1. Background
This should provide enough detail about your requirements for someone with
little knowledge of the subject to understand the key issues to be
addressed by the campaign.
2. Research
Include any research results that will support the communications
campaign.
3. Previous communications
If you have previously communicated on this subject, provide details of
target audiences, details of the previous campaign and its effectiveness.
4. Aims
What is the desired outcome of the campaign? State your aims.
5. Objectives
Will you be seeking to raise awareness about a product or service? Change
attitudes or behaviour? Your objectives should be clear, specific and
measurable. They should be written in simple, jargon-free, detail as they
will provide an overarching concept for the campaign.
6. Target audience
Exactly who do you want to receive your message. Target audiences can be
described in terms of current behaviour, level of awareness, level of
knowledge, preferred methods of receiving information and their
motivations/barriers to hearing and accepting the information. The more
thoroughly you understand your target audience, the higher the probability
of success.
7. Key messages
Be clear about the purpose of the campaign. If not, a lack of clarity will
be exaggerated and unclear messages could result in a weak strategy and
probably a weak campaign.
8. Budget
What is your budget? If no budget is specified in the brief then your
consultant will have to guess what is wanted and a level of activity may
be proposed that exceeds or does not match up to what you had in mind.
9. Timeline
Provide an outline of the timing for the campaign. Results take time and
your consultants will need to know the timescale they are working to.
10. Evaluation
How will you evaluate the success of your campaign? If you fail to build
in plans to evaluate the campaign, how will you know if it was successful
and your money was well spent? Conversely, if things don't work,
evaluation will help identify where things went wrong.
The
key to getting the best out of your public relations consultants is, quite
simply, to let them know exactly what you want. What could be easier?