The second step of creating a PR plan for managing a public relations campaign, after identifying your problem or opportunity, is the “situational analysis”. You can think of the situational analysis as a sort of expansion of your PR problem or opportunity. Here are some pieces of information that should be included:

• Research and statistics that led to the determination of the PR problem or opportunity.
• A note as to whether this PR campaign is a one-time effort (such as for a product launch), a long-term effort (such as continually working to maintain an image or reputation that’s already positive), or a response to a crisis or negative public opinion.
• Background information on what actually caused, or led up to, this PR opportunity or problem (such as market or audience changes, engineering or security issues leading to a product safety concern, etc.).