Forget Con Air – create your own business blockbuster with PR Con Reps

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Scottish PR agency explains how to drive along the plot with a tool you can really keep track of

Scottish PR agency explains the importance of contact reports

WE HEAR you. What you want for your business is the kind of positive and frequent media coverage normally enjoyed by TV and movie stars.

Yet you might be worried by an issue which often plagues public relations – the myth that PR success is difficult to define, hard to track and, well, just a wee bit fuzzy.

So let us introduce the Con Rep –  or the humble contact report.

It’s a simple, at-a-glance tool which should reassure you that PR isn’t remotely fuzzy and is actually all about forensic planning, nailed-down deliverables, trackable activity and clear, easy-to-understand measurement.

In short, it makes sure your business PR progresses exactly the way you want it to, letting you check and benchmark that progress at any time.

While our artwork for this post has been inspired by the 1997 action blockbuster, Con Air, we can’t promise you mid-air fight scenes between John Malkovich and Nicolas Cage among a plane-full of criminal. However, we can offer assurance – from long years of experience –  that a Con Rep will help ensure a smooth flight to your destination when it comes to a public relations campaign.

A trio of Hollywood stars appeared in the instantly recognisable Con Air movie poster

And we hope this post about contact reports – one of the most fundamental tools in the PR toolkit – will help address a number of concerns we have heard over the years (exactly the kind of nagging doubts that may be preventing you from exploring PR for your business), such as:

“Oh the problem with PR folk is that they can’t actually demonstrate what impact their work has.”

 “The big issue with PR agencies we’ve used, is that we never really know what they’re doing at any given time.”

 “I’ve just never felt my PR agency has really grasped what I want and expect from them and there’s no easy way for me to show them.”

The simple solution to all of these worries is the humble Con Rep. Read on to find out more.

 


So, what does a Con Rep look like?

 Colour coded contact reports provide to clients of public relations agency Holyrood PR in Scotland

Typically, our contact reports have three or four simple and easy-to-follow sections, which are colour coded and usually include:

  • A rundown of the work carried out in the preceding month
    This lets you update any members of your team who may not have been privy to the most recent PR efforts, as well as refreshing your memory or what’s been done or what needs to be moved on a bit.
  • What the month ahead looks like
    The perfect place for us to let you know our plans for the upcoming weeks and therefore a vital opportunity for you to step in and let us know if there is any activity you have in mind where our time may be better invested.
  • A longer-term forward planner
    This is awash with bright ideas and allows us to prepare and plan for activity months ahead, while also allowing everyone to flag up important dates and milestone well in advance to ensure proper preparation.
  • A breakdown of successes achieved in the month just past
    This ensures you know what coverage was achieved, levels of social media engagement achieved and what other vital business objectives were realised. It is your regular barometer of what success looks like.

However, the most important thing about a contact report is that it should work for YOU. Some clients prefer at-a-glance reporting, so we’re happy to pull together simple, graphics-based contact reports for clients who prefer that approach (like the one in the centre of the image, above).


Okay, but why do they really matter to me?

Colourful Scottish Banks notes of various denominationsContact reports are a vital way of ensuring you get enough bang for your buck from your PR agency. There’s no hiding place on a contact report. If something hasn’t been done when you wanted it to be done, it’ll be there in black and white.

If something hasn’t achieved the results you expected, it’ll be obvious when looking at your monthly report. Con Reps cut through the flimflam and ensure you can be happy with what we’re doing and when we’re doing it.

Nothing gets missed, nothing falls off the radar, nothing slips through the net. They save you a shedload of time worrying about keeping on top of all the things you’ve asked your PR agency to do, as it’s all handled for you.

All that’s left for you is to distribute it around your team and make sure they’re doing their bit to support your essential PR activity – and watch with a warm glow as the positive results and successes roll in.


Find out how a monthly contact report could keep your business PR campaign on track

The team at our Scottish PR agency would love the chance to explain how cost-effective PR services could benefit your business.

Why not pick up the phone to us on 0131 561 2244 or fill out the form below to find out why PR will help your business get ahead and own an all singing, all dancing contact report of your own.

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