In my career, I follow the adage, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”
Early on in planning a PR campaign, I meet with my team and we define what success will look like. A successful campaign does not mean that we wrote and distributed a press release. The press release is my channel. However, if the press release is picked up and leads to three story placements, and my goal was four story placements, I’ve achieved a 75 percent success rate. I may need to make follow-up calls with other media outlets if I want to reach 100 percent of the goal.
A good PR campaign has four components:
- Goals: What do you want to achieve?
- Audience: Who do you need to reach?
- Strategy: What are the best ways to reach them?
- Channels or Tactics: How will you deliver?
If you begin with the goal or end result in mind, you are much more likely to succeed.
Cynthia's Communique 
It’s 5:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning. I’ve just come to my pc because I can’t sleep and, after reading your post, discovered that I woke for a reason. I needed a specific goal for a project that I’m working on, dealing w/PR, so thanks for the wisdom. Keep writing, as you never know how much good you are doing.