Hype Yourself. Lucy Werner

some help generating quick creative wins, then this chapter will help you think far beyond the press release.

      By the end of this book I want you to be well on your way to running a successful PR campaign, with well-thought-through building blocks. And the best bit, unlike any other publicity officer, you are already an expert in your business. So, who is better to talk about it?

      OK. Grab your notebook if you haven’t already and let’s get hyping.

       WHAT YOU WILL NEED

      – A notebook to complete all of the tasks or download the relevant PDFs from www.thewern.com/book to fill in as you go along

      – A red pen, time to be your own school teacher

      – A 12-month wall chart to mark your key PR events

      – A good relationship with your local newsagent so that you can call in niche magazines when needed – it is advisable to have an account so you can buy magazines in bulk.

      CHAPTER 1

       PR PLAN

      OK, I’m going to start by throwing you into the deep end, ahead of strategic thinking. For this chapter, I want you to have an organised declutter hat on. Imagine your current PR strategy is a pile of dirty laundry and this is the Marie Kondo process to have some neat clothes at the end.

      By the end of this chapter you will have laid the foundations for an effective campaign. It is an essential road map for your self-hype journey and makes you think into the why and what of your business – I’ll ask you regularly to refer to this throughout the book.

      I am amazed at how many people (including PRs) are carrying out campaigns with no overarching strategy. Success can already be hard enough to measure without setting some goals and there is no point putting all the hard work in to hype yourself if you don’t know why you are doing it. We will now run through the following:

      – Business objectives

      – Communications objectives

      – Your why

      – Audience

      – What is unique about your business

      – Communications calendar

      – Crisis Q&A.

      Grab your notebook or download the strategy template from www.thewern.com/book. Throughout the book I will provide various business examples, but for the strategy work in Chapter 1 I have used my own business as a case study. The full template for this is also available from the website.

1.1 Business objectives

      We need to start with outlining your business objectives, which we will constantly remind ourselves of all the way through. It is nigh on impossible to hype yourself in an effective way without knowing these, so best to get them sorted from the beginning. Changing the goals halfway through the campaign means you may have to start from scratch, so it is essential that your business targets are outlined on one page.

       ACTIVITY

      In your workbook write down the title ‘Business objectives’, have a read through the following questions and answer the questions that feel relevant for your own business.

      NB: You don’t have to have an answer for all of these pillars, I’ve just included some examples to get you thinking.

       Turnover or business growth

      – Do you want to get more bums on seats?

      – Do you want to launch or sell more products?

      – What are your revenue goals?

      – How much website traffic are you looking to attract?

      – How many email sign-ups are you looking for?

      – What’s your social media following target?

       Internal goals

      – Are you looking to find brilliant industry talent to come work with you?

      – Do you want to empower existing employees to be industry experts?

      – Which areas of your business do you need training or assistance with?

       Operational

      – Can you improve on any element of your supply chain to improve profitability?

      – Are all logistical elements of your business up to scratch?

       Industry/customer awareness

      – Are you looking to secure alternative revenue streams where you need to raise your own industry profile?

      – Do you want to be considered as a major player within your niche?

      – Do you need to reach a wider audience?

      – Do you need to boost awareness within a specific demographic?

       EXAMPLE

      At the beginning of 2019, this is what business objectives looked like for The Wern.

       Revenue

      – Increase revenue streams from consultancy to coaching, books, teaching, courses and products.

      – Increase turnover by 50%.

       Operational

      – Review effectiveness of current suppliers and contracts.

       Growth

      – Establish email marketing database.

      – Grow existing social media channels by 200%.

       Awareness

      – Grow my profile as a PR expert for small businesses and entrepreneurs to underpin the above goals.

       TIPS

      – Your business objectives should be brief and to the point.

      – A business goal shouldn’t read like an essay, make it achievable.

      – A measurable goal means that everyone who is working on the business is heading for the same direction.

      – Double-check that your business objectives also fit your personal objectives.

1.2 Communications objectives

      The next header in the template or your own workbook is for your communications objectives. For this segment, I want you to think about how and why you want to hype yourself. From your business objectives we have an end goal, but this activity is to dig deeper into the voice you will use to hype yourself. The best relationships are based on truth and in order to hype your business we need to help pull out the voice of the true you.

       ACTIVITY

      Think about the following questions:

      – Are you trying to establish yourself as a voice of authority? In what area?

      – Are you an entertainer?

      – Do you want to be a quirky, fun brand? Or are you trying to educate consumers about a new product category?