8 Steps to Create Winning PR Campaigns (with Examples)

When a company runs a successful PR campaign, the benefits are endless: increased customer loyalty, improved visibility, and the potential for increased sales.

But how do you actually run a successful PR campaign?

The secret is that there is no secret. Some of the most successful PR campaigns are seemingly random, but they all have one thing in common: they capture their audience's attention.

In the modern digital landscape, brands are competing for consumers' attention from every angle imaginable. This article will outline eight steps to help you create a winning PR campaign that captures the attention of your target audience.

What is a PR campaign?

Public relations (PR) is a communication strategy that helps build relationships between organizations and the public.

A PR strategy involves:

1. Determining business goals and objectives to find the best course of action.
2. Researching target audiences and how they respond to different messaging.
3. Crafting compelling messages that appeal to those audiences.
4. Distributing those messages through a variety of channels, including digital, print, radio, and television using press release distribution services.

A PR campaign is a series of activities designed to achieve specific goals in an effort to improve the image or reputation of a brand or organization. It is an organized effort that involves research, strategy development, and implementation.

There are several types of press releases and PR campaigns:

• Media relations: Engaging the press to help garner publicity for a brand or organization.
• Social media: Using social media channels like Twitter and Facebook to engage with consumers and build relationships.
• Crisis management: Developing strategies to manage dark PR and negative publicity.
• Event-based PR: Marketing events such as product launches, conferences, and trade shows.
• Influencer marketing: Leveraging the relationships between influential people and brands to gain exposure.
• Celebrity endorsements: Getting your product in front of millions of people by attaching someone famous' name to it.
• Cause-related PR: Aligning your brand with a social or environmental cause to create a positive image.

The importance of PR lies in its ability to impact public opinion. A successful PR campaign can increase brand visibility, establish credibility, and create a positive reputation for the organization.

8 expert steps to create killer PR campaigns

Several factors determine whether a PR campaign is successful or not, but creating one isn't as complicated as you may think.

Now that you know what a PR campaign is and why it’s important, here are eight steps to help you create effective campaigns that will capture your target audience’s attention and generate positive publicity.

Identify your target audience.

Before you do anything, you need to know who your target audience is. Identifying the right people to target is essential to creating a successful PR campaign.

Google Glass was a perfect example of why you need to take time to research your target audience. Instead of showing the countless ways it could enrich the work of factory workers, surgeons, and so many others, they clearly defined it as "for the average consumer."

So, when the "Explorer Program" released Glass to early adopters and celebrities, it created significant buzz as the state-of-the-art technology that no one could get their hands on. And it faced backlash from early adopters.

Had they planned their PR campaign around specific industries where the technology had clear applications (e.g., healthcare, manufacturing), they would've potentially been able to refine the product based on real-world use cases before eventually expanding to the consumer market.

If you aren't sure what your target audience is, there are a few ways to find out:

• Use Google Analytics to identify your website visitors and track data.
• Use a social listening tool to monitor social media conversations to see what people say about your brand or industry.
• Survey customers and prospects to get feedback on their interests and preferences.

Some businesses also create user or buyer personas, which are fictional characters that represent their ideal customer. This can help you further refine your targeting and create a deeper understanding of the people engaging with your brand.

Set goals based on your business needs.

This is where you determine what success looks like and create a roadmap of where to go. Every business is unique, and the objectives of those in the hospitality industry for example, can differ significantly from those in e-commerce.

Often, businesses have one or more of the following goals and objectives:

• Increase brand awareness
• Generate more leads or sales
• Improve customer loyalty and engagement
• Develop relationships with key influencers
• Secure media coverage

Take into consideration the needs of your business here. Launching a new product? You might want to focus on building awareness or generating sales. Trying to win over their trust as an eco-conscious brand? Securing positive media coverage will get you there.

Choose the right digital platforms.

When planning your PR campaign, there are several earned, paid, owned, and shared distribution channels you can pick from:

• Instagram: Best for visual storytelling and engaging with customers right where they are.
• TikTok: Best for user-generated content (UGC), influencer marketing, and reach.
• Facebook: Good for reaching a wide audience, building relationships, and sharing content with targeted viewers.
• X (Twitter): Ideal for real-time conversations and distributing news quickly.
• YouTube: A great platform for creating videos that are shareable and entertaining.
• Podcasts: Best for humanizing your brand and creating an intimate connection with your listeners and key company stakeholders.
• Blogs and articles: Excellent for providing valuable information, establishing thought leadership, or promoting a new product.
• The press: Great for reaching a large audience with your message, but it takes time and effort to build relationships with journalists.
• Major publications: Washington Post, Entrepreneur, Forbes, and the like are great for establishing credibility with your audience, generating buzz around a product launch, or building authority.

You can also leverage multiple platforms to achieve better reach. Consider creating content that caters to each platform's strengths and provides value to the reader. For example, Instagram might be best for visuals, while Twitter (X) might be better for quickly digestible content.

From a global PR perspective, using multiple channels might be the best way to reach different audiences.

Create eye-catching press releases.

Especially if you plan to run more than one PR campaign, it’s important to create press templates to make sure that each campaign has a consistent look and feel. This will help you maintain brand recognition and ensure your message is clear and concise.

Your press template should include:

• Header: A bold headline that grabs attention and communicates what the campaign is about in one sentence.
  Body copy: A few paragraphs that explain the purpose of the campaign, why it’s important, and any key features or benefits.
• Visual elements: Photos, videos, illustrations, or other visuals to break up large chunks of text and draw attention to key sections
• Call-to-action: An actionable sentence at the end of the press release to get readers to do something, like visit your website or sign up for updates.

It’s really not rocket science. Here’s an example from Jack Dorsey’s Twitter resignation:

Press templates also save you lots of time when creating press releases, as they can quickly refer to the template and make changes as needed. And if you outsource PR services, they'll appreciate the organization and clarity that a template provides.

Build an outstanding campaign.

Once you've laid the groundwork, you can get to work on your campaign. This is where you'll put your creative ideas into action and come up with the content that will make your campaign stand out.

You can start by creating a content strategy, which outlines what type of content you’ll create, when it’ll be released, which channels it will be published on, and how often. You should also document who your audience is and tailor content to their needs.

For example, if your target audience is young professionals, you might focus on creating informational content for social media or appearing on podcasts with experts in your field.

When it comes to crafting the actual content, there’s no real science to it. You just have to be creative and come up with ideas that capture the attention of your target audience and are relatable for them.

Storytelling will be one of the most critical components of your campaign, as it engages readers and keeps them hooked from start to finish. People retain 65-70% of information shared via a story, compared to 5-10% from facts alone.

Know how to measure effectiveness.

You need a way to measure whether or not all of the above is working or not. The most important PR metrics are:
Impressions: The number of times your target audience sees your message.

• Engagement: How many people interacted with or took action on your message.
• Media mentions: The number of times you were mentioned in the press or on social media channels.
• Sentiment analysis: How people feel about your brand and message based on the feedback you receive and what they say online.

Companies also track their conversions, but it can be challenging to attribute conversions to a specific PR campaign.

Other metrics that are important to measure include reach (the number of people who saw your message), engagement (likes, comments, shares etc.), website traffic, and conversions.

Keep in mind: Measuring the effectiveness of PR is an ongoing process. As you gather data, review it regularly and make changes as needed. This will help you ensure the success of future campaigns.

Use PR tools to monitor public relations.

PR tools make our lives easier, and they'll do the same for you.

Don't run a PR campaign without these essential tools in your tech stack:

• Media monitoring: These tools track and analyze media coverage about your brand, competitors, and industry. Examples include Meltwater, Brandwatch, and Talkwalker.
• Press release distribution: Press release distribution tools are used to submit press releases to news outlets, websites, and social media channels. Examples include PRWeb, Prowly and PressRush.
• Influencer marketing: These platforms help you identify potential influencers with engaged audiences in your space. Examples include Buzzsumo, IZEA, and Traackr.
• Analytics: Analytics tools visualize the impact of your campaigns and make improvements where needed. Google Analytics is the best free software, and Sprout Social is a robust platform that does it all.
• Social media tracking: Tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Mention track engagement across social media channels so you can better target your audiences. You can even use them to manage multiple social media accounts from one place.

Using these tools allows you to streamline your PR campaigns and track their effectiveness, so you can make sure they're successful (and fix them where they're not). They also bring the cost of PR down by automating and error-proofing manual processes.

A/B test everything.

A/B testing isn’t just for marketers. It’s a must for smart, strategic celebrity PR. But it is different — in the PR world, there are no traditional “click-through rates."

Here’s how we do it:

• Try different headlines or angles in press outreach. For example, pitch one version of your story as “celebrity launches mental health app,” and another as “celebrity uses personal story to bring mental health support to underserved teens.” Track which gets picked up more.
• Test your talking points during interviews or appearances. You (or your team) can rotate slightly different key phrases or emotional hooks and monitor audience reactions on social media, press coverage, and public sentiment.
• Use social media as a test lab. Post two slightly different takes on the same message — one on Instagram Stories and another on X or TikTok — and analyze engagement, comments, and reposts. What sparks more dialogue? What tone feels more natural?

Tip: If you’re managing PR for a high-profile figure, this testing needs to happen behind the scenes in controlled rollouts, soft pitches, and staggered social content.

8 of our favorite PR campaign examples

Public relations is highly nuanced, and it can be difficult to understand how successful campaigns are put together. The above process and tips will help you get started, but to really understand PR campaigns, it's helpful to see some examples of successful ones.

To help you see the possibilities, here are eight of the best PR campaign examples:

#RebuildTheWorld campaign by LEGO

When the pandemic hit the world, LEGO wanted to make a statement that encouraged kids and adults alike to build the world back up. They launched the hashtag campaign to inspire people around the globe with user-generated content.

The result of the campaign was 92,000 tweets of #RebuildTheWorld and a 35% uptick in positive sentiment towards the brand.

First, LEGO teased the campaign with short, theatrical videos that raised awareness of the hashtag.

Then, they revealed the secret with intense, creative content that showcased the possibilities of a new world.

They also engaged influencers such as Mark Ronson to help spread the hashtag and their message.

The result of this campaign was the return of LEGO's beloved ad campaigns with a fresh, modern twist in an attempt to bring people together.

KFC Chicken Shortage Campaign

When KFC stores across the UK ran out of chicken in 2018, the company needed to do something big and fast. So they launched a campaign that turned their mistake into an opportunity by rearranging their three letters to "FCK," accompanying it with a message that read, "We're Sorry" and a written message below.

Because the campaign was light, fun, and creative, KFC lovers and marketing fanatics alike praised the campaign. It generated great coverage in all media outlets, including the BBC and CNN, with people calling it one of the best marketing comebacks ever.

Airbnb.org for Ukraine

Airbnb's dot-org platform is a nonprofit that helps people in need. When Ukraine was facing a difficult political situation, Airbnb launched a campaign to provide temporary housing for refugees.

The campaign aims to help the 100,000 Ukrainian refugees who are displaced by Russia's invasion by enabling hosts to offer them free stays. The campaign is also a way for people to show their support for Ukraine, and has received media coverage from several major outlets.

The campaign was ultimately successful, but it also shines light on one of the most critical rules of PR: there’ll always be people who believe humanitarianism is a dishonest marketing ploy.

At a certain level of enterprise, people sometimes believe that these types of campaigns are only done for publicity and not for real altruistic reasons. It's important to make sure that your PR campaigns have a genuine purpose behind them and that you always stay true to your core values.

Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty

In their search for a revival, Dove and its PR company Edelman collaborated on an ambitious study that included 3,000 women from 10 different countries to investigate the interests and priorities of female participants.

After it was revealed that only 2% considered themselves beautiful, Dove executives seized this opportunity as a chance to revolutionize their brand.

As they dipped their toes into the beauty industry by introducing more products beyond just soap, they felt it was time to start a dialogue about beauty.

And it's a campaign that continues to this day - Dove has kept their "Real Beauty" campaign alive, and continues to do an impressive job of tackling the complexities of our beauty norms.

Philips Breathless Choir Campaign

With countless ads and materials promoting medications and devices, something truly original like the "Breathless Choir" is sure to garner attention.

This incredibly creative approach earned health care firm Philips and its PR partner FleishmanHillard (part of OneVoice Connect consortium), a first place award for “Best PR Campaign” at Ragan's 2016 Health Care PR and Marketing Awards - proving that sometimes it pays off to be uniquely innovative.

Coinbase Super Bowl QR Code Ad

Most companies go all out for their Super Bowl ads. After all, they paid at least $1 million to air their commercial, so why not make it count?

Coinbase, the leading cryptocurrency exchange, took a unique approach and ran an ad that featured only a QR code.

For one straight minute, the QR code bounced around the screen with no other words or symbols present. In restaurants, bars, and Super Bowl parties across America, the minute-long silence was deafening.

The aim of Coinbase's campaign was to encourage viewers to scan the QR code and download their app. And it worked - the $14 million they spent on the ad paid off when an influx of traffic crashed their app servers and boosted downloads by 279%.

Penguin Random House's Unburnable Book

The Handmaid's Tale is a fictional story about a dystopian future where women's rights have been stripped away. As middle and high schools across the United States banned books with certain contents and topics, Penguin Random House decided to take a public stance against book censorship.

Rethink, an independent creative agency, collaborated with The Gas Company Inc. and master craftsman Jeremy Martin to fabricate a specialized fireproof version of The Handmaid's Tale. Through meticulous research and testing conducted by Doug Laxdal, this single-copy special edition was created using fireproof materials.

This social commentary was perfect for the book-banning issue plaguing public schools nationwide, as it showed Penguin Random House's commitment to defending freedom of speech and expression.

And the theme of the story involved in the campaign made it even more impactful.