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1. Define the goal or problem and set OBJECTIVES. The planning process starts with an understanding of current public perceptions of your organization or business. It develops from the overall marketing plan and uses marketing objectives as a guideline for setting public relations objectives. Your public relations objectives should be specific and measurable.

Start by defining the problem you want to solve or issue you want to address. Know your target audience, establish a time frame for achieving your objectives and determine the desired outcome of your actions. Set realistic goals and establish a realistic budget to achieve them.

2. Conduct RESEARCH to obtain insights into the target audience your organization/business wants to reach. Besides understanding your target audience, you must identify a secondary target audience who may be in a position to influence your main target audience. Analyse other external trends and environmental factors that may also influence your target audience(s) and affect your communications.

3. Determine STRATEGIES (action plan) to achieve your objective. Decide what the message will be, when and to whom the message will be communicated, and a set of communication guidelines including objectives, priorities, tone and manner of communication.

4. Develop TACTICS to implement strategies. This is the actual communications stage of the public relations campaign, and could include the following avenues of communication:

Press Releases
Feature Articles/Spots
Press Conferences
Parties
Publicity Stunt
Event Sponsorship
Interviews
Seminars and Symposiums
Surveys
Media Tours
Radio and/or Television Publicity.

5. EVALUATE the plan's effectiveness and make recommendations for the future. Tracking the success or failure of your public relations campaign is critical in building long-term communications with your target audience, and in understanding the viability of your message. Ask the following questions:

Was the quantity of media exposure acceptable?

Did our message effectively reach the target audience?

Did we communicate our message clearly, and did the target audience understand it?

Did the message have the desired effect on the target audience?