What’s in a diary?
For a couple of years, I’ve been buying a yearly Planning Diary from someone else and using it across the year to plan stories, spark ideas and be media-ready.
Last year, I made the decision to create and sell my own version, after all I have been sharing ideas for PR planning with my Facebook PR Tribe and those that wanted to follow me. Last year, 2022 was the time to act and go for it.
My diary planner, ‘Plan your stories like a pro… ‘23’ appeared and then sold like the proverbial ‘hot cakes’. One hundred of them arrived with me in November and were completely sold out by Christmas. I then created a digital pdf that people can buy as an alternative (email if you want one).
You know that I’m nosey and love to hear people’s stories… well, this diary will help you know where to place your stories for the biggest impact.
Next year, the diary will be slightly different, and as well as selling them directly to people in November, I’m looking into making them available on Amazon.
So, for those of you who didn’t manage to buy this year’s diary – what did you miss out on?
5 things my diaries contain:
1. Each month begins with an overview of awareness month events, weeks, and days where you can choose themes that are relevant to you, your business or your expertise.
2. Each month also has a list of PR Prompts – which is the same for each month, as these are things that can happen any time of the year and will make you consider what is happening within your business which is bespoke to you. Are any of these things worth a press release or are they a blog or social media campaign? Or all three?
3. A double page spread for each week of the month contains a section for you to write your goals or notes , and also place for you to fill in the things you want to write about in blogs, social media posts; or important events that are happening, where you might want to contact local media; a space for you to write all of your potential PR ideas for that week and ultimately that month.
4. At the end of the month, there is a page where you can reflect on what went well, how it could be better next year; what did you miss out altogether – a time to reflect back on the tasks and goals you set in that month, and whether they were met.
5. An extra page appears at the end of 7 of the months, focusing on customer experience – a chance to capture the best testimonials you received in the last three months, to be used to share in social media posts.
I have taken the work out of searching the web for special days for each month, obviously focusing on a wide range of themes that will be relevant to most of you. However, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t look for profession-specific special days if you can’t find any in my planner. My ideas are not exhaustive by any means.
I’ve focussed on eight main areas:
· Health & Beauty
· Business & Finance
· Technology & Innovation
· Food & Drink
· Spiritual
· Nature
· People & History
· Quirky/Fun/Sport
As well as stand-alone planning diaries, they are a great companion to my Powerful PR Planning Workshops and anyone who books on to my last workshop of the year will get a planner too!