Hey there,
It’s been such a long time since I wrote here. Life happened, gadgets got damaged, priorities changed, work became more demanding and the life of a PR consultant was just fully loaded. It feels like a lot writing on this blog, but I am super excited to be back with so much gist and details about the exciting world of PR.
Now to my topic! Goal setting and how it is important in Public Relations (PR). What is a goal you may ask? Locke and Latham (1990) define a goal as “an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve”. I recently spent the holiday season reading the book Goals by Brian Tracy and I can say for a fact that writing a goal is a serious task that must be done with care and due diligence. What do you want for yourself? What do you hope to achieve and what plans do you intend to take to ensure that your vision comes to life? These are some of the questions you may need to consider.
In PR, you have to have a goal for your PR plans or campaigns, it helps in guiding you on what aspects of your ideas you want to bring to life. It helps you to know the direction, the focus and the expectations that you hope to achieve. An example of a PR goal is to be the most recognized customer-friendly ecommerce business in Asia within the next 36 months. That’s a goal, which you can then break down into steps and SMART objectives on how you want to accomplish it.
To piggyback on Goals in general, it’s a new year, although we are already in the second month of the year. It’s usually about that time when people start to rest on their laurels after setting goals for the year. If your eye is not on the vision and the set plans that you have laid out, the chances of achieving that goal may be limited.
Back to PR, here are some quick reasons why goal setting is important in PR:
- It helps with the direction of your plan: When there is a goal, you tend to make relevant plans that lead you to a good direction with whatever PR campaign you are trying to accomplish. When you set goals, it draws a clearer picture of the direction of your thoughts and ideas.
- It guides your strategy: In setting a goal, you are better able to strategize in terms of your “how. How do you want to accomplish your goals? What strategy best suits your goals? It makes you question if you are doing the right thing etc.
- It narrows your focus to the most important things: Focusing on trivial things can mar your PR campaign. For a successful PR campaign to occur, there has to be a focus on the most important thing and that’s where goal setting comes in. If you have a goal, there will be clarity on the direction, the strategy and the focus. Important things will be thought about and anything that is irrelevant to the plan will be set aside.
Also note that in PR, goals are quite different from objectives, because goals can be broad or generic, while objectives are usually more Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-Bound (SMART). In the next post, I will be writing about how to plan your PR objectives. However, please remember that goals are like the beacon in the dark, that tells you where the pathway towards a successful PR campaign or any personal achievement can be found.
I hope you enjoyed reading up to this point, thank you! Join me bi-monthly in my journey into the PR world where I discuss challenges, tips, pointers, and wins in the PR career space. See you soon!
Warm regards,
The PR Chic
