A publicity campaign is a marketing strategy that seeks to achieve positive media attention for the company or product. It is an organized effort to influence public opinion about a person, product, or service.
A publicity campaign is a marketing campaign that has the goal of increasing awareness for a certain product or service. Some companies will spend months and even years on their campaigns, while others may only need to run them for a few hours. Read more in detail here: how long should an awareness campaign last.
One of the most difficult choices entrepreneurs must make when it comes to creating awareness for a product, company, or website is whether to start the campaign themselves. What makes it difficult is estimating how long it will take to start and sustain an effective PR campaign. This article will assist you in addressing two of those important elements: the duration of your PR efforts and the estimated number of hours required to do the task successfully.
In my PR career, I’ve launched initiatives that only required a few weeks of awareness, as well as long-term efforts that produced media coverage for years. I can tell you from personal experience that a single distribution of a press release is seldom successful. Editors and reporters are usually working on several stories at the same time and will require time to evaluate your proposal. Although your release may be intriguing and important, the editor may just not have the room in the media outlet’s editorial schedule to utilize your proposal at that time. Make sure he or she sees it again when the editorial calendar comes up in a few weeks. Keep in mind that, since news organizations get so many press releases and article ideas these days, it may take weeks for them to respond to anything you’ve given them. That’s why, over the course of many months, you should do comprehensive media follow-ups to guarantee media reception, appropriate media digestion, and, ideally, media acceptance of your release or pitch.
“No PR firm or publicist in the world can FORCE the media to use your releases,” I tell my clients, “but they CAN make sure that the media has seen or heard about your message in some form or another by the conclusion of the campaign – which will lead to good media coverage.”
Knowing when you’ve shot all your PR bullets, when it’s time to re-load the chambers with fresh ammunition, or when you should move on to other marketing objectives is one of the keys to deciding the duration of a successful campaign. Here’s how my customers’ campaign durations have broken down over the last several years:
- 9 percent for ads lasting less than two months.
- Campaigns lasting 3-6 months: 46%
- Campaigns lasting six to nine months: 29%
- 16 percent of campaigns with a duration of nine months or more
- Timely, date-sensitive campaigns — a release or message linked to a current event that may be obsolete in 6–8 weeks – are the most common 1–2 month campaigns. One of my clients recently created a website targeted at shutting down Napster’s file-sharing services. We started a campaign a few weeks before the Supreme Court decision, which resulted in some excellent spot coverage in newspapers and television news programs throughout the country — the site and campaign were completed in only six weeks.
- Most new product PR efforts are best suited for a three- to six-month time period, accounting for certain media outlets’ lengthy lead-times. However, depending on media response and subsequent customer interest, certain product campaigns may be prolonged for many more months. For example, the “scooter” product marketing campaign most likely began as a six-month campaign but was extended to a year due to the product’s sales frenzy and popularity.
- Clients whose companies or skills are “evergreen and regenerative” – that is, they aren’t bound to the shelf life of a new product introduction, aren’t tethered to a particular date, and can be re-stoked for a fresh wave of media attention every few months – get the longest campaigns. A “tradeshow expert” is one of my long-term clientele. Her professional counsel is relevant at any time of year and may be included editorially year after year, particularly in business and trade publications. Month after month, this results in numerous stories and features in a variety of media sources. Remember, inventiveness in media pitching and innovation in PR may add months to your campaign’s success.
HOW MANY HOURS: You will spend a significant amount of time developing and designing your media market publicity strategy. The preparation of the media market research and polishing of the media release may seem time-consuming, but they are well worth the work when done well. Prepare to spend at least an hour or two each day after the campaign’s initial launch maintaining it: conducting numerous media follow-ups and new media pitches (emails, faxes, mailings, and phone calls); fulfilling media requests (forwarding product photos, media kits/product samples, arranging interviews); and tracking/clipping articles and features.
Here’s a quick breakdown of how many hours are typically spent on a typical campaign: (These are estimates based on averaged hours.) Many public relations experts may be able to do the task more quickly for you.)
| LAUNCH OF THE CAMPAIGN | |
| Writing and editing press releases | 10 hours |
| Market research in the media | 15 hours |
| Distribution of media | 10 hours |
| HOURS FOR THE COMPLETE LAUNCH | 35 hours |
| MAINTENANCE OF CAMPAIGN AT 30+ HOURS PER MONTH | |
| Campaign duration: 3 months | 90 hours |
| HOURS SPENT ON THE CAMPAIGN IN TOTAL | 125+ hours of labor |
If you don’t have the time, resources, or skill to start your own campaign, use the media to get your word out. However, if your expertise is in another area and you or your team lack publicity-generating abilities (or have little or no experience dealing with the media), it may be better to delegate the task to someone who can do it properly the first time. When determining whether or not you can manage your own PR campaign, ask yourself the following questions:
- Do I have the knowledge and time to do it without jeopardizing my existing workload or that of my employees?
- Do I have the writing skills to put together a media release or feature pitch that will elicit responses from editors, reporters, and producers?
- Do I have the financial means to do media research and send my press release to those outlets?
If you responded “yes” to all of these questions, rather than just a few, you may want to consider starting your own PR campaign. Best wishes!
A social media campaign can last anywhere from a few hours to a few months. It is important to decide how long you want your campaign to last and then plan accordingly. Reference: how long should a social media campaign last.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long is a campaign?
A campaign is a set amount of time that you spend playing Beat Saber. The length of a campaign can vary from one to ten hours.
How long do marketing campaigns usually last?
Marketing campaigns usually last about 8-12 weeks.
How long should a social media campaign be?
A social media campaign should be long enough to get the message out and create a lasting impression. It should also be short enough that it doesnt become too repetitive or boring.
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