Writing your own plan is best because you probably have superior knowledge of your product, your target market and your own capabilities. Eventually, when you are required to defend your plan, you will be better informed of its contents and its rationale. If you engage someone else to write your business plan, you will still have to supply much of following information anyway.

1. Enter an outline in your wordprocessor. You can copy excerpts from books, online searches or pamphlets from government agencies. Finding appropriate content for your venture could take quite a bit of time. It's a good start for overcoming inertia, it provides places to record information as it is gathered and your outline can become your planning and control file.

2. Begin collecting contact details for all your references: data sources, business plan writing instructions, resource persons, online sites, libraries, bookstores, etc. The more -- better. Exercise caution if you think your idea is hot for a local and limited market. Reveal your concept and your research only to a trusted few. Someone with similar attributes and skills with access to more money could beat you to an exclusive market share. In my business classes there was always, at least, one student accepting my offer to submit weekly submissions in a plain kraft envelope.

A Blueprint for Managing your PR

OK, as a manager, your goal is to show a profit for your business unit, or meet certain expectations of your association membership, or achieve your non-profit’s operating objective. In each case, you’ll need public relations activity that creates behavior change among your key outside audiences. Behavior change that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives.

Here’s how you can make it happen. Accept fact that right PR really can alter individual perception and lead to those changed behaviors you need.

Then resolve to do something positive about behaviors of those important outside audiences of yours that MOST affect your operation.

In particular, create kind of external stakeholder behavior change that leads directly to achieving your managerial objectives. You’ll be able to pull this off when you persuade those key outside folks to your way of thinking, and then move them to take actions that allow your department, division or subsidiary to succeed.

Here’s blueprint showing you how to manage this kind of public relations. People act on their own perception of facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion by reaching, persuading and moving-to-desired-action very people whose behaviors affect organization most, public relations mission is accomplished.

But you’ll find that you will need a lot more than news releases, brochures and special events to get a satisfactory return on your PR investment.

Here are some of results business, non-profit and association managers can expect from this kind of public relations. New proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; rebounds in showroom visits; membership applications on rise; community service and sponsorship opportunities; enhanced activist group relations, and expanded feedback channels, and even new thoughtleader and special event contacts.

Before long, you should see customers making repeat purchases; prospects reappearing; stronger relationships with educational, labor, financial and healthcare communities; improved relations with government agencies and legislative bodies, and perhaps even capital givers or specifying sources looking your way.

A word of caution here because you certainly want your most important outside audiences to really perceive your operations, products or services in a positive light. Be sure that your PR staff is really on board for whole effort. Reassure yourself that they accept basic truth that perceptions almost always lead to behaviors that can help or hurt your unit.

Sit down and review PR blueprint carefully with your staff, especially regarding how you will gather and monitor perceptions by questioning members of your most important outside audiences. Questions like these: how much do you know about our organization? How much do you know about our services or products and employees? Have you had prior contact with us and were you pleased with how things went? Have you experienced problems with our people or procedures?