The PR BlogPublic RelationsPR StrategyThe Easy Street PR Strategy: Keep It Simple To Win

The Easy Street PR Strategy: Keep It Simple To Win

Easy strategies that works are better than complex ones that don't.

Cover photo: @jerrysilfwer

I’m always on the lookout for an easy street PR strategy.

I’ve been craft­ing vari­ous strategies for many organ­isa­tions since 2005.

This blog art­icle will share my favour­ite approach to find­ing that power­ful strategy that will bene­fit a cli­ent for years.

Here we go:

The Mindset: Smooth Sailing is Sweet

When it comes to craft­ing power­ful strategies for dif­fer­ent types of organ­isa­tions, here’s what I’ve noticed:

For whatever reas­on, many freshly cre­ated strategies are chal­len­ging to imple­ment. Few new strategies are just “a breeze.”

But some new strategies work.

These breezy strategies are just smooth sail­ing from the start. They make every­one involved hap­pi­er. All you hear in every meet­ing or con­ver­sa­tion is “yes” and “of course.” 

While there might be lots of work involved, these easy-to-imple­ment strategies some­how attract good work as if they were magnets. 

And when you finally encounter untested or unex­pec­ted ter­rit­ory, these strategies keep mak­ing sense.

What kind of sor­cery is this?
I’ve come to call it the Easy Street PR Strategy.

How the Easy Street PR Strategy Works

I dis­covered the power of the Easy Street PR Strategy when I turned 40 years old. During some mid-life intro­spec­tion, I thought much about spend­ing my time bet­ter. Not just pro­fes­sion­ally but in my private life as well.

I real­ised I had oper­ated on a naĂŻve assump­tion that any­thing worth­while must also be problematic.

I drew a dia­gram to illus­trate this mind shift:

Maturity Model - Easy Street Strategy
Shifting focus to the Easy Street Strategy.

I real­ised that I had spent two dec­ades in the imma­ture zone by focus­ing much of my energy where it was­n’t pos­sible to influ­ence the out­come. My accom­plish­ments were due to fix­ing quite a few tricky things to fix. But still.

I did waste quite a lot of energy on futile efforts.

Instead of tak­ing the mature route, I could still fix the same hard-to-tackle chal­lenges as before, but sud­denly I had a sol­id base of easy wins to back everything up.

Maybe there’s a reas­on why some­thing comes easy to you or an organ­isa­tion. Perhaps it’s easy because it aligns with your or the organ­isa­tion’s nat­ur­al strengths and true Ikigai.

Going Easy Does Not Equal Weakness

As an example, I like the example of Apple’s mar­ket­ing philo­sophy as described below:

Apple Strategy Document - Easy Street PR Strategy
Ann example of stra­tegic sim­pli­city by Apple.

Apple’s mar­ket­ing philo­sophy is very clean and simple, almost basic and obvi­ous for Apple at first glance, but its clar­ity is a big part of what makes it so powerful.

“If you can­’t explain it simply, you don’t under­stand it well enough.”
— Albert Einstein

How To Write an Easy Street PR Strategy

My insight about easy street strategies is that they tend to out­per­form oth­er strategies that tech­nic­ally ought to be super­i­or — but require lots of explain­ing, con­vin­cing, learn­ing, test­ing, coach­ing etc. 

So, I’m always look­ing for an Easy Street PR Strategy.

Inspired by Richard Rumelt, here’s how to write your strategy on one single page:

1-Page Strategy - Doctor Spin - The PR Blog
Keep it clean. (Photo: @jerrysilfwer)

How to Write a 1‑Page Strategy

My inspir­a­tion for writ­ing “no-bull­shit” strategies comes from the clas­sic Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt. The 1‑page strategy focuses on how to win.

Here’s how you can write a 1‑page strategy that fits one page — using the myth­ic­al battle between David and Goliath as an analogy:

1. Analysis

  • David can­’t beat Goliath using his size or raw strength, but he has an advant­age in speed and accur­acy from a distance.

2. Guiding Principle

  • David should­n’t engage in close com­bat but rather use tools that will allow him to strike from a distance.

3. Coherent Actions

  • David should­n’t use any heavy armour because that would slow him down.
  • David should use a sling­shot, a weapon he is famil­i­ar with and can strike from a distance.
  • David should lever­age the sur­prise ele­ment and not advert­ise his advant­age beforehand.

If you write 1 – 2 clear sen­tences per bul­let, your strategy should fit nicely on one page.

Read also: The Easy Street PR Strategy: Keep It Simple To Win

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Put in anoth­er way: 

Sometimes a new strategy might work fine but must be con­stantly rein­forced and encour­aged. Whenever that situ­ation occurs, it indic­ates that we’ve chosen the wrong strategy and should rethink our approach before we’re too deep in complexity.


Please sup­port my blog by shar­ing it with oth­er PR- and com­mu­nic­a­tion pro­fes­sion­als. For ques­tions or PR sup­port, con­tact me via jerry@​spinfactory.​com.

PR Resource: Checklist for Communicative Leadership

Checklist for Communicative Leadership

Always make sure that every­one in an organ­isa­tion is 100% clear about the following:

  • This is what we are doing. Is this clear? Do you have any ques­tions? Can you repeat it back to me?
  • This is why we are doing it. Is this clear? Do you have any ques­tions? Can you repeat it back to me?
  • This is who will be doing it. Is this clear? Do you have any ques­tions? Can you repeat it back to me?
  • This is how we are doing it. Is this clear? Do you have any ques­tions? Can you repeat it back to me?
  • This is when we are doing it. Is this clear? Do you have any ques­tions? Can you repeat it back to me?
  • This is where we are doing it. Is this clear? Do you have any ques­tions? Can you repeat it back to me?
  • This is for whom we are doing it. Is this clear? Do you have any ques­tions? Can you repeat it back to me?

Read more: How To Recognise Poor Communicative Leadership in Organisations

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PR Resource: More PR Strategies

Doctor Spin’s PR Strategies

Make sure to explore a wide vari­ety of PR strategies for every dif­fer­ent type of situ­ation and challenge:

Learn more: How to Create a PR Strategy That Actually Works

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Jerry Silfwer
Jerry Silfwerhttps://doctorspin.net/
Jerry Silfwer, alias Doctor Spin, is an awarded senior adviser specialising in public relations and digital strategy. Currently CEO at KIX Index and Spin Factory. Before that, he worked at Kaufmann, Whispr Group, Springtime PR, and Spotlight PR. Based in Stockholm, Sweden.

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