This post was originally published on my PR blog: NakedPR.

Most small business owners have heard of a business plan and marketing plan, but have no idea how to develop a public relations plan. Here’s a short breakdown of PR plan components, and what they mean:

• Problem / Opportunity – the problem facing the organization (such as no awareness of a non-profit organization and what they do) or an opportunity to reach the public in a new way
• Situational Analysis – describe the situation (problem or opportunity) in detail
• Goal - what is your primary goal? It should be broad, and probably not easy to quantify (i.e. “to raise public awareness of XYZ Organization”)
• Audience – who are your key publics? who do you want your message to reach?
• Message – what is the message you want your PR campaign to get across to the public?
• Objectives – objectives will be more specific than your primary goal, and should be quantifiable and measureable (i.e. Attract 100,000 new donors over the course of 6 months)
• Strategies – how will you meet your objectives in a general sense? (i.e. Involve a local celebrity who has a tie to your cause.)
• Tactics – what specific things will you do during your PR campaign to reach your objectives and goals, which will fall within your strategies? (i.e. Host an event, send press releases, hold a speech / lecture, release a radio public service announcement, etc.)
• Media List – a list of relevant media contacts you’ll use in your campaign
• Calendar / Timeline / Gantt Plan – Your schedule for the course of your PR campaign
• Budget – Include an overall budget estimate, as well as a breakdown of where that budget will be spent on your PR efforts
• Evaluation – how do you plan to evaluate the whether or not your plan will be successful? How will you measure results to ensure you’ve met your objectives?

Related posts:

1. One Page Marketing Plan Guide
2. What is Public Relations?
3. Sample Internet Marketing Plan Outline
4. Six Types of Press Releases
5. Media Advisory Basics

Tags: elements of a pr plan, pr plan, pr plan components, pr planning, pr plans, public relations plan, public relations planning, public relations plans

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 15th, 2007 at 9:26 pm and is filed under Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.