Strategy: Don't communicate without it
Chapter 2 (part 1 of 3)
If you want to know where you are going, you need to know where you are right now.
A strategic communication plan helps outline "the state of your world" while simultaneously giving you a road map to follow when integrating the communication elements that exist in each of your organization's programs, services and advocacy efforts. Without a strategic plan, your communication efforts will lack meaning and worth.
Simply put, a strategic communication plan is a written document that lists your organization's goals and objectives for its communication. It leads to a step-by-step game plan that explicitly outlines what communication has to make happen and how it will get done.
For organizations with limited time and money, a strategic plan allows staff members to prioritize tasks and focus resources on what's most important, rather than simply reacting to external events or opportunities as they occur. A strategic plan helps ensure that your communication activities have the greatest potential for success.
To make your communication effective, your strategic plan should do more than state goals such as "raise awareness" or "increase media coverage." Those are very general, vague goals without measurable endpoints. Instead, your plan should focus on what you want to make happen—What is your communication objective? Whom do you want to reach? What are your key messages? How can you creatively frame and convey those messages? What are the communication vehicles that will best reach your audience? How can you roll out the plan within the budget and timeline available to you? How will you know if you succeed?
Answering those questions will allow you to measure whether you've made a difference with each and every effort you employ. Without specific, measurable goals, you cannot know what you want to achieve, how much it will cost or even if you've been successful.
Outlined on the following pages are the basics of formulating a strategic plan. Use this as an outline for defining what you want to accomplish with your various publics.
Ten elements of a strategic plan
Developing a strategic communication plan will be less overwhelming if it is viewed as a series of steps. The best strategic communication plans contain all of the following elements:
- Situation analysis that includes organizational background and details on the external or public environment in which your organization operates.
- Organizational goals that outline overall mission/purpose.
- Communication objective that specifically states what communications must make happen.
- Well-defined target audiences (categories of people) who are critical to the success of your organization and reaching the objectives.
- Conduits that will help you carry the messages to key audiences. For example, local news media may carry the message to the local community.
- Key messages that clearly and succinctly state what you want your audiences to know.
- Strategies and tactics that serve as a road map for framing and disseminating your message effectively.
- Timeline for accomplishing objectives with milestones for executing strategies and tactics along the way.
- Resource budget including human and financial capital necessary to carry out the required tasks.
- Metrics and evaluation methods to determine what works and what requires adjustment over time. Whenever possible, show the return on investment in quantifiable terms.
Step 1—Situation analysis
To develop an effective communication plan, it is critical that you be aware of the environment in which your organization operates. You can best assess your potential strengths and weaknesses by considering the following items:
- Organizational history and mission.
- Facts about the issue(s).
- Services you provide. What do you do better than anyone else?
- People who benefit from your services or who will otherwise be on the receiving end of your messages. What do they need or want to know? How can you get their attention, deal with their perceptions and make the desired impression?
- Performance indicators. How do you measure success or tell that you have been effective at achieving goals and objectives?
- Competitor insight/information. What are their goals? Who are their constituents? What are their key messages? How are they perceived? What works for them?
- Potential ally insight/information. Why do/should they care about helping you? What's in it for them?
- Public perceptions of your organization and/or the issue(s).
- Research results related to the issue(s). Are there surveys or focus group results to guide your communication plan?
- Public opinion toward the issue(s). Has someone else measured what people think, or can you?
- Opponent identification and threat assessment. Who are your peers, and how are they vying for attention? Whom do they serve? What distinguishes your organization from theirs?
Step 2—Organizational goals
Listing your organization's overall mission and relevant goals helps ensure that communication efforts support and build on that foundation. This section of your strategic plan should clearly state who you are and why you exist. Consider these items:
- Your organization's ultimate goal.
- What makes your organization unique.
- The way you want your organization and its services to be perceived.
- The way you want the issue(s) to be perceived.
Step 3—Communication objectives
A communication objective can be far-reaching or limited in scope, but it must be specific. The more specific you are, the more likely you are to be successful—and the more on target your strategies and tactics will be. Your communication objectives should tell you (and others):
- Why you are communicating in the first place.
- What you want people to do, say or think as a result of your efforts.
Next »
Chapter 2: Strategy: Don't communicate without it (part 2 of 3)
