12 Days of Christmas: PR Edition

For PR pros, December can be both a rewarding and stressful time. End-of-year reports, final rounds of prediction pitching, and 2022 planning are all top-of-mind as we prepare for a well deserved holiday break. Our team saw great success across the board in a record high of staff hires and new accounts onboarded this last year, and we want to keep this momentum going through the busy holiday season. 

PR people are considered masters of spin and creativity. What better way to enjoy the holiday than with our own spin on a classic holiday song?  Please enjoy “The 12 Days of Christmas: PR Edition.” 

On the first day of Christmas, my PR team gave to me… a last-minute media interview 

On the second day of Christmas, my PR team gave to me … two press release revisions

On the third day of Christmas, my PR team gave to me … three Zoom meetings

On the fourth day of Christmas, my PR team gave to me … four IPO announcements 

On the fifth day of Christmas, my PR team gave to me … five briefing docs! 

On the sixth day of Christmas, my PR team gave to me … six award entries 

On the seventh day of Christmas, my PR team gave to me … seven new biz leads 

On the eighth day of Christmas, my PR team gave to me … eight scheduled social media posts

On the ninth day of Christmas, my PR team gave to me … nine contributed articles

On the tenth day of Christmas, my PR team gave to me … ten helpful HAROs

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my PR team gave to me … eleven urgent emails

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my PR team gave to me … twelve days of much deserved PTO

Happy Holidays from all of us at Crenshaw Communications! Enjoy this special time of year and get recharged for an even better 2022! 

PR For Mr. Claus

For many PR pros, the days leading up to Christmas can be eerily quiet.  After weeks of intense holiday outreach, the somewhat sudden slow down can be jarring – clients taking vacation time, reporters’ OOO emails flooding your inbox.

Which had me thinking, what if Santa was our client?  There certainly wouldn’t be a pre-holiday slowdown; instead the opposite would be true, with a flurry of activity right up until Christmas Day.

Here are some of the Santa PR plan elements we would implement:

Run of Show

Santa’s trip brings a whole new meaning to a “Run of Show” doc – the game plan for the day/night is intense and will likely involve tweaking right up until the moment he departs the North Pole.  It’s best to make these docs as comprehensive as possible – hourly break downs, contact details for anyone who may need to be reached, etc.

Making a list, and checking it… at least three more times the day before

In the PR biz list development and management are a big part of our job. While building a list may seem like an easy task that can be delegated, it’s not that simple.  A good list is of the utmost importance and if I represented Santa you bet I’d be making sure the “Naughty & Nice” columns were accurately color coded and names were spelled properly.

Prepare for anything

Sick reindeer? Faulty GPS? You just never know! If it’s your client’s big day you should always make sure you have a “tool kit” prepared for any situations that could arise. For Santa, I might suggest some Red Bull, an extra navigation system, a flashlight, and extra copies of the “Naughty & Nice” list.

Share, share, share! And encourage more sharing

Social media platforms, from Twitter to Facebook to Instagram and more, are great ways to spread your brand’s message and spark engagement – nothing you haven’t heard before.  Same holds true for Old Saint Nick.

Have a crisis plan ready

Hope you never have to turn to your crisis plan, but if anything happens you’ll be glad to have it in place. Things occur that are out of a PR pro’s control – Santa could miss a house, accidentally leave coal for someone who deserved one of those new (yet kind of creepy) Furbys, or maybe even drop his “Naughty” list – imagine what would happen if that ended up in the wrong hands? Have a plan in place for some of the key “worst case” scenarios and know which media you should proactively reach out to in the event any of these situations ever occur.

What if Santa were your client?…