Your 2018 PR Plan: Yes, You Should Have One

What’s you PR plan for 2018? Many law firms don’t have one and it baffles me. Not having one is a mistake.

It's been my experience that often lawyers are still unsure of what PR is and they often confuse PR with marketing, but they’re not the same thing. Of course those of us in the trenches know, Marketing and Pr are best when used together, sometimes teh two get confused. Marketing focuses on selling legal services, PR focuses on relationship-building,brand image and utilizes content creation, social media, and talking to the press to acheive those goals.

In my opinion, PR is essential for effective branding.

PR helps obtain and leverage media opportunities and we all know, positive media exposure is valuable. Your PR Plan will help you define general media interaction strategies that are in line with your goals and help you to stay consistent with your overall brand and image.

In this highly charged environment, it benefits your business if you include in the PR plan an effective crisis plan that will help you recover from mistakes or crisis should one occur. Nobody likes to assume some kind of public mistake or be involved in a controversy, but it happens and these days, more often than you would like. Companies that bounce back fastest are usually the ones with good PR plans.

Having a good public relations plan is important. If you interface with the public then you need a plan for keeping those interactions professional and positive. Start working on your 2018 public relations plan. It's something you'll be glad you have down the road.