Why Your PR Plan is Gathering Dust… and How to Fix it

Doug Downs (00:06):

Have you ever started a new year with a big goal in mind, maybe a fitness plan, a budget, or even a road trip itinerary only to find out that months later you've completely veered off track? You are not alone. It happens to all of us. There's a classic scene in friends where Ross, Chandler and Joey buy a brand new entertainment center. Ross carefully measures the space, creates a detailed plan, and insists that they follow the plan precisely. But in the heat of the moment, Chandler and Joey ignore the plan and just start assembling only to realize they built something completely unusable. The joke Ross says, if only we had followed the plan, but the truth is, even if they had followed it, they never checked to see if the plan itself made sense. And that's what happens with a lot of PR and comms strategies. We build these big detailed plans, we pat ourselves on the back and then let them sit untouched. But the reality is pr, like anything else, needs regular check-ins, adjustments, and fresh thinking to stay effective today on Stories and Strategies. If your public relations plan is just sitting on a digital shelf somewhere that ain't public, it's definitely not relations. And could that be any less effective?

(01:45):

My name is Doug Downs. Hey, just off the top, I want to thank Jason who left us a five star rating on Apple and this cool review. Doug's putting out some great stories and conversation center stage on this show. Tremendous insight for listeners in all aspects of life and business. Highly recommend checking this podcast out. Jason, thank you so much. And I got to confess, see, I get the credit in the review and then there are folks behind the scenes like Emily Page, our producer who I'm not going to be pedantic and say the real brains and all that stuff, but it's a team. It's a team that puts this together, including em, their producer, and amazing guests. Like now five times guest, Michelle Garrett joining from Columbus, Ohio. Michelle, five times. Hello. Hello. Do I get a

Michelle Garrett (02:34):

Special? I know on SNL, they hand out, you get a robe on the fifth time as host or whatever.

Doug Downs (02:42):

You know what? We're going to send you a mug. I am going to send you a Stories and Strategies mug and put your photo on the mug and then the QR code because I'm a shameless promoter. Alright, Michelle, you're a freelance PR consultant, writer and speaker you with B2B companies to create content or media coverage and position them as thought leaders in their industries. You're repeatedly ranked among the top 10 most influential PR professionals. This is why we've been back five times. I'm influenced by you and you've written a new book, which is worth checking out B2B PR that gets results, which is kind of the point of PR that debuted as an Amazon bestseller. Great to have you back, Michelle.

Michelle Garrett (03:27):

Thank you so much for having me, Doug. I just adore our conversations.

Doug Downs (03:31):

Me too, me too. I dunno about you. But I find myself in the habit of often having built a comms plan, and I know the next job is to execute the plan, but I don't. I tuck the plan away. In the olden days, I'd put it up on a shelf these days I'd put it on a cloud shelf and then two years later, a year later, however much I pull it down from the shelf, oh, there's my plan. I blow the dust off of it. We should really refresh this thing. What were we supposed to be doing here? I do this all the time. Why do I do that?

Michelle Garrett (04:07):

I mean, it's a common problem. I mean, I see this happen a lot and that's part of the reason why I always feel like if you don't know how to execute the plan, it's really only as good as the paper it's printed on. So

Doug Downs (04:22):

I guess step one is really an honest assessment of what's working and what's not when it comes to refreshing the plan. Walk me through some of that.

Michelle Garrett (04:29):

Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of times when it comes to figuring out what you are doing or why, it's really about why you want to do the thing that you want to do. So if you don't have a reason, because I think a lot of times in my position anyway as a consultant, the client might come and maybe they're getting directives from the C-suite that say, go out and do this thing. And so they come to me and they say, okay, we need to do this thing. And you're like, but why are we doing it? So you have to be able to answer the question, why are we doing it? What do we want to accomplish with this? And then once you understand that, of course you have to know where if you're going to measure results, where are you now you have to benchmark where things stand right now to understand if you're making progress or not, because otherwise I think a lot of people are just kind of chasing their tail. They're not really, they don't understand why they're doing what they're doing and they don't know if they're actually making any headway doing the thing that they're doing.

Doug Downs (05:29):

And so often we do what feels right. I have a hunch I got feedback from my neighbor about, which is cool. I'm not discounting that's organic, but what are some of the key metrics we should be using? And if I can, to move you beyond media mentions and backlinks and for heaven's sake impressions and on YouTube views. I love all of them,

Michelle Garrett (05:57):

Right?

Doug Downs (05:57):

They're an entryway, but my goodness, they're not the metrics we should be hanging our hat on,

Michelle Garrett (06:02):

Right? Well, I think with pr it is hard when somebody asks you for metrics, it can be difficult, right? Because PR is laddering up to a bigger overall marketing picture usually. And so I feel like that's part of that conversation, and again, I just feel like we just need to have some more conversations around what we're doing, why we're doing it, what we want to measure first, and then the other things kind of fall into place a little bit better. But I think a lot of times those conversations are not had, and it's kind of like PR is an order taker. We run off and do the bidding of the client, or maybe it's an internal boss or manager, whatever,

(06:42):

And so we're not really figuring out what it is we're trying to measure. Now, I would say one thing that I would not measure, and I've seen this with agencies before, is the number of pitches that are being sent out. For example, if you're doing media relations in a PR program, because you could send out a thousand pitches, but if they're bad pitches, they're crappy, you're not going to get any coverage. And so it doesn't matter, you could send out pitches all day long if they're not targeted effective, you don't follow up, whatever. There have to be some other metrics in place, I would say to understand are you making headway and are you building momentum? Because in a good PR and ongoing PR program, you should be being invited to contribute to articles. Maybe your executives are being invited to speak at events, things like that.

Doug Downs (07:39):

So what are some of the common mistakes that you see companies making at times when they're evaluating past performance of PR and even marketing efforts?

Michelle Garrett (07:49):

I mean, sometimes I feel like they are not looking at the right things, so maybe they said, well, we put out a press release and nothing happened. Well, did anybody pitch the press release to a list of targeted media outlets or journalists to try to get some coverage for that? They try it once didn't work. They say PR doesn't work. Maybe we aren't going to do that. And sometimes I think it's very kind of a one-off type of initiative PR can be. It's like, well, we have this new thing to announce, we're going to engage in some PR now, but then they go away for six months or a year till they have something else new, and that's not usually very effective as far as getting in front of the media and getting the attention that you want.

Doug Downs (08:37):

If step one is sort of evaluating, actually, let me ask you before we move to step two, is the SWOT analysis still a thing? Because I've really never moved entirely away from it in one way, shape, or form.

Michelle Garrett (08:50):

I mean, I think it's not, I remember working before I went out on my own, I worked at an agency and we used to do the SWOT analysis and I don't really see that as much now, but I do work usually with some smaller companies, and when I say small, I mean 500 employees or that definition of small business, but I think with an enterprise client, you might be engaging more in that type of

Doug Downs (09:17):

Activity. Got it. Okay. Step two would be filling in the gaps, identify the gaps, fill in the gaps, and build a PR strategy that you can keep up with something sustainable. Why is consistency still one of the most effective ways to go about this rather than one-off campaigns?

Michelle Garrett (09:37):

Yeah, I mean, I was just talking about how sometimes companies will say, well, we have a new product or service to announce, so we need to do a PR launch, a campaign, and they'll hire someone do that, and then they won't do anything again for they

Doug Downs (09:51):

Disappear

Michelle Garrett (09:52):

Because yeah, they probably don't have a new product or service to announce every couple months. They might have one once or twice a year. I definitely have seen that in my own practice where companies will come and they'll just want that. I've really moved away from working like that because I don't think it's very effective. You might get some coverage, hopefully you do, but it's not the same as engaging in an ongoing consistent PR effort. To me, that means that you are not only looking at, okay, we have a new product or service. You're looking at thought leadership contributed articles, you're looking at customer stories, you're factoring in other things that you probably are already working on within the company, maybe different departments working on it. That's another thing. The silos build up sometimes. So it's good for the PR team, the content folks, the social media team to all stay in touch with each other, and that makes it a much easier hill to climb as far as keeping things kind of out there constantly and consistently in front of your audiences.

Doug Downs (11:03):

One of the ways to do that is personal branding, and that could be as simple as recording your CEO in a presentation or even an address to staff. Kendall Brightman and I just talked about this last episode, where are you at with the wave of personal branding? Do you see it eclipsing organizational branding or is it just another layer that's becoming an important part of marketing in that case, but complimenting pr?

Michelle Garrett (11:32):

That's a really interesting question because I feel like with maybe younger executives, I've seen that that

Doug Downs (11:41):

And audiences.

Michelle Garrett (11:42):

Yeah, I've seen that more commonly. I don't feel like my clients in the manufacturing space, for example, that have been around for 50 or 75 years, their executives are not really interested in personal branding per se. I don't think it ever hurts. Obviously it helps the individual, but it can really help the company, and I just love it when CEOs and C-suite execs are behind the PR program and are not stingy with their time as far as if you need to interview them and ghostwrite for them for LinkedIn, for example, or something like that. That really helps a lot. And getting them out there in the spotlight really helps not only them, but the company and the PR effort. So I'm really a big fan of that.

Doug Downs (12:29):

Here's something I'm fighting with for my own company. Traditionally I've wanted to be searchable on Google, and I still do love Google owner of YouTube, but more and more people are turning to Chachi PT or Claude or you name the generative AI software and they're searching that way. So how does that change the way companies should be rethinking their PR efforts? And as I dust off my PR plan, what do I do about this? How do I be searchable on ai?

Michelle Garrett (13:06):

Well, I have been talking to some very smart folks about this topic because

(13:11):

I'm really interested in it because for companies that have kind of maybe pushed PR to the back burner, they might want to rethink that because this advice really has always been true, but I feel like it's truer than ever now. You want to be saying yes as much as you can to every single opportunity you have to be out there. That means if you're asked to contribute to an article, if you're asked to be a guest on a podcast, if you're invited to speak in an event, you should be trying to say yes. Sure. You can't probably always say yes, but the one thought leader that I follow was singing the other day. Even if a podcast has two listeners, which I know this one has far more than that, you should still be saying yes to that because you know what? All that content gets ingested by the search, by the ai, the search engines, and they will then recommend you when people are searching for the company to buy from or the expert to come to their event or whatever it might be.

Doug Downs (14:12):

Begin with. Yes, it begins with, yes. Awesome. Okay. Then third step PR more effective in a very rapidly changing media landscape. There's so much media fragmentation. How can brands identify where their audience is actually spending their time?

Michelle Garrett (14:34):

Yeah, I mean, that's a great question too because it really is changing. My hope is that the first thing out of their mouths will not be, we want to be in the Wall Street Journal because everybody wants to be in the Wall Street Journal, and that's not wrong or bad, and you can certainly put them on their media list, but you should really be looking at trade publications for B2B coins, that is really where it's at. That's where the audience is spending time. You could look at industry associations that you're a member of. They all have publications, they have newsletters, influencers in the space usually have newsletters,

Doug Downs (15:09):

Podcasts,

Michelle Garrett (15:10):

Yeah. Yes. All of those

Doug Downs (15:12):

YouTube channels.

Michelle Garrett (15:13):

Yes, yes. So you need to be kind of looking beyond, I guess, what the norm would be and factoring all that in. And again, I don't look at any opportunity as not worthwhile. And I hope that that also changes because I think sometimes they'll be like, well, we want to be in the Wall Street Journal. We don't care about the local business journal, or we don't care about the trade journal. They really should be caring about all of those outlets. And in fact, the AI based search loves trade publications because a lot of that content isn't behind paywalls. It's not gated.

Doug Downs (15:49):

That's such a good point. I know with some of the large corporations where I've been in-house and led media, we would hear all kinds of different ideas, and there'd always be a suggestion from an engineer who had this really cool draft widget that they'd come up with or some different methodology, and I'd listen to it and I barely understand it, and there's no way I can pitch that to the local paper. They won't get it. It's useless. Most people won't understand it, but I would file it away as find a trade publication that deals with blue widgets and that that's their life. So that would be my, if it was like the Harvard time management box, important to you, important to me, important to me, not important to you, so on and so on, this was the classic, not important to the company, not important to the media, but if you found a trade pub dealing in blue widgets, you'd pitch it. It was the niches. And in 2025, I think what I'm hearing from you is the riches are in the niches. Find them.

Michelle Garrett (16:58):

That's right. Your audience is splintered. We see that obviously with streaming services and traditional TV watching is over, but now you have to have 10 different streaming services in order to watch shows that you want to watch. So those folks are trying to find their audiences too, and that it's a challenge. So you got to figure out where most you can reach the most, the biggest share of your audience. I don't think you can do every social media outlet, for example, or every publication out there. So there's still some research to be done, agreed and tweaking along the way.

Doug Downs (17:37):

You touched on this about leaders, CEOs, but it doesn't have to be the CEO, it can be the CMO or the CFO playing a more active role in PRS efforts, lending their name and their reputation. I'm a big fan of personal branding, quite frankly. I think gradually, certainly Gen Z and millennials, not so much Gen X, not boomers, but I think they identify with the who and not the what. Right? And that's how they determine their why. So, and the who is the CEO? The CFO or strong voices that are down on the industrial floor within the company, how do leaders lend themselves more to the PR efforts, and how freaking time consuming is that?

Michelle Garrett (18:23):

Well, they are busy, so I think that's why they do need somebody who can sit down and just, I don't want to say pick their brains, but interview them, which I do with especially one of my clients. Their CEO sits down with me quarterly and for like an hour, and we just talk and we record it. I take notes, and then we can come back with some ghostwritten content. And of course, he reviews it and you learn their voice over time. And it's another way for them to get their thoughts out there, because these folks have been around. And while they are thought leaders in their space, it's not like they've only been there a year and have nothing to share that's really valuable. It's just that they're too busy to sit down and write, or they just, I don't know. It's helpful to have somebody to do that. So if you don't have anyone like that in house, you can always bring in somebody from outside to help you with that. And it can be factored into what you're doing in so many different ways. So you'll really get a lot of mileage out of it.

Doug Downs (19:30):

Awesome. Always appreciate your time, Michelle.

Michelle Garrett (19:33):

Thank you so much for having me, Doug.

Doug Downs (19:34):

Oh, hey, Kendall Breitman was our guest on our previous episode while she was with us, she left a question behind for you. Okay, what industry trend do you want to leave in 2024? It's over. Go on to the next thing.

Michelle Garrett (19:52):

Well, for me, that involves relying too heavily on AI to do our thinking and our writing for us. Do

Doug Downs (20:01):

You think we will? I think we're doing it more.

Michelle Garrett (20:05):

I do see some brands leaning away from it. I think the trend was really to reg, I don't want to say regurgitate, but to create all this content, but it all sounded like everybody else's content because it was pulling from the same sources. So I think people are understanding that true thought leadership will help them stand out. And honestly, critical thinking is needed now more than ever. And we really cannot allow ourselves to get too far away. I do believe you can use AI tools. I'm not saying that at all that you shouldn't. I'm not saying that I use them too, but I think it's the way that we use them and we just can't let 'em totally take over for us, I guess

Doug Downs (20:45):

I use a news aggregator to grab my, I have so little time for news in my day, and I don't watch TV news if I can help it these days in the evening. But in the afternoon after I work out soup and a sandwich and I have sometimes a half hour to look at Google News and it'll give, just give you the headlines. And this one little box of six headlines, two of the headlines had the word shocking in the headline, and I actually took a screen grab of it, put it out on X, and said, when AI is writing all the headlines these days, I'm shocked. But I've started to see some of those. Or if anybody is delving into a conversation, it's ai. I like that word. I'll use that word. Or organic. You use Delve. You're telling me you use Delve in your vernacular every day.

Michelle Garrett (21:38):

I like Delve. I delve.

Doug Downs (21:45):

Alright. Well, we delved into that. Your turn. What question would you like to leave behind for our next guest?

Michelle Garrett (21:50):

Well, here's my question. So as we are trying to balance our need to follow the news with our mental health, what are some of the ways that you do that? That would be my question.

Doug Downs (22:06):

Oh, wow. Aside from don't watch it

Michelle Garrett (22:11):

In pr. We have to kind of be aware of what's going on. So maybe I'm thinking of it through that lens more, but I know a lot of people who are really struggling, they have a need to know, but they also don't want to go overboard because it can be too much. It can be difficult.

Doug Downs (22:30):

I have a theory, and you're welcome to disagree with it. I have a theory that gradually we're watching listening and reading news sources that right from a perspective that we already agree with. And this is why my opinion, most news sources have a perspective. Now, however you want to define that, are we perhaps choosing those news sources because they agree with our perspective subconsciously to alleviate the pressure on our mental health?

Michelle Garrett (23:03):

Boy, that's really deep. That would take a lot of,

Doug Downs (23:07):

Well, that's what I do. I delve into these things

Michelle Garrett (23:15):

Really well. See, I promote sources that I think are a little bit less biased, maybe like A BBC or The Guardian or something like that. That's where I would probably turn, and that is kind of where I turn. Not that I don't see other news, but I definitely have changed my media diet quite a bit. Those are both uk, Michelle, how dare you do that? They seem to be more accurate, I think a little less. I think even, I mean, I'll just say in the US, I feel like our media outlets are not really getting it.

Doug Downs (23:53):

All of them and each of them.

Michelle Garrett (23:55):

Yeah. I mean maybe pr, maybe Associated Press, something like that. PBS

Doug Downs (24:01):

Writers.

Michelle Garrett (24:01):

Yeah. Yeah, maybe something like that. But as far as what I really follow, I have really changed that quite a bit. And I think that has helped. But also just being on social media, that's personally what I have tried to cut back on. I'm not always successful, but being scrolling all the time is not helpful as far as me keeping informed and also taking care of my mental health.

Doug Downs (24:27):

Amen. Thank you again for your time.

Michelle Garrett (24:30):

Thank you so much.

Doug Downs (24:33):

Alright, here are the top three things I got from Michelle Garrett in this episode. Number one, clarify your purpose and benchmark your progress before execution, ensure you understand why your comms plan exists and what it aims to achieve. Define clear goals and establish benchmarks to measure progress so you're not just going through the motions without direction. Number two, commit to consistency and sustainability. A communications plan shouldn't be a one-off campaign. It needs to be a sustainable, ongoing effort. Build a strategy that aligns PR content and social media teams to keep momentum rather than relying on sporadic bursts of energy. And number three, encourage executives and key voices in your organization to participate in your PR efforts, whether through media appearances, thought leadership, or social engagement. Stay ahead of media trends and AI driven search behaviors to remain relevant and visible. And the bonus thing, I got, number four, if she likes the word delve, that still seems odd to me. If you'd like to send a message to my guest, Michelle gerd, we've got her contact information in the show notes, Stories and Strategies as a co-production of JGR Communications and Stories and Strategies, podcasts. If you like this episode, please leave a rating, possibly a review. Thank you as always, to Ace Producer Emily Page. And lastly, do us a favor forward this episode to one friend. Thanks for listening.