Communication Plan

What is the structure of an effective communication plan, what important elements are there?

http://www.kansaslearning.org/index/communication

Communication is the process of transmitting ideas and information. For a company, that means conveying the true nature of your company, the issues it deals with, and its accomplishments to the consumers. (Community Tool box 2014.)

According to Community Tool Box 2014, communication can take many forms, including:

• Word of mouth
• News stories in both print and broadcast media
• Press releases and press conferences
• Posters, brochures, and fliers
• Outreach and presentations to other health and community service providers and to community groups and organizations
• Special events and open houses that your organization holds

For a company to communicate effectively, it is important to plan out what you want from your communication, and what you need to do to get it. (Community Tool box 2014.)

According to Community Tool box 2014 there are four things why you should make a communication plan:

1. A communication plan makes it possible to target your communication accurately. 
2. A communication plan helps you to map out how to raise your profile and refine your image in the community. 
3. A  communication plan makes your communication efforts more efficient, effective and lasting. 
4. A communication plan makes everything easier by providing a blueprint for exactly what you should be doing at any point in the process.

According to Community Tool box 2014, the remainder of your communication plan, involves three steps:

• Implement your action plan. Design your message and distribute it to your intended audience.
• Evaluate your communication efforts, and adjust your plan accordingly.
• Keep at it

Communication is an ongoing activity for any company that serves, depends upon, or is in any way connected with the consumers.  The purpose, audience, message, and channels may change, but the need to maintain relationships with the media and with key people.  As a result, an important part of any communication plan is to continue using and revising your plan, based on your experience. (Community Tool box 2014)

Communication is useful at all points in  your organization's development - it can help get the word out about a new product  renew interest in a long-standing program, or help attract new customers. (Community Tool box 2014)

According to Dave Fleet 2012, the content of communication plan is:

• Content
• Environmental Scan
• Stakeholders
• Objectives
• Strategy
• Audiences
• Announcement
• Messages
• Tactics
• Issues
• Budget
• Evaluation 

How to Develop A Communication Plan?

http://communicationplanstoday.blogspot.fi/2010/03/communication-plan-of-company.html

Robin Mayhall has described how to develop a efficient communication plan. According to him the following steps should be made:

1. Conduct a research-communication audit. Evaluate your current communications. 

• 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.

2. 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 customers,
• customer loyalty,
• centralization of the communication effort,
• increased employee teamwork,
• improved product delivery,
• influence on government, media, consumers, and other audiences. 

3. Define audiences. List all the audiences that your company might contact, attempt to influence, or serve.

4. 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. 

5. 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. 

6. 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.).

7. 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.

How can you measure the effectiveness of your plan?

The metrics that matter most are those that tell you if your communications strategy is helping you meet your organization’s overall goals. Your communications strategy exists to help audiences discover your organization and your work, participate in your programs and services, learn from the content you offer, and take action on issues. What you measure should help you evaluate whether a particular strategy is effective and how you might improve it. (The Non-profit Times 2014.)

• Activity Metrics. These metrics can help you better understand what you’re doing to implement your communications strategy (The Non-profit Times 2014).

• Reach Metrics. These metrics can help you assess the size of your audience and whether it’s the right audience for your messages, so that you can understand who may potentially hear your messages (The Non-profit Times 2014).

• Engagement Metrics. Engagement metrics are a measurement of when and how others engage with  (The Non-profit Times 2014).

• Impact Metrics. Impact metrics help you measure the behaviors and attitudes you’ve shifted, the wrongs you’ve righted, and the actions you’ve inspired audiences to take (The Non-profit Times 2014).

Sources:

How to Develop A Communication Plan. Robin Mayhall. URL: http://www.hieran.com/comet/howto.html. Accessed 17.03.2015

Strategic Communication Planning. Dave Fleet 2012. URL: http://www.slideshare.net/davefleet/strategic-communications-planning-a-free-ebook. Accessed 17.03.2015

Developing a Plan for Communication. Community Tool Box 2014. URL: http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/participation/promoting-interest/communication-plan/main. Accessed 17.03.2015

Measuring the Success of your Communication Strategy. The Non-profit Times 2014. URL: http://www.thenonprofittimes.com/management-tips/measuring-the-success-of-your-communications-strategy/. Accessed 17.03.2015