RACE Public Relations Campaign Planning Model Training Course

Course overview

Public relations teams are often asked to “raise awareness,” protect reputation, or secure media coverage without a defensible plan connecting business need, stakeholder behaviour, messages, channels, resources and results. This creates reactive activity, unclear ownership and reporting based on clips or reach rather than evidence of communication impact. The RACE model—Research, Action and Planning, Communication, and Evaluation—gives practitioners a disciplined structure for turning an organisational issue or opportunity into an accountable campaign.

This five-day course teaches participants to use RACE to diagnose communication problems, gather and interpret insight, define measurable campaign objectives, segment stakeholders, develop message architecture, select paid, earned, shared and owned channels, and construct practical implementation plans. Participants learn to build research briefs, stakeholder maps, SMART objectives, strategy statements, channel plans, editorial calendars, risk registers, budgets and measurement frameworks. The course also applies the AMEC Integrated Evaluation Framework and Barcelona Principles 3.0 to distinguish outputs, outtakes, outcomes and organisational impact.

Instruction combines expert-led demonstrations with a single campaign scenario carried across the week. Participants work individually and in groups to analyse evidence, challenge assumptions, prioritise audiences, test messages and present planning choices to a simulated leadership panel. They leave with a completed RACE campaign plan for a live organisational brief or a detailed case organisation, including a measurement dashboard specification and a 90-day activation plan that can be adapted for use at work.

The course is designed for communications professionals who already contribute to campaigns and now need to lead planning conversations, improve evaluation discipline or justify investment to senior stakeholders. It is equally useful to managers who need a consistent planning method across corporate communications, media relations, internal communications, public affairs and reputation programmes.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Apply the RACE model to structure a public relations campaign from business issue to evaluation.
• Construct a research brief using secondary research, stakeholder interviews and social listening questions.
• Create a stakeholder map that prioritises audiences by influence, interest, information needs and desired behaviour.
• Write SMART communication objectives linked to measurable awareness, understanding, attitude or action outcomes.
• Develop a message architecture with core narrative, proof points, audience adaptations and spokesperson guidance.
• Build a PESO channel plan and editorial calendar that assign tactics, owners, timings and dependencies.
• Produce a campaign budget, risk register and approval workflow for controlled campaign delivery.
• Design an AMEC-aligned measurement framework with outputs, outtakes, outcomes, KPIs and reporting cadence.

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Public Relations Managers — who need to turn organisational priorities into governed, measurable campaigns
• Communications Managers — who coordinate internal and external channels around a single strategic plan
• Corporate Communications Officers — who need a repeatable method for planning reputation and stakeholder programmes
• Media Relations Specialists — who want to connect media activity to audience outcomes rather than coverage volume
• Internal Communications Leads — who must plan employee communication around behavioural and organisational objectives
• Public Affairs and External Affairs Advisers — who need to map influential stakeholders and sequence engagement activity

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience supporting, delivering or reviewing public relations or communications activity, such as media relations, content planning, internal communications, stakeholder engagement or campaign reporting. They should understand basic terms including target audience, key message, communication channel, KPI and budget. Confidence working with documents, spreadsheets and presentation slides is expected; Microsoft Excel will be used for simple planning and measurement exercises. No prior formal study of the RACE model, statistics qualification, media-buying expertise, specialist design software or access to paid social-listening platforms is required.

Training methodology

The instructor introduces each RACE stage through worked campaign examples from corporate, public-sector and reputation contexts, then participants apply the method to an assigned or live brief. Short planning labs cover research interpretation, stakeholder prioritisation, objective writing, message testing, channel selection and measurement design. Teams use Miro to map audiences and campaign logic, and Microsoft Excel to build schedules, budgets and KPI trackers. Daily peer critique mirrors an approval meeting; the final session concludes with a presentation of each team’s RACE plan and a personal workplace application plan.

Course outline

Day 1: Research: defining the communication problem

• The RACE model and campaign logic from organisational need to communication outcome
• Distinguishing business problems, communication problems and tactical requests
• Research brief structure: decisions, assumptions, questions, methods and evidence sources
• Secondary research using organisational data, media analysis and sector intelligence
• Stakeholder mapping by influence, interest, salience and information need
• Audience segmentation using demographic, behavioural, attitudinal and situational variables
• Insight statements and problem definitions that guide campaign choices

Workshop: Participants analyse a campaign brief, build a stakeholder map and write a research brief with priority insight questions.

Day 2: Action and planning: strategy, objectives and messages

• Turning research findings into a strategic communication proposition
• SMART objectives for awareness, understanding, attitude, intention and behaviour
• Objective hierarchy linking communication objectives to organisational goals
• Audience prioritisation and persona development for public relations campaigns
• Message architecture: narrative, core messages, proof points and calls to action
• Message adaptation by stakeholder group, channel context and campaign phase
• Strategy statements, planning assumptions and campaign scope boundaries

Workshop: Participants produce a campaign strategy statement, objective hierarchy, audience personas and a message architecture.

Day 3: Communication: tactics, channels and activation

• PESO model selection across paid, earned, shared and owned media
• Channel selection criteria: audience fit, credibility, control, cost and timing
• Media relations tactics, news angles, spokesperson preparation and press materials
• Content pillars, editorial calendars and campaign content sequencing
• Stakeholder engagement journeys and call-to-action design
• Campaign roles, RACI matrices, supplier coordination and approval workflows
• Budget development, resource allocation and contingency planning

Workshop: Participants create a PESO channel plan, six-week editorial calendar, RACI matrix and campaign budget for their scenario.

Day 4: Evaluation: proving communication value

• AMEC Integrated Evaluation Framework and the Barcelona Principles 3.0
• Distinguishing activities, outputs, outtakes, outcomes and organisational impact
• KPI selection for media relations, content, stakeholder engagement and internal communication
• Baseline measures, targets, benchmarks and comparison groups
• Quantitative and qualitative methods for measuring message uptake and audience response
• Dashboard design using leading indicators, lagging indicators and reporting cadence
• Interpreting results, identifying learning and recommending campaign adjustments

Workshop: Participants build an AMEC-aligned measurement framework and a one-page executive dashboard specification.

Day 5: Integrated RACE plan: governance, presentation and application

• Integrating research, strategy, tactics and evaluation into one campaign plan
• Campaign risk registers for reputational, operational, legal and stakeholder risks
• Issues escalation, holding statements and decision-making protocols
• Ethical planning, transparency, accessibility and inclusive audience practice
• Executive-ready campaign plan structure and evidence-based recommendations
• Presenting campaign choices and responding to leadership challenge
• Ninety-day implementation planning, review points and optimisation decisions

Workshop: Participants present their completed RACE campaign plan to a simulated leadership panel and finalise a 90-day workplace activation plan.

Tools & standards covered

Miro, Microsoft Excel, AMEC Integrated Evaluation Framework, Barcelona Principles 3.0

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions