why is the media plan of the press service structured differently?
In an advertising media plan, you buy placement and receive it guaranteed. When working with the media, placement is not bought, but earned: the editors decide for themselves whether to take the material or not. Therefore the main value here is not the budget, but the conversion of pitch to publication, and You need to plan not for money, but for the flow of reasons.
Hence the structure of five sheets: first the reasons, then to whom to carry them, then what happened to them, and only at the end a summary for the manager.
- News feeds. Quarterly calendar: topic, to whom interesting, format, speaker.
- Media database. Edition, type, category, contact and requirements editors.
- Pitches. What was sent to whom, status, response deadline.
- Exits. Publication, coverage, tone, link.
- Report. Plan-fact for seven indicators per month.
what reasons are accepted and what are not?
Your own data is the best: research, market cross-section, statistics that no one else has. This gives the publication a reason to that it cannot receive anywhere else, and therefore passes even there, where regular releases are not taken.
The worst news is about the company itself without numbers: appointment, participation in the exhibition, website update. For an industry portal this is sometimes it passes, for a business publication - almost never. If such a reason still needs to be worked out, it survives only next to something meaningful: a comment on the market or a specific figure.
A separate category is a quick comment on a hot topic. He doesn't planned in the calendar, but you need to know in advance which of your speakers, what you are ready to talk about and how quickly you can agree on the text. The window here is hours, not days.
what is considered a result
Three indicators that are sufficient at the start: the number of exited publications, the share of positive and neutral among them, total coverage. Then the cost of publication is added - the entire budget of the press service for month divided by the number of exits. It is this figure that allows us to compare PR with paid channels.
What you shouldn’t count is the equivalent of the advertising cost of publication. He looks nice in the report and means nothing: editorial text and ad units work differently, and equate them to each other means deceiving ourselves.
lies nearby
Event announcements for the media are linked to media plan for the event. It is convenient to keep the annual rhythm of news feeds in the same grid with advertising - annual media plan. Own channels, where the same content goes, are planned in SMM content plan.
If the material for the publication needs to be collected in a case, the structure and requirements for it is discussed in the article about B2B content on Habr and vc.ru.
Frequently asked questions
- What should be in the media plan of the press service?
- Five blocks: calendar of news events for the quarter with format and speaker, database of publications with editorial requirements, pitch tracker with statuses, accounting of published publications with coverage and tone, monthly report to the manager. It is not the budget that is planned here, but the flow of occasions - placement is not bought, but earned.
- What information sources do the media use?
- The best data is your own: research, market snapshot, statistics that no one else has. The worst thing is news about a company without numbers: appointment, participation in an exhibition, website update. A separate category is a quick comment on a hot topic, but the window is hours, not days.
- How often should you remind a journalist about the pitch?
- Once and three working days after sending. The second reminder moves the sender from the “source” category to the “spam” category. The status is recorded in the tracker: sent, in progress, rejected, failed - otherwise in a month there will be no place to restore the correspondence history.
- How to evaluate the work of the press service?
- Four indicators: the number of published publications, the share of positive and neutral ones, the total coverage and the cost of publication - the monthly budget divided by the number of publications. The equivalent of the advertising cost of a publication should not be calculated: editorial text and an advertising unit work differently.