The Fineman PR team woke up before the crack of dawn on Sunday for the 38th annual San Francisco Marathon. If you’ve never experienced it, it is a spectacular race that embodies the soul of the city in every way – from its landmark-studded course to the charitable intentions of so many of the runners. The announcement – just five days before the race – of its designation as a 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials qualifying course redoubled the energy and excitement in the buildup to Race Day.
As thousands of marathoners queued up for the starting gun, there was no escaping the moment of suspenseful reflection about how each runner had trained to get to this point. Thousands of people were muttering mantras of motivation, batting down the butterflies and visualizing the finish line with a PR (personal record) to be proud of.
The Fineman team had its own PR to be proud of. Public relations is a vital, measurable arm of event marketing, not just to create awareness among audiences and media, but to identify their motivations and understand the Marathon’s value to them. In the months leading up to the event, we undertook our own form of conditioning by performing the behind-the-scenes work needed for a successful Race Day. With weeks of strategic planning and media outreach behind us, after numerous calls with Olympic hopefuls, Ultramarathoners, race ambassadors, event sponsors and community influencers, our hearts were still pumping. The enormous reserve of energy that welled up inside enabled us to turn in a peak performance as the events quickly unfolded.
To experience the rewards of successful event PR, as we did on Race Day, there are four Cs to incorporate into any event marketing plan:
- Content
Content is today’s marketing buzzword, but when it comes to producing the best PR for your event, content is truly the heart of both digital and offline, brick-and-mortar strategy. To start, it’s important to perform a content audit of everything your event has to offer – from new activities to hero stories. Then, in collaboration with all team members – PR, operations, marketing and experience design – work to fill the gaps. How can you best convey an event narrative to your target audiences? What visuals exist and what can be created? What is new and different? What activities can take it to the next level? How can the public engage with your event on social media and in person and be motivated to take a shareable action? Where does intrinsic news value come from? Who can be the face of the event?
- Community engagement
Every event, whether hosted in a downtown hub or a convention center, affects the community where it is held. This can be anything from environmental impact to tourism, crowds, traffic and road closures. It’s critical for the host organization to be mindful of all potential micro-communities affected, and for PR to create communications strategies to keep each group informed and engaged. People like to have pride and feel “ownership” of events in their backyard, so give your community the opportunity to share in the excitement and not feel burdened by it – even if they aren’t planning to attend. As much as possible, strive to create the kind of community-wide feeling that erupts so visibly when a hometown team wins the World Series (as those of us in the San Francisco Bay Area know). Consistent media updates from A-Z can help lay the groundwork for a solid community engagement plan.
- Collaboration
Every event has a network of stakeholders. Sponsors are a major component in this. Sports event sponsorship is increasingly popular thanks to the community’s emotional investment and the massive social sharing potential which enhances visibility and positive brand association. Collaborate early with stakeholders to identify goals, outline resources and create out-of-the-box strategies to add new, unexpected layers to your event. To avoid post-event “would’ve-could’ve-should’ve” syndrome, PR collaboration with stakeholders should begin early in the planning process. That way, the needs, expectations and benchmarks for success can be understood before you shift into high gear. Every market has a unique media landscape, and strategies must align to the region in which you’re operating.
- Crisis planning
A crisis isn’t always something catastrophic. It can be anything from disgruntled attendees to an operational problem, but it’s always something that causes an unexpected, unfavorable ripple in the way an event turns out. In event PR, scenario planning for potential crisis situations is essential. You may not know whether something will happen or what it might be, but possible critical scenarios can be identified, action plans laid out and written statements prepared for use if needed. A core crisis team can be identified in advance, each member of which with preassigned roles and responsibilities.
From marathons and stunts to corporate tradeshows and rodeos, event PR helps convey important messages, establishes credibility, and fosters communications with stakeholders and the broader community. Regardless of event category or focus, public relations should be part of your event checklist to help your own marathon of planning result in success that feels like a walk in the park.