Seven good reasons why your business MUST have a communications plan
No matter what size your business, you and your staff are communicating. How you communicate and what you communicate is important and needs to be planned in the same way as the business plan and the marketing plan is written. In fact, the communications plan should be part of the marketing plan.
Here are seven reasons why your business MUST have a communications plan:
1. Identifies who your target audiences are.
Careful anaylysis of your business will reveal who is out there listening (passively or actively) to what your business is saying. A careful review is often revealing in terms of who your audience includes.
2. Identifies what messages are being delivered to which audience.
There is nothing worse than comflicting messages, or wose, wrong message being communicated to your target audiences. An audit of existing communication methods and messages needs to be undertaken.
3. Will identify how you are currently communicating.
The audit will show the various pathways of communication. These will often include various newsletters, websites, blogs, media invertiews, advertising, conference presentations, staff interactions with customers, and the various forms of internal communications.
4. Will identify what messages you SHOULD be communicating.
Once the audit is complete you can start looking at the range of messages you should be communicating. Often different messages need to be communicated with different audiences. For instance, your suppliers need different messages to your customers, of whom there may be segments who receive different messages again, depending on their 'worth' and level of interaction with your business. Some messages will be generic, others will be tightly focussed on the audience. It will also allow your messages (how your target audiences perceive your business) to be consistent!
5. Will identify HOW you should be communicating.
Key messages need to be communicated in the best way to suit the audience. Some audiences can be served with infrequent paper-based newsletters, others may be best served with frquent emails or encouraged to make use of RSS feeds. Key messages can be included in various communication methods. Some audiences may need a mixture of frequent short messages and less frequent core messages. The how can also include colours, fonts etc, as this all impacts on effective communications.
6. Will let you know your communications budget.
You cannot communicat effectively if you have not looked at audiences and methods. This will allow a budget to me set that includes time, printing costs, distributions costs, outside assistance (if using ad agencies etc) as well as budgeting to review the communicatuion process during the year and thoroughly each year. Your budget may also include having an external party write your communications plan.
7. Will reveal effectiveness.
By speaking with various audiences and seeking their views, you will know if your plan is succeeding or needs fine-tuning (or major changes)!
Effective communications will allow your business to correctly position itself in the marketplace and also internally. It is an exercise that is worth taking time and effort over.
If your business needs personal guidance on developing a communications plan, or needs an external party do conduct any aspect, please feel free to contact us - we service clients world-wide and have written plans for clients with up to 1500 employees.
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About the Author
Matt Eliason has been a professional affiliate marketer and webtrepeneur since 1997. His site is at
http://www.plusone.com.au and you can read his blog at
http://www.plusone.com.au/diary/
