Playbook Pr Publicity

PR and Publicity Playbook

Use When

• Build or improve a repeatable Pr Publicity workflow for a client or delivery team.
• Turn an approved objective into roles, controls, handoffs and measurable actions.

Do Not Use When

• The task is a single-channel presence plan; use the closest platform-* skill.
• The task is upstream positioning or channel choice; use the closest strategy-* skill.

Required Inputs

Capability and Permission Boundaries

Read supplied artefacts and search relevant evidence. Treat review, audit and planning as read-only. Editing the requested draft is allowed; publishing, messaging, production changes, personal-data processing, spending, destructive actions and certification claims require explicit authority. Use network access only for authorised verification.

Degraded Mode

If accounts, files, network, rendering or current evidence are unavailable, return the narrowest useful qualified Pr Publicity playbook plus an evidence-gap list. Mark each unavailable check not assessed; never convert it into a pass.

Decision Rules

Workflow

1. Confirm the consumer, objective, market, decision owner and permission boundary; stop if the objective or owner is missing.
2. Inspect supplied evidence and verify volatile claims; record missing inputs rather than filling them with assumptions.
3. Apply the decision rules, preserve useful existing material and draft the Pr Publicity playbook.
4. Test each action against platform, privacy, safeguarding, brand and approval constraints; stop and escalate a blocking risk.
5. Run the quality and anti-slop gates. If a check fails, correct the draft and rerun it before handoff.

Outputs

Evidence Produced

Quality Standards

Use British English and the specified market context. Recommendations must be executable with the stated capacity, current claims must be verified or qualified, and acceptance conditions must be observable. A worked example must use a labelled scenario, not fabricated client evidence.

Anti-Patterns

• Inventing a client fact, benchmark, budget or approval. Fix: cite the source or label the assumption and its effect.
• Copying one channel or client pattern unchanged. Fix: tie each choice to the named audience, objective and evidence.
• Stating volatile platform or legal details from memory. Fix: verify the current official source or omit the claim.
• Treating an inaccessible account, file or metric as healthy. Fix: mark it not assessed and bound the conclusion.
• Publishing, spending, messaging or changing production state from planning authority. Fix: obtain explicit action authority.
• Delivering actions without owner, timing or acceptance. Fix: assign all three or return the item as an unresolved gap.

References

• Anti-AI-slop production gate
• East African English standard
• Use the directly cited sources and companion skills in the domain guidance below; verify time-sensitive claims before use.

Required Input

Before generating any deliverable, ask for:

• Client business name
• Industry / sector
• Country or city (default: Uganda / East Africa)
• Primary goal (e.g., launch coverage, sustained brand awareness, thought leadership)
• Any existing media relationships or past coverage

Part 1 — What Counts as News

Not everything a business does is newsworthy. Apply this filter before writing any release.

Genuinely newsworthy:

• New product, service, or business launch
• Milestone (first client, 1,000 customers, anniversary, award)
• Survey, study, or data you commissioned or conducted
• A provable "first" or "biggest" in your category
• Tie to a current national or regional news trend
• Human-interest story (client transformation, founder origin, community impact)
• Controversy or contrarian take on an industry issue (handled carefully)
• Partnership, expansion, or change that affects the public

Not newsworthy (do not pitch):

• General promotions or price reductions
• Internal appointments with no public significance
• "We're excited to announce…" — without a reason for the reader to care
• Routine product updates

Part 2 — The Standard News Release

Every news release follows this format exactly.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

[HEADLINE — active voice, benefit or outcome-led, present tense]
[SUBHEADLINE — one sentence that adds detail the headline omits]

[City], [Date] — [Lead paragraph: who, what, when, where, why — most important fact first.
Maximum two sentences. Never begin with the company name.]

[Second paragraph: supporting detail, context, and the "so what" for the reader.]

[Third paragraph: quote from a named spokesperson — not a generic statement.
Quote must add information not already in the body.]

[Fourth paragraph: further supporting detail, data, or background.]

[Boilerplate: one paragraph beginning "About [Company Name]:" —
describes the business in two to three sentences.]

For more information:
[Contact name]
[Email address]
[Phone number]
[Website]

###

Rules for every release:

• Lead with the most important fact — not the company name
• Active voice throughout
• Inverted pyramid structure (most important → least important)
• Maximum 400 words for the body
• One quote from a named person — never "a company spokesperson said"
• Every claim must be verifiable
• Send plain text or PDF — never Word documents
• Do not write the release as an advertisement

Part 3 — The Publicity Kit

A publicity kit (media kit) is sent to journalists before or alongside a pitch. It contains:

Delivery: Send as a single PDF or a well-organised folder. Never email 10 individual attachments.

Part 4 — Pitching Journalists

The Query Letter Structure

Use this to pitch a feature article, interview, or column opportunity:

Paragraph 1 — The hook
Why this story, why now? Connect to a current news trend, season, or issue
that makes this timely. One to two sentences.

Paragraph 2 — The story
What exactly would the article or interview cover? What angle?
What will the reader learn or feel? Two to three sentences.

Paragraph 3 — Why you
Your credentials, expertise, or unique position to speak on this topic.
One to two sentences.

Paragraph 4 — Practical details
Proposed length, your availability for interview, any supporting materials
(data, case studies, photography) you can provide.

Sign-off: Name, title, phone, email.

Length: The query letter must fit on one printed page. Journalists are busy.

22 Ways to Get Your Story Published

(Adapted from Hahn, 2003)

1. Learn what journalists consider newsworthy — read the publication before pitching it
2. Find a news hook for every release — tie to current events or trends
3. Time releases to editorial calendars and news cycles
4. Write in inverted pyramid style — most important information first
5. Use the standard news release format (Part 2 above) without deviation
6. Target the right journalist — not the editor-in-chief; find the reporter who covers your beat
7. Send exclusives for major stories — one outlet gets first rights for 48–72 hours
8. Follow up by phone once only, 48 hours after sending
9. Build media relationships before you need them — comment on their articles, attend press events
10. Create a media kit and keep it permanently up to date (Part 3 above)
11. Capitalise on national news by making your business the local or specialist angle
12. Write opinion pieces (op-eds) as a named expert — 600–800 words, no advertising
13. Create an "expert source" positioning for your sector — be available for comment on breaking news
14. Use customer success stories as story angles — transformation, impact, and results
15. Anniversaries, milestones, and firsts are news — plan releases around them in advance
16. Create an award, index, or ranking in your category — data and recognition are both newsworthy
17. Sponsor a survey or publish original research — data is the most shareable PR asset
18. Host an event that creates news — a panel, launch, or public debate
19. Make yourself available immediately when journalists are on deadline — responsiveness is rare
20. Use trade press as a platform before targeting consumer press
21. Register with HARO (Help a Reporter Out) or regional equivalents as an expert source
22. Never lie, never spin — long-term media credibility is built over years and destroyed in a day

Part 5 — Publicity Calendar

Generate a 12-month publicity calendar with these columns:

Rules for the calendar:

• Identify 2–3 newsworthy moments per quarter minimum
• Build in 3–4 weeks of lead time for print publications
• Flag national holidays and sector events that create natural hooks

Part 6 — Earned Media Tracking

Track all media activity in a simple log:

Review monthly. Calculate:

• Total earned media impressions = sum of outlet reach figures for published coverage
• Equivalent advertising value (EAV) = estimated cost of buying equivalent space at rate card
• Share of voice = your mentions ÷ total category mentions in tracked outlets

Quality Criteria

Good output from this skill:

1. Every news release passes the "would a journalist run this?" test — it is genuinely newsworthy
2. The release follows the standard format exactly — inverted pyramid, no advertising language
3. The publicity kit contains all 8 components, each at the specified word count
4. The query letter fits on one page and has a genuine time-sensitive hook
5. The 12-month calendar identifies real, specific news moments — not generic "brand awareness"
6. Media targets are named publications or outlet types relevant to the client's sector and geography
7. All content is written in the professional East African English register defined in east-african-english

References

• Hahn, F.E. (2003) Do-It-Yourself Advertising and Promotion, 3rd edn. Hoboken: Wiley.
• Edwards, P., Edwards, S. and Douglas, L.C. (1991) Getting Business to Come to You. Los Angeles: Tarcher.
• Pinskey, R. (1997) 101 Ways to Promote Yourself. New York: Avon Books.