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What Are the 5 W’s of Public Relations?
What are the first five questions that come to your mind when you hear or read any news?
- What all happened?
- Who did it?
- When and Where did the incident take place?
- Why did it happen?
Surprisingly, these are the guiding principles of storytelling, marketing, and journalism. Any story that fails to answer these questions tends to be incomplete. Answering these 5 W’s of public relations is necessary to make your PR campaign successful.
Let’s get into understanding these 5 Ws of PR in detail. But before that, let’s recapitulate what actually public relations is.
What is PR?
It is the practice of managing the information spread between an organization or individual and the public. It is a strategic communication from a company to the public to cultivate or maintain a brand image.
Check out our complete guide on public relations and its types.
5 W’s Of Public Relations:
If, as a business or an organization, you are trying to create a successful PR campaign, they need to ask these important 5 W’s.
1. What:
Before you start creating any PR campaign, the first thing you should ask is, What is the PR campaign about? Be crystal clear about the purpose of your PR campaign, and only then will you be able to strategize and plan it well.
List down all the goals you want to achieve through the PR campaign. For instance, if you are about to launch a product, determine what it will do to make the customers’ lives easier. Your intent will determine the series of actions that you should perform to achieve your set goals.
Remember, the answer to this question should be something that your audience is interested in.
2. Who:
The second most important question is, “who is the campaign really for? Who do you intend to send this announcement to? Answering the question will help you refine the content of your campaign. Also, you will be able to decide the tone of the campaign depending on “who” the campaign is targeting.
3. Where:
Once you are clear about the ‘what’ of your campaign, the next you should ask is, WHERE do you want to draw the eyeballs? Will you send it to the journalists or advertise it through your company’s social media?
With the world transforming quickly, businesses today have more platforms than ever before, which include the company website, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, SoundCloud, and YouTube. So, when you answer the question, “Where,” it will clarify which one of these platforms you will use to cut through the noise and reach your audience.
4. When:
As it is always said, Timing is everything! This stands true for any PR campaign as well. According to an informal poll conducted on 215 PR professionals discovered that Tuesday is the best day send releases. Further, a study by MarketWire found that Friday is the best day to pitch the press as the journalists are overburdened with the news.
Well, this may vary from business to business and time to time. All you need to do is research the market and industry and decide on major press releases and launches accordingly.
5. Why:
It simply explains why anybody should care about the campaign. Often this factor is overlooked when preparing for a PR campaign.
Finding the answer to this question will help you add value to your campaign. Because if there’s no way a business, product, or service is significant for the target audience, then there’s no need to have the campaign created.
Think like your audience and put yourself in their shoes to get an answer to the “WHY.” Include powerful words to emphasize why this campaign is significant for the audience. And if you still can’t find a significant reason to launch your campaign, there’s no point moving further.
The Final Say:
When you successfully answer the 5Ws of public relations, it results in clear communications with your audience in the most effective way. You can cater to the right audience in the right way and with the right message. You would not want your audience to be dazed and confused as they see your campaign. So, the next time you plan a PR campaign, start finding the answers to these 5W’s of PR before finalizing it.
