The Importance of Early Involvement for PR Teams

Please stop bringing your COMMs team into projects at the very last minute when you need them to "whip up a quick flyer" or "post this to social media"... 🙏🏾 A good communications strategy starts at the BEGINNING of a project, not the end. Bringing in your communications professional early in the process allows them to ask the right questions and build a thoughtful strategy: 👉🏽 Who’s involved in this project? Are there partners or stakeholders to consider? 👉🏽 What are we trying to accomplish? Awareness, engagement, attendance, or something else? 👉🏽 What’s the context of this project? Communications professionals need to understand the details and nuances of your work and the project - what matters, why it matters, and how to communicate it correctly and effectively. 👉🏽 What, if anything, has already been done? Knowing what’s in place prevents duplicating efforts, gives us an opportunity to identify any gaps that need filling, and ensure a consistent look and feel. When communications professionals are involved early, we can think strategically about the project instead of rushing to create something last minute. Not many people enjoy “building the plane while flying it.” That’s unnecessarily stressful. If you want the best possible marketing and Communications efforts, bring your comms to the table from the start. This helps everyone involved. Fellow communications professionals: How do you advocate for being involved early in the process? 🤔

When the PR team says they need to know about announcements in advance, that doesn't mean 30 minutes ahead of the release time. It means when the schedule of announcements is being planned out. Long before a press release is written (even though we should be the ones writing it, but that's another story). We need time to deeply understand the story. To research which media would be most appropriate for outreach. To craft pitches that will get your story noticed. Failing to include the PR team in the planning stages of news that will be distributed from your company - to the public - will severely impact the team's ability to deliver the results you pay us to get for you.

PR and comms shouldn’t be an afterthought in a corporate process, it should be integral throughout. As a corporate comms leader, I have always advocated that someone from the comms team should be brought in earlier in processes like new product development, significant HR decisions, or new public facing initiatives instead of being handed something that’s close to or already baked and being asked to get the word out, get coverage, or even prepare for public backlash. Your comms team knows what makes something newsworthy or not and has their finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the media. They can help shape decisions along the process that can make for a more successful announcement or launch or mitigate a possible crisis. In addition, the comms rep can learn from engineers, marketers, or HR why something was designed the way it was, what features set it apart, what gap it was meant to fill in a product line, how it could be setting the market or why HR decision was made. All things that can help feed into the PR strategy and messaging. Waiting until the end of the process and handing it to comms team puts them at an avoidable disadvantage. Get them involved early and both sides will be happier and more successful.

Many communications campaigns go off the rails because the PR/comms pros weren't at the table when the concept was created. Too many times, we've been handed a concept and been told, "Go get coverage." When we offer alternatives, we're told that the decision has been made. That's a bit like taking your car to a mechanic and telling her you need new sparkplugs because it's running poorly. After looking at your car, the mechanic — as the expert— advises you that it's a different issue. "I've decided it's the spark plugs, so please just do what I ask." And guess what? It doesn't work, and everyone is irritated. Bring in your comms team at the very beginning. It's our job to see ways to bring stories to life. We can offer ways to adjust tactics to get the most bang for the buck. A good comms professional will tell you when something likely won't gain traction and can help you identify what will. Sometimes, the story you think is perfect for general news is more suited to an industry vertical. Other times, a different approach to a story can make it even more appealing. And sometimes, there really isn't a story and we can help you find one. It's a team effort. Bring in your entire team from the beginning. #pr #publicrelations #processnotproject #comms #teamwork