Communication Plan

Introduction

A Communication Plan is a road map for getting your message across to your audience. It will help you improve the way you communicate with your stakeholders to achieve desired outcomes. Here you’ll find a step by step guide, readings, and tools for creating a simple to execute Communication Plan, and see examples of peer organisations completed projects.

Why

"; This toolkit is useful for an organisation which:

• wants to ensure regular and accurate communication with all main stakeholders throughout the year.
• is not reaching as many people, or the right groups of people, as they would like to.

What you can expect

In eight steps we will guide you to make a Communication Plan which contains  goals, target audiences, messages to different audiences, communication channels, communication tools and a detailed plan for 12 months with a timeline including measurable milestones for the communication manager.  Here you’ll find a step-by-step guide, tools, examples and other resources making such a Communication Plan.

Step 1: Establish Need

• If communications so far have been mostly ad hoc (not strategically planned and done only occasionally, when there is free time or a special event), there are clear benefits of creating a Communication Plan.
• The person or team who creates the Communication Plan should be working closely with the person or team who will execute the plan.

Watch this video to get an idea what information you need to write a good project communications plan:

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Step 2: Delegate

• If there is currently no staff responsible for communication, the organisation needs to hire or identify a person.
• The perquisite for doing a communication plan is that there is a dedicated person in the organisation who can carry and execute the plan.

Step 3: Identify the Audience

• Identify and list the different groups of target audiences (donors, partners, beneficiaries etc.)
• Analyse what their needs and expectations are: interview people from the staff, beneficiaries, donors and board to get as many different perspectives as possible.

Step 4: Define Objectives

• Define what you want your audience to know, think or do after receiving the message.
• Set objectives for each group of the target audience.
• It is important that you  keep in mind the overall goals for the next years.

Step 5: Create Messages

• Create appropriate messages for each group of target audience to meet the objectives.
• The content is equally important to the tone and language being used. What kind of feeling do you want to give to the audience? Do you want to be authoritative, respectful, friendly or emotional in your communication?

Step 6: Identify Channels

• Consider through which channel(s) you can best deliver your message to the target audience.
• Aspects that need to be considered are: What media does the target group mainly use? How are they reachable? What resources are available? How will you ensure that the message was understood? (feedback or follow-up)

Step 7: Create Plan

• Set timings for your communication: How often will you update your website and social media pages? How often will you send out a newsletter? How often will you meet the target group face to face?
• Consider how often the target audience would like to be contacted as well as what is feasible.
• Time and cost will be the main decisive factors.
• Create a detailed timeline and communication plan.

Step 8: Implementation

• Create, or assist in creating, materials for the future communication activities (templates for newsletters, annual reports, emails, presentations etc.)
• Check in with person responsible for communications during the first month of implementation and modify the plan if needed.
• Monitor the implementation of the plan on a regular basis.

Key To Success

• Work closely together with the everyone who will be doing the actual execution of the plan.
• Understand the resources available and the current status of communication when creating the plan.
• Know your audience. The better you understand their priorities, concerns and issues the better you can communicate with them.
• Keep it short & simple! Do not plan to undertake too many activities through too many channels.

Challenges

• Identifying the primary audiences and understanding their needs and expectations.
• With abundance of communication options, it can be challenging to choose the most effective ones and then stick to the decision.