Developing Your Strategic Communications Plan
© Eileen Kugler

Every organization needs an effective communications program -- whether its communicating with potential donors, members, policy makers or the general public. No matter what the size of your organization, the communications effort should be focused so that the allotted funds are spent effectively. Even a very limited communications budget can yield valuable results in a well-designed and carefully implemented communications program.

To assure that the communications budget is spent exactly as it should be, it is critical to develop a strategic communications plan. As with an overall strategic plan, a communications plan helps an organization identify where it wants to go, and develop strategies to get there. Just because a public relations program is active doesn't mean it is helping the organization reach its most important goals. A strategic communications plan keeps public relations efforts in sync with where the organization is headed.

There are several basic steps to developing a strategic communications plan.

1. Establish the goals of the public relations program

The critical first step is to establish the goal or goals of the communications program. In other words, you must know what you hope to achieve. The goals should be tied directly to the goals of the organization. For example, the organization may have seen its membership slipping in recent years, so one goal of the public relations effort might be to help the organization increase membership. Perhaps there has been misleading negative media coverage of the organization, so the public relations effort may be designed to clear up public misconceptions.

There are many different goals that can serve as the foundation of the communications effort, such as:

• Informing potential donors of worthwhile programs

• Influencing policy-makers

• Increasing membership

• Improving the public image of the organization

• Correcting misconceptions

• Encouraging volunteer efforts

Once you establish your goal, the rest of the plan flows from there. It will remain the essence of the plan. All future parts of the plan should be checked to determine if they support the goal or goals.

2. Establish the Theme

After you have determined your goal, you should establish the theme, or main message that you wish to convey. You should be able to state the theme in a short sentence or two. If you can't communicate it clearly in a few phrases, then your theme is not focused enough.

Many public relations efforts never reach their goal because their message is too vague. This is often the problem for organizations that have long histories. The founders of the organization had a clear picture of what the organization was all about. But over the years, new leadership has had its own view and the message that is communicated becomes clouded. No one wants to define a clear message today for fear of offending someone who feels differently about the organization.

A vague message can plague any organization, however. What frequently happens is that communications efforts are undertaken in a vacuum, without consideration of how they fit in an overall plan. Time and money are eaten up correcting one story in the media or responding to the personal desires of a strong Board member.

Let's look at a local organization that effectively developed a communications theme. In Fairfax County, VA, the Office for Women had been valiantly fighting to preserve its share of a shrinking county budget. The goal of its public relations effort is to influence policymakers. The theme must describe why continued funding of this organization is important. What purpose does it serve? What makes it unique? One of the themes the Office for Women struck was that it pays for itself because it helps women become successful professionals who then pay sizable county taxes. In a climate where every dollar of the budget had to be justified, this communicated a unique and effective reason to continue the funding.

3. Identify the Target Audience

Once you have established the goal and the theme of the campaign, determine who you need to reach with the message. Reaching "everyone" is a noble thought, but unrealistic. And truthfully, you may not need to reach everyone.

In the above example, the Office for Women needed to reach the elected officials with control over the County budget, the Board of Supervisors. It also needed to reach those who elect the supervisors, the voters of Fairfax County. It did not need to reach the voters in New York City or even in nearby Richmond. Its target audience was very localized.

There may be times when you do need to reach "the general public." For example, the United Way had to counteract negative publicity that had been read by potential donors nationwide. But it is rare that an organization must reach a target audience of that magnitude. Even the United Way had to analyze where the greatest number of past and potential donors live and work to refine its target audience. If at first glance, the target audience for your communications effort looks too large, then set priorities. Which audience is truly essential to reaching your goal? Why? Can you take a multi-year approach and target a different audience each year?

The key is to make sure the message fits the target audience. For example, if you are a local hospital seeking to encourage repeat donations, your theme may be that you need donations even more this year to continue your important work. This will be a very different message than one that is part of a communications effort to increase the number of physicians who are connected with the hospital. A well-designed newsletter that touts the programs of the hospital could be part of both efforts, but a carefully drafted cover letter would have to address different themes to the different target audiences.

4. Develop strategies for reaching your target audience, including determining the most effective communications vehicles.

The next step is to determine how to reach your target audience with your message. A poorly constructed communications plan may simply recommend using "the media" to reach "the general public." Just as the "general public" needs to be analyzed and broken down into a smaller target audience, "the media" is too large an entity to be valuable in planning.

Which type of media? It's great to get coverage on the national TV news, but that's a rare occurrence. Even then, the coverage will last a minute or two at best. You need to carefully analyze what your audience watches, reads, and listens to. Does your target audience read the major newspapers or would they be more likely to read the small local papers regularly? Would they generally subscribe to Business Week, The New Yorker, or Modern Maturity? Would your target audience tend to listen to Rush Limbaugh or National Public Radio?

Determine the best strategies for encouraging coverage in the appropriate news outlet. Think of creative story ideas that get your message across -- and are newsworthy and timely. Spend time working with reporters or producers who work for the news outlets that are important to the people you want to reach.

While an "unbiased" positive news story about your organization is always a plus, there are other ways of getting your information into the newspaper or magazine. One underutilized strategy is to write a letter to the editor whenever a story appears that relates directly to your message. Letters are edited only slightly so you have significant control over the message.

The news media are far from the only way to reach your audience. There are many other opportunities that don't require you to filter your message through the press. Write your own newsletter and make sure it is interesting to your target audience (not just the "insiders"). Consider being a speaker or exhibitor at a conference that is a favorite of your target audience. Issue a report that puts your organization's theme in perspective. Plan your own meeting to explore issues that are important to your organization.

5. Evaluate your plan and revise it, if necessary.

After a reasonable period -- six months to a year is recommended -- evaluate your strategies. Have they helped reach your goal(s)? What strategies have proven most successful? Why? Make course corrections, where necessary.

No plan can be carved in stone. You may need to respond rapidly to a major news event or the issuance of a significant report. What should not change, however, is the goal of the program. Modifications should always relate to the original goal.

Before you spend a dollar on a communications effort, make sure you know what you want to spend it on. A strategic communications plan will provide you a road map to your ultimate destination. Without it, how will you know when you get there?