My PR Resolutions for 2013

So 2013 is here. Apart from celebrating our jubilee since independence, we will also be going to the polls in March in which many PR professionals will be involved at different levels.

That aside the normal PR hustles resumes this week with many clients sending in ‘urgent’ briefs expecting ‘award winning campaigns’ from their diligent agencies.

As we start the year, below are a few resolutions to keep you going;

Be a better writer- The news desks will be filled with enough political releases and statements; the business pages and slots will shrink to pave way for more political pages. The best favour you can do yourself or your client is to write succinctly so as to compete for the rare business pages.

Think Regional- Now that even the ever rigid political elite have recognized that the country can be governed at county level. As a PR professional you have to start thinking beyond Nairobi with your communiqué .Regional radio stations might be the key to unlocking the potential of that client that had been stuck with Capital FM ever since.

Embrace online media-If you thought facebook and twitter is for idlers then you may have to ask mobile service providers in Kenya. The online community has been driving conversations about brands; they have picked articles from main stream media and broken it down for the vast online community. It is high time you thought about those online personalities that command a bigger following than the readership of many publications in Kenya.

Be ROI sensitive- Forget about those strategies that you worked on for this year. You have to show the Return on Investment this year. Being an electioneering year, many clients will be mean on their budgets. So we have to show value for the little budget that will be squeezed out of their pockets. Do not call for a luncheon when you can host a press conference at the client’s office. For the clients do not insist for a mega launch for a promotion that can do with a few pictorial and a press release.

Stop being reactive- Just because your competitor has launched a new product should not be a good reason for you to launch that product. Unless you have a bigger budget to ensure that your campaign eclipses the one launched by competition, stick to your strategy and live up to it.

Goals are not resolutions -Last but not least, I resolve to call mine goals and not resolutions so that I can work towards achieving them instead of sticking to resolutions which are always slippery and that’s why 95% of our resolutions will be null and void by the time we vote in our new president.