How to know when to scrap an idea and start over
Plans don’t always go exactly as you want them to. There are times to grit your teeth and push forward, but sometimes, you just have to go back to the drawing board.
Public relations plans can take many hours and a lot of energy to create. When things go sour, it can become that much more difficult to pull the plug. It’s human psychology. Most people would rather watch a plan you’ve invested hundreds of hours in go down in flames before admitting failure.
But there’s something to be said about knowing your business so well that you can tell when something just isn’t working. Use it as an opportunity to grow your company’s identity.
Setting goals
Let’s say your PR plan is to rebrand as a company that focuses more on customer service rather than a unique product. You’ve noticed sales are stagnating as of late and you hope this will turn things around.
After a few months, sales haven’t really gone anywhere, neither up nor down. Technically this plan hasn’t failed—but it hasn’t really succeeded either. It’s hard to tell.
This is exactly why it’s good to set goals. Without them, you may confuse continued stagnation with progress. However, if your goal was to improve business by 10 percent in the next 3 months, you know your plan isn’t cutting it and it’s time to change.
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