PlusOne - Musings of a marketer

Following on from the previous post, I had an email asking about the main components of a communications plan.

Just to rewind for a moment, you will recall the last post said that a communication plan should form part of the marketing plan, which in turn is part of the business plan. Rather than write these and then relegate them to a bottom draw - it is important to pull them out monthly - or at least quarterly and check progress against the plan and make adjustments as needed. The communications plan also affects the corporate profile or the business profile, so you can see, it is a document that requires diligent handling!
But back to the main elements of the communications plan.

Idealy the plan should be made up of two sections - the Communications Strategy and the Communications Action Plan.

The Strategy

The Strategy refers to the audiences, key message/s, overarching aims and objectives of the communication activity. Thus it includes:

• Audience analysis and rationale
• Key message analysis and rationale
• Key aims
• Objectives

The Action Plan

The Action Plan is your working document. It is here that all the fine detail is laid out in tables. This should live on your desk. It is your guide and your friend. This part of the plan covers:

• Aim (overal aim which may include several objectives)
• Objective (specific outcome)
• Actions (the specific steps you will take to reach that objective)
• Budget (you need to include this!)
• Timeframe (once off or every few months - needs to include when the activity is reviewed)
• Outcome/result (did it work - if not review and rewrite)

This is the basic skeleton of the communications plan. The real fun is in fleshing out and implementing it!

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