What Makes Up an Effective Communications Plan?

A corporate communications plan is a description of what a business is seeking to accomplish with the messages and information it wants to send out. It includes a list of goals and objectives, the tools needed in order to produce and develop the plan, as well as its intended audience and recipients. There is also information regarding how the information will be shared and disseminated, where it will be distributed, who will be in charge of managing the information, and where records gathered will be stored.

In order to come up with an effective plan, the following points need to be included in the strategy:

Content

Content can be created for legal documents, websites, public relations materials, newsletters and even training materials, surveys, and reports. Your corporate communications plan must include what kind of platform/s you want to tap into, and what kind of content would be appropriate for the method that you opt for.

Aside from including the communication medium you want to utilize, also add in a calendar and schedule as to when you need the materials to be available for distribution. Also, an important component of the plan is defining a method in which you will eventually measure the effectivity and success of your strategy and platform.

Purpose

For a corporate communications plan to be successful, it has to have a purpose. It is the reason as to why a specific course of action is taken, as well as a proactive measure that makes sure that everyone who needs the information to be disseminated receives the said data in a timely manner.

Also included in this portion is a description as to who will be in charge of producing each form of communication, how often and in what manner each platform will be updated or distributed. Making sure that these points are prioritized helps the business make sure that there are enough resources as well as time allotted for each step of the plan.

Audience

And extremely vital part of a corporate communications plan, the audience portion includes specifying the types of messages that need to be disseminated and the individuals who would be receiving them. Clearly identifying who the audience will be helps in creating and writing the appropriate content. For example, if you are looking into creating an internal newsletter for the company, your audience will be staff members. Therefore, you are more likely to create content that they relate to and are interested in, such as announcements regarding social events at work, commendations given to their colleagues, updates regarding company policies, and real stories about their fellow workers regarding how they have found success in the company you work for.

Delivery

Tools such as podcasts, wikis, blogs, forums and even multimedia presentations can be utilized in delivering content. But remember that delivery of the material you create is crucial. After all, even if you create awe-inspiring content, if you are unable to deliver the material when staff members need it, then efforts will be wasted. For time-sensitive content, information can be sent through email alerts, voice and text messages. This timeliness ensures that everyone involved are informed and that decisions can be made.

Revision history

This portion is created after a plan has been deployed. The revision history ensures that proposed changes to the strategy are documented and assessed. The assessment of techniques and platforms is extremely important so that companies are able to determine the best methods and strategies for the future. Insights can then save the organization time and money.