How to Develop a Communications Plan

What is a communication plan? When should it be developed? Where does the information in the plan come from? How do you write one, and why should you bother? Overworked and underfunded communicators (Are there any other kind?) have a right to ask whether the work involved in developing a plan is worth it. The answer is yes because a written communication plan will

give your day-to-day work a focus, help you set priorities, provide you with a sense of order and control, help get the chief staff executive and staff to support your program, protect you against last-minute, seat-of-the-pants demands from staff and members, and prevent you from feeling overwhelmed, offering instead peace of mind.

What Is a Communication Plan? A communication plan is a written document that describes

what you want to accomplish with your association communications (your objectives), ways in which those objectives can be accomplished (your goals or program of work), to whom your association communications will be addressed (your audiences), how you will accomplish your objectives (the tools and timetable), and how you will measure the results of your program (evaluation).

Communications include all written, spoken, and electronic interaction with association audiences. A communication plan encompasses objectives, goals, and tools for all communications, including but not limited to:

periodic print publications; online communications; meeting and conference materials;

media relations and public relations materials; marketing and sales tools; legal and legislative documents; incoming communications, including reception procedures and voice mail content; committee and board communiques; corporate identity materials, including letterhead, logo, and envelopes; surveys; certificates and awards; annual reports; signage; speeches; and invoices.

When to Develop the Plan The best time to develop your plan is in conjunction with your annual budgeting or organizational planning process. Where to Get Information Grist for the plan generally comes from five sources: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. your association mission statement, a communication audit, membership surveys and focus groups, committee and leadership input, and discussions with other staff and departments.

How to Develop the Plan Take the following steps to develop an effective communication plan: Conduct a research-communication audit. Evaluate your current communications. Some associations hire firms to do this, but the price for the objectivity of an outside auditor can be high. To conduct your own audit, find out

what every staff person is doing in the way of communication, what each communication activity is designed to achieve, and how effective each activity is.

To get the answers you need,

brainstorm with communication staff, talk to other departments, interview the chief staff executive, interview the board, talk to communication committee members, survey the membership, host focus groups, and query nonmembers.

Define objectives. Armed with information from your audit, define your overall communication objectives-the results you want to achieve. These might include

excellent service to members, member loyalty, centralization of the communication effort, increased employee teamwork, improved product delivery, visibility for the association and the industry or profession it represents, and influence on government, media, consumers, and other audiences.

Define audiences. List all the audiences that your association might contact, attempt to influence, or serve. Included on your list may be

members; nonmembers; consumers; related associations; adversarial associations; educators; federal, regional, and local governments; related industries; and the media.

Define goals. With stated objectives, and considering available human and financial resources, define goals-in other words, a program of work for each objective. Goals include general programs, products, or services that you will use to achieve stated objectives. For example, if the objective is to improve member service, goals might include improved training for the member-service function, special

communications directed at first-time members, a reference manual for handling complaints, and ongoing information for members. Identify tools. Decide what tools will be used to accomplish stated goals. These tools can be anything from a simple flyer to a glossy magazine. Don't overlook less obvious tools such as posters, report covers, Rolodex cards, and Web sites. Brainstorm ideas with your staff. Establish a timetable. Once objectives, goals, audiences, and tools have been identified, quantify the results in a calendar grid that outlines roughly what projects will be accomplished and when. Separate objectives into logical time periods (monthly, weekly, etc.). Evaluate the result. Build into your plan a method for measuring results. Your evaluation might take the form of

a monthly report on work in progress, formalized department reports for presentation at staff meetings, periodic briefings of the chief staff executive and the department heads, and a year-end summary for the annual report.

Developing a written communication plan will take effort. Plan on three or four days the first time you do it. Once in place, the written plan will smooth your job all year long, earn you respect from the CEO and other staff, help set work priorities, protect you from last-minute demands, and bring a semblance of order to your chaotic job.

Communications Planning
Getting the right messages across in the right way

Use the right communication medium for your audience. iStockphoto/Antonprado

Have you ever received a memo and felt the sender really wasn't thinking about what you needed to know or hear? Maybe you have attended corporate presentations that have simply left you cold? Or perhaps you've even delivered communications yourself and realized, in retrospect, that you really hadn't got the measure of your audience and their needs. This is at best frustrating. At worst it is such a huge "turn off" that it can have a negative effect, or even produce an effect that is the exact opposite of the one you had intended. Whether you need to communicate general day-to-day information or "big news" about major changes in your organization, the best communications start with some good planning. The first step is to put yourself in the shoes of your audience. What do they need to know, and want to hear? What's their preferred way of receiving information? What will stop them listening to what you have to say? And how will you know that they have got the message? So there's quite a bit more to good communications than preparing a good memo or presentation! This tool will help you through the preparation steps and so help you create an audience-focused communication plan that's sure to get your message heard.

Market Your Message! Good corporate communications is very much like good marketing. You have a message (product) that you need to sell to your audience (customers). If they are going to buy it, you must package the message so that they can understand it and pay attention to it. You must make sure the value and benefit outweigh any downsides (the price you are asking them to pay). And you must reach the audience through the right communication channels. Then, following the communications (promotion), you must be able to measure the effectiveness and how well the message is bought.

How to Use the Tool

Use the following steps to create a good communication plan for your company or project. Record your plan on a communications planning worksheet, such as the free Mind Tools one you can download here.

Understand Your Objectives

Step 1. Be clear about your overall communication objectives. What do you want to achieve, when and why? Record your overall objectives in your plan. Figure 1: Communications Planning Template Communications Plan For Overall Communication Objective:

Audience

Communication Objectives

Message

Channel

Timing

Understand Your Audiences

Step 2. Now identify and list your different audiences. This can initially seem quite difficult: For all but the simplest communications plan, it's good to use Stakeholder Analysis to help you do this. Stakeholder Analysis helps you identify who to communicate with and why.

Example: Audience Groups Think of "audiences" as groups that you need to communicate with. Any one person may be a member of several audiences. As an example, consider a project communications plan that has four audiences: All people working in New Jersey Office.

All people working in Sydney Office. Customer Services Teams. HR Managers.

Joe is an HR manager working in Sydney and is therefore a member of 2 audiences, as is Sue who is a customer services team manager in New Jersey. Whereas Lee, an IT consultant in New Jersey, is a member of just one audience: "All people working in New Jersey Office".

Step 3. Now drill down into your communication objectives and clarify specific objectives for each audience. A good way to do this is to think about the audience's needs what do they need and want to know from you? List all the objectives (there may be several) for each audience in your plan.

Plan Communications Messages and Channels

Once you have clarified your objectives and got a full understanding of the different audiences you need to communicate with, it's time to plan the communications that means working out the messages needed to meet your objectives and when and how these will be delivered. Step 4. Before starting on the detail of your plan, first jot down all the possible communications channels you could use. Think broadly and creatively! You probably already use lots of great ways to communicate in your company, and some new ones may help get your message across. Here is a list to get you started: Email

Newsletter Teleconference Notice boards CEO briefing Posters Lunchtime meeting Intranet article

Launch event Team meeting Podcast on intranet

Tip: Remember to Use Existing Channels Big corporate news often gets announced at big corporate events. But don't forget to use existing channels too, such as staff newsletters, the intranet and team meetings. Using existing channels with the right message at the right time is an effective and familiar way to reach your audience.

Step 5. To plan out the message for each audience, start by thinking about the broadest audience groups first. In our example, the broadest audience might be "All people working in New Jersey Office" and "All people working in Sydney Office". As you consider each audience in turn, ask the following questions: What does the audience need and want to know?

When do we need to communicate? What is the regular or preferred channel for reaching this audience? For this specific audience and message, what is the most effective way to get your message across?

Several messages over time may be required to meet the objectives of each audience. Make sure the messages you plan "add up" to meet the audience's objectives.

Tip: Earlier in this article we compared Communications Planning with marketing. One saying in marketing is that "prospects need to see your message seven times before they buy." While this may be over-precise, you may need to give your message many times over before it sinks in. On the other hand, as you plan for each audience, remember also that members of one audience may also be part of another audience, and so may receive several messages. Try to plan your communications so that individuals receive the right information and are not inundated, or worse, confused by the different messages they receive.

Monitor Effectiveness
Step 6. It's good to get feedback on the communications you have planned and implemented. Ask people from different audiences how you are doing. Check they understand the messages you need them to hear. By getting timely feedback, you can tune any future communications that you have planned to better meet people's needs or fill any gaps so far.

Example:
Rather than provide a fully worked example here (which would take up too much space!) here's an example for you to work on to get a better understanding of how to write communications plans. Let's consider planning the communications for the implementation of new security passes in your office. The overall objective is to "Ensure a smooth transition from the current security pass system to the new one". Who are the audiences and what do they need? First consider the universal audience "All Office-Based Staff". Everyone will need to know that the change is scheduled, what to expect and when. If people at each site need to receive different instructions about how to get a new pass and so on, each site needs to be listed as a separate audience ("Staff at site A" etc.) And what about the people who manage security? They are a further audience group as they have specific needs including more detailed information (possibly training) on how to manage the new system. Now consider the specific messages for each audience. As well as receiving all-staff announcements about the new system, "Staff at site A" must know when and where at Site A to get their new pass photos taken. This information

must be communicated several days ahead of time. The day before the change over, people may need to be reminded to have their new passes at the ready, perhaps by leafleting everyone's desk throughout the office.