A PR Strategy is for Life, not just for Halloween

Halloween is just a week away and we all know that if done well, this tongue-in-cheek calendar event is scarily-good at tapping into the public psyche and reaching out to the masses.  But, what happens if things don’t go to plan?

The last thing you want is egg on your face, so don’t be tricked into thinking Halloween is a fail-safe opportunity to raise your business’s profile. After all, it takes years to build a solid reputation and just one poor-taste Halloween stunt to jeopardise it (think Asda and Tesco’s insensitive Halloween patient costume  a few years back which outraged mental health charities, medical professionals and the public alike or more recently the Parisian heist robbery victim costume launched by USA online retailer Costumeish).

Brand reputation is a year-round exercise that requires planning and strategy to avoid any scares. Sending press releases out to the media to promote yourself is smart, but if you don’t have a carefully crafted and well-researched public relations plan, then you could be wasting your time.

There are plenty of ways to create a winning public relations plan that also supports your existing marketing, just as there are many opportunities to develop impactful PR without breaking your budget. At Zen, our philosophy is to create strategies which deliver measurable results and a genuine return on investment, and we do this by creatively using all available media channels and public relations tactics.

So, by all means get into the Halloween spirit this year and plan some spine-chilling stunts or campaigns, just don’t forget your PR strategy during the rest of the year. After all, A PR strategy is for life, not just for Halloween :)