COMMUNICATION PLAN

COMMUNICATION  PLAN

An effective communications plan is simply a way to help companies think about how to talk to the right people about the right things at the right time – in the right way.  It should be a support for your organization’s larger strategy and it should include internal and external elements.  

An internal communications plan is for everyone who has ever been involved in the planning of your initiative. This includes people such as all of your foundation staff and board members who have been involved conceptualizing and developing the initiative, planning team members, advisory council members, the community members who have ever participated in planning meetings, and other involved stakeholders.  Internal communications strategies for those most closely involved in current planning efforts, such as an e-newsletter to keep all the planning team members appraised of what each other is doing, will be very different from strategies to connect with broader stakeholders who don’t yet know about your efforts, such as policymakers, media, and community members.

The external communications plan is for anyone who hasn’t been involved, but who needs to be. This might be the people who will benefit from your initiative, business, schools, policymakers, community providers who have not yet been involved, the media, etc.  It also includes those who might be opposed to company's efforts.

An effective communications plan is simply a way to help you think about how to talk to the right people about the right things at the right time – in the right way.  It should be a support for your organization’s larger strategy.

Components of a Communications Plan

A strategic communications plan should include the following:

Situation Analysis – forms the context for the plan. It should contain a marketing analysis (including a review of pricing, distribution, resources, and product differentiation compared with competing brands in the category) as well as a communication analysis (contains message, copy, and communication channel comparison to competing brands in the category). Company should take some time to reflect: what does the landscape look like?  What particular strengths, challenges, or opportunities are facing your organization over the next year?  Are there other positive or negative facts, perceptions, etc. that may be relevant? A SWOT analysis can be included.

Target audiences – Company have agreement about who are the key internal and external audiences, what they key messages are for each audience, and what you want each audience to do as a result of hearing those messages.

Company should be as specific as possible about what you want to accomplish with each audience, and how communications can help.

Think about audiences in two groups: those who will support your effort, and those who will be against it. Be sure to have strategies that address those who will be barriers to success (e.g., to see if you can turn some of them into supporters, or “frame the debate” to prevent their negative messages from taking hold)

Delineate the different sectors of audience (public, private, nonprofit, etc.) as well as the different levels (local, regional, state). The “general public” is not a target audience.  You need to be more specific.

Opportunities and barriers for reaching key audiences – The plan should identify different strategies for and opportunities to reach key audiences with your messages. It should also identify barriers and how those barriers can be overcome.

Key messages – As mentioned above, while there might be one overarching message, different audiences will need different key messages. You will also want to identify the readiness of each audience to hear and act upon these messages, their core concerns so that you can ensure your messages are meaningful to them, and the messenger to share your message. 

Marketing strategy – All communication plans derive from a marketing strategy. This strategy should have two aspects: One is business objectives, typically defined by number of customers and sales. The second is the brand aspect, which may be defined by specific brand attributes such as quality and value.

Role of communications – defines hoe the communication is going to solve the marketing challenge or meet the objectives. The role of communications is how the brand is going to communicate with its consumers. Some typical roles of communication are to:

• increase awareness
• change perceptions
• announce news
• associate the brand with different characteristics

Communication objectives – include to whom the company is going to target with the message, where, when and how much pressure the company plan to provide the message. The big four communications objectives are:

• Target market
• Geography
• Seasonal/timing
• Reach/frequency/continuity

Communication strategies – Are the ways to plan to achieve the objectives. Each objective should have a corresponding strategy. There are two major strategies for a communication plan:

• Communication mix: the mix of communication channels the company plan to use to achieve the objectives.
• Scheduling when the company plan on deploying each channel.

Communication tactics – reflect the details of the strategies. Tactics are the specifics of the plan. Within each goal, strategy and tactic there will be different communications vehicles to use to carry your message to your audience.  This includes face-to-face meetings, telephone calls, e-newsletters, blogs, grassroots mobilization, policy reports, op-eds, community meetings, etc. The tactics should address each vehicle recommended, the creative unit, costs, and the impressions that the vehicle will deliver.

Communication budget – is a recap of the resources allocated to each communication channel and not to the specific vehicle. Communication budgets include money by channel and also a recap of money by month.  

Communication flowchart – is a schematic of the plan on a single page. It contains a weekly schedule of activity, a recap of money by vehicle and category, a recap of impressions by vehicle and category, and a reach/frequency analysis. The communication flowchart is a summary of all activity, scheduling and costs.

Measurable goals and strategies – The communications plan should include clear and measurable goals and strategies. These goals should be as specific as possible. Avoid generic goals such as “raise awareness”, and make sure communications goals are realistic and can be accomplished with the human and financial resources available.

Implementation plan – The communications plan should be accompanied by an implementation plan. This should be a very clear road map that lays out specific timelines, deadlines, activities, who is responsible, etc.

Monitoring and evaluation – Even if these are optional aspects of a communication plan, the company will want to track and measure success, so each communication goal and strategy should be measurable and evaluated. Many communication plans have test programs. A test program may be to test how an increase in media pressure might impact a specific market, or it might be to test an emerging medium. To evaluate the success of the plan the company may recap the measures and methods were used and to observe if the communication plan reaches its objectives.

Timing considerations – A realistic time horizon for a strategic communications plan is three years.  However, the communications plan should include immediate-, short-, and long-term goals and strategies. The implementation plan should help in determining how to prioritize and roll out the different communication components, strategies and tactics. Since company’s initiative will have immediate communications needs, it should identify what needs to happen immediately and what are some “low-hanging fruit” tactics that could be implemented to meet those needs, even before a full communications plan is developed. Some ideas include:

• Initial materials
• Fact sheet – a simple document outlining the aim of the initiative, the time frame, and who is involved.
• PowerPoint that describes the initiative and conveys key messages. This can be used for both larger presentations, and also to “talk through” the initiative during one-on-one meetings. There might be slightly different versions of this for different audiences.
• Talking points to ensure internal stakeholder leaders are conveying the same, clear messages.
• E-newsletters or email updates to key stakeholders.
• Conducting a series of individual meetings with key stakeholders who have not yet been engaged to inform them about and begin to involve them in the initiative.
• Identifying “ambassadors” who can help tell the story about the initiative. This can be helpful when many one-on-one meetings or group presentations are needed.

 Communication plan process

Step 1. Be clear about your overall communication objectives. What do you want to achieve, when and why? Record your overall objectives in your plan.

Step 2. Now identify and list your different audiences. 

Step 3. Now drill down into your communication objectives and clarify specific goals for each audience. A good way to do this is to think about the audience's needs – what do they need and want to know from you? List all the goals (there may be several) for each audience in your plan.

Step 4. Before starting on the detail of your plan, first jot down all the possible communications channels you could use. Think broadly and creatively! You probably already use lots of great ways to communicate in your company, and some new ones may help get your message across. 

Step 5. To plan out the message for each audience, start by thinking about the broadest audience groups first.

Step 6. It's good to get feedback on the communications you have planned and implemented. Ask people from different audiences how you are doing. Check they understand the messages you need them to hear. By getting timely feedback, you can tune any future communications that you have planned to better meet people's needs or fill any gaps so far.

Communication plan Implementation and beyond

It’s time to put the plan into action, but remember: Implementation is only the beginning of a long process of activity, measurement, re-evaluation and re-strategizing.

Once the strategic communication plan has been launched, determine regular review cycles for all phases of the plan. Ideally, the plan should be reviewed in a group meeting once every quarter, assessing all elements of the plan and their outcomes. Change the plan, as necessary, according to these review cycles; also review and change the plan ad hoc in response to organizational changes, or strategic or competitor activities.

Monitor timing; roles and responsibilities – evaluating individuals’ performance on the items in the plan for which they had responsibility; and metrics – did the chosen metrics provide useful measurements? If not, how might they be improved? If they did, what’s happened as a result? Consider whether some strategies need to be “frozen” temporarily to allow others to be prioritized.

Sources:

Kelley, Larry 2012. Advertising Media Planning - A brand management approach. M.E.Sharpe. London.

Kris Putnam-Walkerly and Philanthropy411, 2010. http://putnam-consulting.com/philanthropy-411-blog/philanthropy/effective-comm-planning/

https://www.melcrum.com/research/strategy-planning-tactics/9-steps-effective-strategic-planning#sthash.v7oSdrOb.dpuf