A communication plan meticulously outlines the message, objective, and process of a company’s outreach activities. Whether a project is small or large, formal or informal, having a well-prepared communications strategy can ensure a more organized, efficient project. Learning about different strategies in detail can help you create a robust communication plan to reach your target audience and achieve your goals. In this article, we will discuss the types, benefits, and importance of communication strategies within an organization and suggest 11 steps to formulate one.
What is a Communications Strategy?
A communications strategy, or comms strategy, is a roadmap that assists a business in transforming its product or service into a brand by achieving communication objectives that align with business goals. Communication strategies enable businesses to identify objectives, target audiences, and articulate brand messaging to consumers and team members. Having a well-formulated communication plan allows a company to save significant amounts of time and money. A business’s communication strategy equips it to make more informed decisions.
Types of Communication Strategies
There are three main types of communication strategies: verbal, non-verbal, and visual. By combining all three strategies, you can maximize your chances of success. Here are the details of various types of communication strategies:
Verbal Communication Strategies
In verbal communication strategies, a company may opt for oral communication or written communication. Forms of oral communication include phone calls, video chats, and face-to-face conversations. The written approach could involve emails, faxes, or web chats.
Non-verbal Communication Strategies
Non-verbal communication strategies use features such as facial expressions, the physical distance between communicators, body language, and voice tone to enhance communication. Typically, these cues are not intentional. That said, it’s critical to understand the message you’re conveying to avoid misunderstandings.
Visual Communication Strategies
Visual communication strategies involve using web pages, illustrations, and graphical interpretations to communicate with customers and other stakeholders. Execution of this strategy is usually essential in the workplace when giving a presentation or providing documentation. For example, human resources may distribute certain graphics and instructions to comply with workplace safety regulations.
Benefits of Developing a Communication Plan
Projects often carry risks of communication mistakes. It’s critical for organizations and companies to avoid miscommunication as it can result in wasted time and money. Communication plans help keep all stakeholders and clients informed about any critical updates. A detailed communication plan can reduce the chances of miscommunication and potential problems.
Here are some benefits of creating a communication strategy:
- Keeping meetings clear and organized
- Mitigating potential risks
- Improving communication among stakeholders
- Encouraging intimacy and collaboration
- Keeping stakeholders informed
- Setting clear expectations and accomplishing goals
Importance of Communication Strategies within an Organization
Here are some key features of communication strategies within an organization:
Effective Distribution of Information
Communication strategies help ensure that critical information reaches the appropriate individuals through internal and external communication. To maximize work efficiency, it’s crucial that all employees have clarity on essential details. Consistent information distribution is key.
Standardized Communication
Employees can adopt a standardized approach when interacting with supervisors, coworkers, and clients by establishing a comms strategy. A communication plan ensures that everyone has sufficient knowledge to communicate effectively, maintaining consistency and avoiding ambiguity.
Enhanced Brand Image
A strong communication plan aids in maintaining a company’s public image. A professional and consistent approach to communicating with external organizations and individuals helps ensure a good reputation. Disorganized or contradictory information can harm a business’s reputation.
Higher Employee Motivation
Miscommunication or unequal distribution of information can leave employees feeling disconnected, especially if management fails to share critical information. A good comms strategy ensures consistent and fair information distribution, fostering transparency and building employee trust.
How to Create a Communications Strategy
1. Establish a Purpose Statement
A purpose statement identifies the end goal the company wants to deliver to a client or their customers. A template can help your team format an effective purpose statement. For example, “[organization name] aims to provide [benefit], [benefit], and [benefit] through [product or service].”
2. Identify Your Business Objectives
Business objectives are goals that are important to achieve for the organization or company to be successful. Ensure every step of your communication plan relates to these objectives. Using a team approach can help you identify project objectives through meetings with leaders, stakeholders, or a marketing team.
3. Find Your Target Audience
A target audience includes the individuals the organization aims to reach. Clearly specify the group of people most likely to purchase a service or product. Gather data through surveys, analytics, and website traffic. Analyzing competitors’ audiences can also provide insights.
After reviewing the data, create a persona for your target audience and write a one- or two-line statement about them. For example, “Our target audience includes working females aged 20 to 40 who are actively engaged in the local community, social media channels, and among office colleagues.”
4. Draft a Call to Action
Once you have clarity on your target audience, list the actions you want them to take after receiving your message. Properly phrasing the action is critical. Your call to action could encourage people to invest in your service or product.
5. Decide How to Share the Message
Decide on the suitable channels to spread the message. Commonly used channels include blog posts, email newsletters, press releases, and physical advertisements such as banners. Social media is also a major marketing tool. Use demographic data to understand where your target audience is most active online.
6. Determine the Publishing Frequency
After selecting relevant channels, decide the optimum frequency for posting and publishing content. Research to identify the best times to reach the most people. With social media, creating a publishing schedule and being consistent is good practice.
7. Create the Message You Want to Send
Identify the problem your product or service solves for your audience. Offer your solution in the message and redirect them towards the call to action. For example, “Are you experiencing [problem]? [Company name] can help with our [service or product name]. [Add the call to action].”
8. Plan Essential Events and Campaigns
Use a calendar to plan future campaigns around potential events like anniversary sales, holiday price drops, festival offers, and company-wide special events.
9. Identify Communication Goals
Set communication goals that relate to the business objectives you defined previously. Measure these goals using various metrics and data points. For example, “Our [team name] will achieve [number or metric] every [set time frame] by [date].”
10. Execute and Analyze the Result
Implement the complete comms strategy using a calendar to identify critical events within the time period of each associated campaign. Schedule newsletter releases, promotional events, blog posts, and social media posts. Use metrics to analyze the results of your comms strategy and evaluate its success.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the primary purpose of a communications strategy?
The primary purpose of a communications strategy is to align communication objectives with business goals, ensuring effective distribution of information, enhancing brand image, and improving internal and external communication.
How do you identify your target audience?
Identify your target audience by gathering data through surveys, analytics, and website traffic. Analyzing competitors’ audiences and creating a persona based on this data can also help specify your target audience.
Why is standardized communication important in an organization?
Standardized communication ensures consistency and avoids ambiguity, making sure that everyone engaged has sufficient knowledge to communicate effectively. It helps maintain a professional and organized approach within the workplace.
How can a communications strategy enhance a company’s brand image?
A strong communication plan maintains a company’s public image through professional and consistent communication with external organizations and individuals. It helps ensure a good reputation by avoiding disorganized or contradictory information.
What are the benefits of creating a communication plan?
Creating a communication plan can help keep meetings clear and organized, mitigate potential risks, improve communication among stakeholders, encourage intimacy and collaboration, keep stakeholders informed, and set clear expectations to accomplish goals.
In Conclusion
Creating a comprehensive communication strategy is crucial for any organization aiming to achieve its business objectives effectively. A well-structured communication plan ensures that your message reaches the right audience through appropriate channels, enhancing both internal and external communication. By identifying your target audience, setting clear objectives, and utilizing the right mix of verbal, non-verbal, and visual communication strategies, you can foster transparency, build trust, and maintain a consistent brand image.
In summary, the steps outlined in this guide—from establishing a purpose statement and identifying business objectives to drafting a compelling call to action and executing the plan—provide a roadmap for developing an effective communication strategy. This not only helps in mitigating risks and avoiding miscommunication but also improves collaboration among stakeholders, boosts employee motivation, and enhances the overall efficiency of your projects.
By following these steps and continuously analyzing and refining your strategy based on measurable results, you can ensure that your communication efforts contribute significantly to the success of your organization. Remember, a strong communication strategy is not just about disseminating information; it’s about creating meaningful connections and fostering a culture of clarity and cohesion within your organization.
For further reading on related topics and to explore more strategies that can help your business thrive, visit our other articles at Steffi’s Blogs.
