What Are the Four Phases of PR?

The four phases of public relations are most commonly expressed through the RACE model: Research, Action planning, Communication, and Evaluation. Developed to bring systematic discipline to what had often been an ad hoc practice, RACE remains one of the most widely used frameworks in PR education and professional practice because it reflects how effective campaigns actually work — not just the visible communication activity, but the thinking before it and the measurement after it.

Research is the foundation phase that many campaigns shortcut, and consistently regret. Effective PR research means understanding the target audiences — who they are, what they read, what they care about, what currently shapes their perception of the subject — before any message is developed. In property PR, this means researching which publications reach your target buyers, what those buyers' primary purchase motivations are in the current market, and what the competitive landscape of media coverage looks like for comparable developments. Research done properly makes every subsequent phase more efficient.

Action planning translates research findings into a strategic campaign plan: specific objectives, target media tiers, key messages, timing and the activities required to execute the campaign. The plan answers questions that research raised — which publications to prioritise, which story angles will resonate with each audience, which milestone events provide the most effective news hooks, and how the campaign connects to the specific business outcomes it is meant to support. A well-constructed action plan makes execution straightforward and evaluation meaningful.

Communication is the phase most people think of as 'PR' — the press releases, media relationships, interviews, events, content and coverage that make up visible campaign activity. But communication that has not been built on the research and planning phases is inherently less effective: the messages are less targeted, the timing is reactive rather than deliberate, and the coverage secured is less likely to reach the audiences that matter. Communication is where strategy becomes visible, not where strategy is made.

Evaluation closes the loop — measuring whether the campaign achieved what the action plan set out to achieve and building the evidence base for future campaigns. Beyond counting coverage clips and calculating reach, serious PR evaluation connects communication activity to business outcomes: did buyer enquiries from target media increase? Did share of voice in priority publications grow? Did the development's brand positioning shift in the direction the campaign intended? Evaluation that answers these questions, rather than simply reporting activity, is the foundation of PR that improves over time.

In property development, the four phases of PR map naturally onto the development and sales lifecycle. Research begins when the project is defined; action planning typically starts 12-18 months before launch; communication runs through the full sales programme with phases aligned to construction and sales milestones; evaluation runs continuously and informs each subsequent phase. Developers who understand and respect this cycle consistently outperform those who treat PR as a single activity rather than a continuous, structured process.