Before a company can start developing story ideas, designing infographics, or planning events, it has to start by creating a strategic communication plan. A good communication plan helps companies set their expectations early during a communications campaign for any sort of promotional effort.
With the help of a plan, companies can define their success, as well as better protect themselves from any unrealistic demands or pursuits. By creating measurable goals with solid tactics and strategies, companies can develop a communication plan that can really achieve results. However, most companies tend to jump right into campaign strategies and forget about the research and planning stages of communication plan development.
Although the research and planning stages aren’t as exciting as the strategy development, companies can’t do anything without completing both steps.
Communication Process
The most important element of a communication plan is the communication process. With the help of a well-implemented communication process, companies can confront any challenges or contradictions that could harm their future growth.
One reason why developing a good communication plan tends to be harder than it seems is because people often see things as how they should be, instead of how they really are.
That’s why the communication process should be developed with crucial team members who are not afraid of speaking their minds about everyone’s ideas.
Having open-minded people on board during the creation stage of the communication plan allows companies to predict potential mistakes before they happen. It also allows for the development of more creative and fresher ideas, because not everyone on the team will think the same way.
Communication Goals
In order for a communication plan to drive results for a company, it should have measurable and attainable goals. For most businesses, the ultimate goal is to increase conversions.
The most important thing when setting communication goals is to make them as measurable as possible.
Companies can measure the success of their communications strategies by looking directly at any direct website traffic or organic block traffic that their websites generate.
From that point, companies can create their own opportunities to market to the qualified leads that have been discovered from the website traffic numbers, which can then generate more sales.
Communication Objectives
For a communication plan to work, it needs to have between three and five objectives. For example, since most companies have the goal of increasing their conversions, they can set objectives that work back from the point they want to reach.
That can mean increasing qualified leads from one number to another, which can then translate into generating more sales. If a company doesn’t have the numbers that it needs to include in those objectives yet, it can start by setting benchmarks.
Communication Strategy
Finally, communication plans need to come with a strategy that helps companies achieve their goals and objectives. This strategy should describe how a company is going to achieve its goals and objectives within a sentence or two.
They will provide a detailed vision of a company’s communication plan, detailing what success looks like for that plan in a limited period of time.
