The beginning of the year marks a great opportunity to hit the reset button and make adjustments to your personal and professional lives. Most of us make at least one New Year’s resolution and according to yesterday’s Wall Street Journal poll, 10% actually follow through while 20% fail. The key to any resolution is setting an obtainable goal and then visualizing the specific action items required to realize it. Another important aspect is outlining a timeframe to achieve your goal.

As our clients turn the calendar to January, they seem to raise the bar on their PR expectations, eager to get even more results. Investing time and budget are necessary to make this happen, but staying focused is the critical factor.

Whether your PR is managed in-house or via an agency, consider the following steps to re-focus and re-charge your PR effort to yield more tangible results this year:

1. Hone in on your target -- companies have a tendency to want their PR to be ubiquitous. Some in the business call this “spray and pray.” We don’t subscribe to this method. The reality is there is only so much budget and resources to go around (no matter how big your budget is). Instead of fixating on the one or two opportunities that were missed, we help our clients identify 10 or 20 media key outlets (online portals, newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, etc.) that best represent their prospective customers, and then make every effort to be a resource to the appropriate reporters. This will increase your hit rate and ensure your message is being delivered to the appropriate audience. This list is typically expanded to accommodate other key markets, verticals, etc.

2. Challenge your PR machine -- setting realistic goals and communicating them to the team who will implement your PR campaigns will not only put them on notice, but will also give them something to focus on – similar to sales reps that are accountable for a specific quota each month. During our weekly status meetings with clients, we review key media opportunities (the PR pipeline) and communicate what is needed to secure coverage (customer references, a product demo, market data, etc.). This allows us to manage expectations and stay focused on the overall campaign.

3. Check-in and adjust -- the nice thing about PR is that it can be adjusted very easily. Arrange frequent meetings with your team to gauge status of the effort and determine if any adjustments are required. While patience is a requirement for PR, it must be balanced with some deliverables to gauge the effort and investment. It you are not pleased with the results, re-evaluate and adjust your message, media contacts, and PR tactics (and in some cases even those doing the day to day work).

So as you sort out your personal and professional resolutions, I wish you success in the New Year and hope you use this framework to be in the 10% bracket who are successful in achieving their resolution.

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