While there are many ways to increase your productivity and get more done, setting goals is probably one of the most important steps to take. Because, after all, how will you know what you need to get done if you’ve never taken the time to define the outcome you want?
Start with SMART Goals
Starting off, it’s crucial that you set SMART PR goals for your company for the coming months and even the whole year. Chances are you already have a clear idea of the products you will be launching and the campaigns you will have going on, so be sure to have clear goals in mind of what you want to achieve with all your initiatives in terms of PR. This could include being featured in a particular publication, attracting a certain number of attendees to one of your events or increasing your social media reach by a given percentage.
Following the SMART framework will help you put goals in place that are clear and reachable. They fulfill the following criteria: They are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Thanks to this, your goals will be easier for your team to work toward, giving them the extra motivation they need to do their best to reach an ambitious mark.
Break Each Goal Down
Once you know what your SMART goals are, and your team is behind you, break each one down into the tasks you need to accomplish in order to achieve it. This can include big things such as sourcing suitable KOLs for your campaigns, as well as smaller ones such as planning enough time for revisions of your promotional materials. Go ahead and be very detailed here. That way you will avoid missing necessary steps and getting thrown off schedule later down the road.
When you have all your individual tasks written out, you can start creating action plans by month, quarter and for the whole year. By doing this you will know exactly when you should be doing what and will have an easy time keeping track of deadlines and avoiding delays.
Schedule Your Tasks by Week
This is something you can do with your team leaders or department heads. Sitting down with them will make it easier to decide how much work can realistically be done each week. It will also provide a clear overview of how your work will develop and take shape over the weeks and months to come.
Working closely with your team when establishing this schedule is important because they will have the best idea of how much time various tasks can or should take and which person is best suited for them. Be sure not to overburden any department because this will likely lead to delays or work not being done to your standards, neither of which is something you want.
Revise and Correct Course
Having a list of goals and detailed action plans in place is a great place to start. However, because there are always unexpected occurrences popping up, you will most likely have to go back and change your plans every once in a while. This could be because you achieved a goal earlier than you thought, or because you had to postpone one of your events because of reasons outside of your control. Maybe a new client is taking more of your time than previously expected and you can’t devote as many resources to your goal as you would have liked.
These things can and will happen but are no reason to lose sight of your targets. Take the time every two weeks or every month to evaluate how far you have come. A great way to do this is to set up tracking for all your goals and monitor them on a regular basis. Then you can make the necessary adjustments, stay on track and be sure to celebrate plenty of successes all throughout 2018.
If you need a partner to assist you with setting targets and creating your action plans, get in touch with us by e-mail or have a look around our website www.midas-pr.com to learn how we can help you to stand out and reach your PR goals in the new year.