--- title: "Winning at PR" url: https://burnaze.com/article/7a222874-cfb6-4bdf-8f80-fbff4de87143 source: "1851 Franchise" original_url: https://1851franchise.com/mainland/winning-at-pr-2717992 category: "General" published: 2022-02-17T15:10:00.000Z modified: 2026-11-01T01:19:40.274Z image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/83a9a6ee3b448381fb03fcb56b815da32325.jpg --- # Winning at PR **TL;DR:** A pathway to winning at PR includes creating objectives, understanding the why, and focusing on content and storytelling delivery. This helps validate the success of a PR agency relationship and creates a baseline for creativity in hunting for stories and content. *originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2022-02-17. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/mainland/winning-at-pr-2717992).* ## Story So, you want to win at Public Relations. Well, rather, you want your agency to win at PR. Here’s a pathway to crushing it at content and storytelling delivery. Why are you hiring a PR agency? Do you want press coverage? Do you want leads? Do you want deals? Do you want your beautiful face on “The TODAY Show?” Before you start PR, create an objective based on what you want to accomplish. This will help you validate the success of your agency relationship, as well as create a baseline for how much creativity will be required to hunt for awesome stories and content. Oftentimes, PR agencies come to so-called “strategy” calls and ask, “What’s new in your world?” or even worse, “How’s the weather where you are?” Barf. What they need to do is come to the table with a game plan, and, “We’ll get you great PR” doesn't count. It's great and all, but the question is how ? It starts with the why you, why now. Simple in theory, but difficult in practice. Every single story and every single campaign should have a why you, why now message at the forefront. Opening a new business? Cool, but there are 500 other businesses in the community. Did you care when each of them opened? Opening a business because you got laid off and are dipping into your 401k to fund this dream of yours? Now, we're getting somewhere. Why? Because brands don’t sell brands, people do. The opening of a business is sometimes not a standalone story, but when you can add the component of struggle or victory, it makes your story more interesting. The why now? That’s easy. You are opening a business. Everything is PR. Public Relations is not just the media. It is really any touchpoint of communication you have with your audience. Social media, website, newsletter, drip campaigns, face-to-face communication, marketing, advertising — and the list goes on. Now, if you were to audit how you deliver your story, how many of the touchpoints mentioned above tell that same story? Take that opening you had after investing your 401k story — is that on your website? Did you link to your website in a social post asking where you should open next? Did you send that awesome human interest news through your newsletter? Did you add it to a drip campaign to people who you want to communicate with again? Did you print out the story from the newspaper and put it on the wall in your office? Did you buy an ad campaign on Facebook or LinkedIn? You see, when you can organize a distribution plan, you add value to the PR campaign. Some PR campaigns will pay off for years. Some pay off in the moment. Some need a little more fuel to get in front of the right audience. Let’s say, for instance, that the most perfect PR placement is airing on TV right this second. Let’s say the story gets a little bump because it is also advertised to you. You go to the website for that brand. Now, you are a ghost lead. Ghost leads happen all day long. When was the last time you looked at your Google Analytics? Yes, we’ll hold while you find the password. With Google Analytics, you can see lift (in that market); you can see referrals (if the placement is online); you can see conversions (woohoo, a lead). No matter the campaign, try to figure out a way to measure its success — through consistency of placement, impact and gut instinct. ## Entities - 1851 Franchise (publication) - General (sector) - public relations (topic) - storytelling (topic) - pr strategy (topic) - content delivery (topic) - agency relationship (topic) --- Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/mainland/winning-at-pr-2717992). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/7a222874-cfb6-4bdf-8f80-fbff4de87143).