• What is the main business goal? (e.g., "To sell 5,000 pairs of the new shoes in the first three months.")
• What are the main PR goals? (e.g., "To get 15 media placements in running and sustainability publications. To work with 20 fitness influencers.")

3. Target Audience

• Who are we trying to reach? (e.g., "Environmentally conscious runners, aged 25-40.")

4. Key Message

• What is the one thing we want people to remember? (e.g., "The first high-performance running shoe that is also 100% recyclable.")

5. Strategy (Using the PESO Model)

• Owned: What content will we create? (e.g., "A blog post about the science behind the recyclable material. A video showing the shoes in action.")
• Earned: Who will we pitch to? (e.g., "Journalists at Runner's World and Treehugger. Podcast hosts who talk about running or sustainability.")
• Shared: What is our social media plan? (e.g., "An Instagram campaign with fitness influencers. A Twitter Q&A with the shoe's designer.")
• Paid: What ads will we run? (e.g., "Facebook ads targeted to people who follow running and environmental groups.")

6. Timeline

• When will each part of the campaign happen? (e.g., "Week 1: Publish blog post. Week 2: Send shoes to influencers. Week 3: Pitch to media. Week 4: Launch day.")

7. Measurement

• What are our KPIs? (e.g., "Number of sales," "Number of media placements," "Engagement rate on influencer posts.")
• What tools will we use? (e.g., "Google Analytics, social media analytics.")

Assignment: Create a Digital PR Plan

Now it's your turn. Choose one of the following scenarios and use the template above to create a simple, one-page Digital PR plan.

• Scenario 1: You are working for a new coffee shop in your city. You want to get the word out and attract new customers.
• Scenario 2: You are working for a B2B software company that has just launched a new project management tool for small businesses. You want to generate sign-ups for a free trial.
• Scenario 3: You are working for a non-profit organization that wants to raise money for a local animal shelter.

This exercise will help you practice thinking through all the important steps of planning a Digital PR campaign.

DPRI CONNECTION

This template operationalizes the DPRI Method™ for campaign planning:

• PR Activities in Plan: Media Relations, Influencer, Content, Social, Paid
• Digital Terms to Measure: Placements, Engagement, Traffic, Conversions
• Core Principle: A plan without measurement is just a wish

The DPRI Planning Add-On: For each PESO element in your plan, identify: 1. Which of the 11 PR activities are you executing? 2. Which of the 22 digital terms will you measure? 3. What's the expected correlation? (e.g., "Media coverage → Backlinks → Organic traffic")

Next: Chapter 47 provides crisis simulation workshops—practice before the crisis hits.