Managing a PR campaign is hard work. You don’t want to spoil it with an avoidable mistake. To ensure the success of your campaigns, you should avoid seven common pitfalls. Ask these questions:

1. Is your campaign integrated? A campaign is more than a news release. Most successful campaigns adopt a multichannel approach comprising online and offline PR tactics, including developing a media kit, writing a blog post, producing a video and/or podcast, and organizing a Tweetup or event for key stakeholders. If all the components don’t integrate, the campaign is less likely to succeed.

2. Is everyone prepared for the campaign’s launch? Think about the key stakeholders in your organization and how this PR campaign will affect them. Is your key spokesperson (who works in another department) available to talk at a moment’s notice with a blogger or reporter, or to answer Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn questions?

3. Will the campaign reinforce your brand’s image? Here’s a fatal flaw: not understanding how a PR campaign fits into your overall marketing strategy. Marketing positioning is crucial for a product, brand, or organization. What is your company’s identity, and how will this campaign reinforce an image that has been branded into the minds of your target audience? How will this campaign help with search engine optimization? Does the PR campaign highlight all the keywords your audience might search?

4. Does your campaign take the customers into account? Focus on your target audience and its problem(s); then, make sure you provide a solution. A journalist is more likely to write about something if the PR campaign can help the audience.

5. Is your campaign newsworthy? Put on your media hat—that fedora with the “press” pass in the brim—and start thinking like a journalist. Ask these questions: Why should anybody care? Or, what’s in it for me? Be sure to read: What Makes a Story Newsworthy? It is essential that you read, listen, and/or watch the media outlets you are pitching for the PR campaign.

6. Is your campaign sustainable? Often, a PR campaign is great at creating initial buzz, only to be forgotten months later. You should create what is called the PR longtail on the Internet, making sure the content you write today will be applicable in some way tomorrow. This is essential for the campaign’s long-term success. Also, make sure the concept can be adapted to multiple audiences.

7. Have you done your homework? Who is the audience for your PR campaign? Make sure you know not only what target audience you are trying to reach, but also what media outlets or online influencers would most likely be interested. Such research is essential.

A version of this story first appeared on the blog Knowledge Enthusiast.