The Eight Elements of a Strategic Communication Plan

Today I am beginning a series called The Eight Elements of a Strategic Communications Plan. In this series I will discuss the most important components a planner must consider before writing a Strategic Communications Plan. Over the next two weeks, I will discuss these eight topics:

Core Purpose

The success of any strategy lies in understanding why you are doing what you plan to do. This statement is true no matter if you are planning your weekly trip to the grocery store or preparing a press conference to announce a merger with a key business rival.

The first Element of a Strategic Communications Plan is to determine the tangible outcomes you would like to achieve through your communications effort. In essence, you envision the ending before beginning.

Develop Your Audience Profile

If I asked you to explain how you met your best friend, you will tell me in a completely different way than you would a four year-old child. For much of the same reason, Strategic Communications Plan must be conscience of its audience profile in order to develop a plan that will achieve its core purpose.

By and large, audiences fall into three major groups:

• Insiders who understand the nuance, politics, and business of your industry. This group includes competitors, secondary supporting companies, trade journalists, etc.
• Intermediaries who have some understanding of your business or industry.  Customers, for example.
• Outsiders who have little idea what you do, how you do it, and how you speak about your industry. This group includes everyone else and is your lowest common denominator.

Develop Your Message

When it comes to developing your message, remember The Three C’s:

1. Clarity – A message that conveys information to assure the public’s understanding and to limit the chances for misunderstanding or inappropriate behavior.
2. Consistency – Unfortunately, consistency is sometimes elusive as experts interpret new data differently. When deviation is unavoidable, spend time to explain why.
3. Credibility – The public will believe and trust you when your spokesperson and source of the information is believable and trustworthy.

Select Communication Channels

You won’t see an advertisement for Depends Undergarments on MTV. Likewise, you won’t see an ad for Stridex Acne Pads on Food Network. Selecting the appropriate communication channel (radio, television, internet, newspaper, etc.) is critical to successfully reaching your target audience.

Before deciding upon a channel, you should ask some key questions that will aid you in identifying the best way to target your market. Such questions include; where does this audience get its information? Who do they find credible? Do they use this medium?

Choose Activities and Materials

As with audience selection, choosing the communications vehicle is critical to successfully reaching your audience. You must also consider cost, timing, and the climate of the community toward a method or activity, as well as cultural appropriateness.

Establish Partnerships

When developing a Strategic Communications Plan in the commercial sector, planners sometimes forget to explore how their plan could affect other stakeholders. For example, a large manufacturer will want to include labor unions, suppliers, and financial institutions. Utilities will want to build strong relationships with their state and local emergency management agencies. Grocers could be partners with local charities such as soup kitchens.

There are many groups, organizations, and businesses that can aid you in achieving your goals. Identify them now and include them in your plan.

Implement the Plan

Whether you use a dry-erase calendar or a Gantt chart, drawing a picture will help you stay organized, on plan, and on budget.

Evaluation

The most critical aspect of any Strategic Communications Plan is the post-event evaluation. This holds true regardless of the event because you can determine strengths and weaknesses in your plan, identify obstacles, implement new approaches, and learn from having gone through the fight.

Schedule a meeting within two weeks of completing your plan to test it.

Here are other articles I have written on this topic:

• The Importance of Core Purpose
• What Is Strategic Communications?
• Peter Weill: IT Savvy Can Be a Strategic Asset
• Catechetical Plan
• New Campaign for Will County Health Department
• Chicago 2016: The Biggest PR Failure in a Generation
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 10: Team Briefing
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 2: Your Message
• 10 Day Tune Up for H1N1 – Day 1: Influenza Update
• Writing a Strategic Communications Plan: Executive Summary