A communication plan helps you pull together what you want to say, who you want to say it to and how you’ll say it.
Before you start telling your well-crafted authentic story, take some time to plan how you will communicate it and document it in a communication plan.
Current situation
Outline the opportunity or issue you’re trying to address. Include current perceptions, key facts as well as risks. Who are your likely critics and opponents – who is getting in your way? What strategies will you put in place to mitigate and manage them?
Aims
What are you trying to achieve through this communication plan?
Evaluation
How will you know when you have communicated successfully and how will you measure it? (How much did we do? How well did we do it? Was anyone better off because of our work?)
Target audiences
Who are you seeking to communicate to and engage with? Include primary and secondary audiences, individual names as well as organisation. Also refer to:
- How to identify (and manage) primary and secondary stakeholders
- How to understand market scale
- How to identify and evaluate market segments
Key messages
What are the messages for your target audience, your supporters and your critics? There may be different messages for your internal audience (team) and external audience.
Also refer to:
- Craft your story
- How to write vision and mission statements
- How to create a compelling value proposition
Tools
What tools will you use, ie web, social media, email, advertising? Who are your spokespeople?
FAQs
Sometimes it is useful to prepare a list of most frequently asked questions and answers for internal and external audiences.
Action Plan
What are the key tasks? Who is responsible and what is the timeframe?
Budget
List each item with details and their cost.
Evaluate
Once your campaign has come to a close, take some time to review how it went. What worked well? What did you learn? What would you do differently next time? Note these for your next campaign.