Strategic Communication Plans: Key Elements
- Targeted Audience
- Appropriate and Engaging Content
- Channels of Distribution
- Effective Messenger(s)
- Methods of Measurement
Strategic communications plans are comprised of several key elements that must be carefully considered to ensure effectiveness. While they do not necessarily need to be considered in any particular order, each element is crucial to creating a plan that will help businesses reach their intended goals. A brief description of each of these components can be found in the sections that follow.
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1. Targeted Audience
Perhaps the most important element of a strategic communications plan is the targeted audience. While communicating to a general audience may be appropriate in some instances, in many cases, communicating to a more specific audience would be best. Because of this, it is essential that communications professionals ask themselves several questions before designing a communication plan. First, they need to determine what their goal is. Then, they need to determine what type of audience would help them reach that goal.
2. Appropriate and Engaging Content
Another crucial component of an effective communication plan is appropriate and engaging content. Not only should the content of messages be appropriate to the company’s goal and its intended audience, but it should be entertaining as well. An appropriate and entertaining message will encourage engagement and action. Content for messages can consist of many different things including informational text, blogs, social media posts, photos, videos, audio scripts, emails, brochures, and letters.
3. Channels of Distribution
Choosing channels of distribution for messages is yet another vital element of a strategic communication plan. Examining the message that is to be sent and the intended audience can typically help determine how a message should be sent. Social media and blog sites may be suitable channels for promotional messages; however, technical or scholastic messages may be better suited through such channels as websites, emails, snail mail, or conferences.
4. Effective Messenger(s)
Choosing an effective messenger is also highly important in creating an efficient communications plan. Messengers should be appropriate for the particular message at hand and should appear credible to the intended audience. Depending on the content of the message, the messenger should appear knowledgeable about the message’s content. While messengers can be actual people in many cases, in some instances, messengers can consist of such things as entire organizations, government agencies, or even cartoon characters (for light-hearted messages).
5. Methods of Measurement
Choosing the best methods of measurement is the final element of a great strategic communications plan. By measuring the ongoing results of a communication plan, communications staff can determine whether or not a plan is helping to reach their goals. According to an article published by Forbes, the best way to accomplish this is through the use of key performance indicators, or KPIs. KPIs may vary depending on the communication plan’s goal but can include social media likes and shares, number of website hits, increases in profits, and number of information requests.
Effective communication plans are necessary for a broad range of organizations. But before creating such a plan, communications teams must consider the five key elements of a strategic communication plan as described in the preceding sections.