The Design Lounge

Develop a Communication Plan

Let’s start by defining the word communications.

In my opinion, a “Communications Plan” is an overall strategy that includes marketing, sales, and public relations. In your communications plan, you should define who you want to reach and how you are going to get there.

From that strategic vantage point, marketing, sales and public relations become strategies that help you achieve your goals.

Sample communications plan format

Your communications plan is a reflection of you. It can be as detailed and technical as you want, or loosely outlined. It is essential that the format of your plan be something that you will actually refer to… something that you will actually pull out and use. Otherwise drafting the plan is a waste of your time.

Why are you drafting this communications plan?

The 80/20 principle says that 20% of your customers create 80% of your revenues. If you could spend 80% of your time developing profitable relationships with those 20%, would you?

Well, a communications plan is meant to help you do that. With some research and understanding of ‘what’ your message is, you can focus your attention on your most effective communications strategies.

• It should be purposeful with clearly defined, measurable objectives and timelines.
• It should be a reference point that helps keep your business on track through the year.
• It should anticipate potential threats throughout the year and provide you with a plan to successfully overcome those hurdles.
• It should be flexible enough to adapt to a changing environment.
• It should give you the tools to build your business, even in a difficult economy.

The essential elements of the plan include:

Overall Communications Goal – Your goal is the end result.

Audiences – An audience can be internal (employees) or external (customers). It can include direct customers, lead referrers, stake holders, vendors and media.

With some research, a communications specialist can evaluate your most important audiences for you to focus on.

Audience Strategy – How do you like to receive a message? Do you like to get the warm, fuzzy story behind the story? Or would you prefer a bullet list in 5 minutes or less?

Your audiences, or customer groups, are the same way. To reach each of your customer groups, you must customize the message into something they will hear.

Each audience will need its own strategy, with unique objectives and tactics. For example, you can tap into social media to reach a certain market segment.

Objectives – Objectives are statements of what you expect to achieve. They need to include a timeline and a measurable result. For example, “Increase customer response rate by 10% by the end of the 2nd quarter.”

Tactics – Tactics are the specific actions that you are going to take. For example, “Each sales person is going to call 3 people per week.”

Evaluation – One of the most crucial and overlooked elements of any communications plan is to evaluate your results. At the end of the year, parts of your plan will work great and parts will not. By evaluating how well you met your objectives, you’ll have a good starting point for next year.

Savoir Faire Media is available to help you understand your customers better, to define a marketing plan that will help you reach and interact with them. If you need a nudge in the right direction, or a full blown marketing / communications plan, email us or call (888) 736-4257 [sfm-gals].