Writing a Strategic Communications Plan: Situation Analysis

In marketing, situation analysis is a tool for evaluating the market trends of a particular company. Many marketing professionals analyze “The Five C’s” when developing their marketing plans.

Strategic communication plans, on the other hand, such as those developed for crisis management scenarios, aren’t as concerned with certain marketing metrics, such as product Cost. None-the-less, the remaining Four C’s (Customer, Collaborator, Competition, and Climate) are useful starting points when defining the landscape on which your plan will function.

photo credit: mattbuck4950

Customer

The Customer is the ultimate end user of the communication plan. This person could be members of the general public, reporters, or potential jurors. This section of the plan does two things:

• Describes the end user in demographic, psychographic and lifestyle terms
• Explains where end users are located and how to reach them

Collaborator

A Collaborator is an individual or group that is has a vested interest in your organization’s reaction to events. Called “Key Stakeholders,” they can include, but are not limited to, these categories:

• Distributors
• Suppliers
• Alliances and Coalitions
• Politicians
• Government Agencies

Competition

Competition is an external factor relevant to key business competitors. This section would include:

• A description of key competitors and their marketing position,
• Size of key competitors in units (dollars, for example),
• Market share of key competitors,
• Sales trends of key competitors,
• Strengths and weaknesses of key competitors compared to your company’s products or services, and
• Perceived marketing strategies of key competitors and their probably impact on your company.

Climate

Climate, or Context, describes relevant macro-environmental trends that might affect your business.

• Demographics
• Economics
• Technology
• Political or Legal
• Social or Cultural

The Order for this Section

Typically situation analysis is the first section written in a Strategic Communications Plan. In addition to the Four C’s, this section also describes any particular issue that the plan will address, such as H1N1 influenza, for example.

Here are other articles I have written on this topic:

• Do You Think Like Your Market?
• Stocking Up on Heinz Ketchup
• U.S. Military Establishes New Social Media Policy
• God Wants Me to Purchase Baseball Tickets? Really?
• What Is Strategic Communications?
• Could the Comcast-NBC Deal Spur More M&A?
• New Campaign for Will County Health Department
• Writing a Strategic Communications Plan: Planning & Implementation
• Writing a Strategic Communications Plan: Stakeholders
• Augusts’ 5 Most Read Stories