On the way to stellar PR quiz: Do you have what it takes?

The Laika mothership is back with a short quiz. All companies—big or small—need to communicate about their vision, growth, and milestones. Though at some point, external support is required for brands to become that more visible and attractive, all while building market credibility. A PR agency can help with that. 

There are several reasons and opportunities for companies to take on public relations, such as raising awareness, launching a product, announcing a new investment or hire, a business extension or starting a seasonal campaign—just to mention a few. The problem is: businesses might unwisely rush things if they are not well-prepared. 
It is essential to have a strong foundation to build the strategy upon. Hiring an agency is not the first step to PR. There are some things to consider beforehand to best assess when and how to kick off any PR campaigns.

Before getting clearance to launch and reach for the stars, we want to help you build a proper spaceship. Take our short questionnaire to determine your level of PR readiness: 

Who is your dedicated PR contact person who will pilot the spaceship and facilitate collaboration with the agency? 

A. The Marketing and/or Communications Manager with previous PR experience
B. The Marketing and Content team
C. The founder(s) or CEO 
D. A freelance consultant 
E. We expect the agency to steer the PR spaceship on their own 

Quick tip: Depending on the size and maturity of a company, PR experience within the team differs greatly. PR should not be driven by founders or the CEO for the long term. They have a company to lead and at some point will not have the capacity to prioritize PR, nor do many have enough communications experience to judge all aspects of this specialization. We highly recommend appointing at least one person for PR and communication matters, who knows what the key messages are, and what information they are allowed to share. Ideally, they have an understanding of PR, which they can build upon, and so that they can educate and inform the C-Levels and team at large.  

What are your expectations, and what do you want to achieve with PR? 

A. We took time to reflect on our KPIs and are in it for the long run. We want to educate media, be positioned as a top-of-mind brand, and generate a regular drumbeat around our company and products.
B. We aspire to establish a longer collaboration with the agency, but we want to test the waters with a project first. Our goal is to raise awareness, establish our expert voice and educate the market.
C. We want to raise awareness, educate the market about our solution, measure PR’s ROI, and get quick results.
D. Not sure yet. We want to try it out, because our competitors are doing PR. Also, other start-ups are getting plenty of media coverage.
E. All we want is to generate business leads and drive sales.

How far are you with your corporate brand and collaterals (boilerplate, bios, visuals, press kits, etc.)?

A. Our vision, mission and key messages are well-defined. They are consistent throughout all documents and content, and are available on our press pages (with media kit, pictures, logo, bios, about us, press releases, etc.).
B. Our vision, mission and key messages are defined, but we do not have a proper media kit.
C. Our vision, mission are defined, but we are struggling with our key messages. Press collaterals are not available. 
D. Our vision and mission are in progress, but definitely not final.
E. We have no clear corporate brand and mission defined yet.

Who is your go-to spokesperson and can speak for the company?

A. We have trained and experienced spokespeople on the C-Level and/or on the investors side for different topics (e.g. CEO, CTO, COO, etc.).
B. Our local Country Managers are open for interviews and speaking slots.
C. Our C-level, Country Managers or investors can be activated for interviews, depending on the topic, but could use media training.
D. Our founder or CEO is the contact person for interviews, but certainly needs media training.
E. No one feels comfortable enough to talk to media.

Which assets (internal and external) do you have available?

A. We have an experienced and well-connected team in sales, communications, and in-house graphic designers, in order to provide all necessary assets for PR purposes. We also invest in data-driven stories, case studies, and marketing to support PR efforts.
B. We have a team of professionals in sales, marketing and graphic design. With enough time, we can provide the required imagery and content. We can activate a budget for studies and other campaigns if necessary. 
C. We have a small team of professionals in sales and marketing, but no in-house communication or graphic designer. Furthermore, we require reviewing and approving any requests for external providers.
D. We are growing and have no dedicated sales or communications teams yet. We are limited on budget for marketing and PR purposes.
E. As a very recent start-up or small business, we have very limited personal and financial resources. 

What makes your company/product newsworthy?

A. Our company is very vibrant. We have a lot of new and interesting stories, we can run data-driven stories regularly, and we have a big pool of loyal customers we can always ask for testimonials.
B. We regularly have feature launches, partnerships, or funding announcements, we’re definitely open for bigger and creative campaigns and have a blog where we regularly post new expert content.
C. We have some announcements throughout the year, but not on a regular basis. We are more focused on acquiring clients whom we could use for case studies. We are relying on the PR Agency to help us find creative Ideas.
D. We have very few announcements and no concrete case study leads so far, but we are working on it.
E. Nothing much really...maybe one investment round we completed a month ago.

Congratulations! Let’s see how you did:

Results

As-Bs: Great job! You and your team are well-prepared space travelers and ready to take on the PR journey. You are a straight A company? You have all you need to go on a great PR journey. You have some Bs in the mix? No problem, you have a great foundation for PR, and with a few tweaks can become better prepared to launch. Having access to spokespeople, client references and having an open mind for new ideas and story angles is key in elevating your brand awareness. 

How we can help: 
You are curious to try out new ideas, and so are we. Giving us a full picture on your messaging and evolution is very valuable and helps us go the extra mile to get you covered by the media that are most relevant to you. And if you have some improvements to do on visuals, messaging, or media training, Laika can help you fill the gaps. The most important aspects for us in this partnership are openness, timely updates on any corporate news or plans, a willingness to learn, quick feedback loops and access to spokespeople.

Cs: Mainly Cs throughout the questionnaire show that your PR will is strong—and we love that. You are surely a growing company, and you want to use that to get visibility through PR. The results are critical to the company to measure impact. 

How can we help: 
We want to start our partnership on the right foot. If you are not really familiar with our work and PR in general, we can kick things off with our PR & Media Relations workshop. At the same time, it is essential to review and work on your basic PR tools and messaging. It might seem overrated for some, but the time we invest in this part at the beginning is less time wasted afterwards. Be patient! PR is a continuous effort, and usually requires time to really pay off. We always measure and plan our PR actions to a certain extent. We are not an SEO or Marketing Agency, though. Our main goal is really to improve your earned reputation. 

Ds-Es: Let’s stay on planet earth and work on the spaceship a little longer. If you’re closer to D, you do have all the necessary parts for your rocket. You are experimenting a lot. You don’t necessarily have a budget for a monthly retainer, but you have some great opportunities pilling up. You’re closer to E? At this stage, it is a bit too early to think about PR. Only with the right preparation and set-up can PR actually yield satisfying results and help your company grow. If you are new to the market or going through a major rebranding... Let’s focus on that. 

How can we help:
A PR campaign might not be the best journey to go on at the moment but, we also have experience in helping companies create a strong brand and messaging. In that case, we can accompany you on this journey with our brand workshop. Rest assured that ones we gathered all the necessary pieces, we will be happy to advise you on PR topics. 

Where do you stand? Let us know, and if you have questions, we’d be happy to discuss that with you.
If you are ready for your PR journey, please feel free to request a quote from us.