Painless planning for powerful communications

PAINLESS PLANNING FOR POWERFUL COMMUNICATIONSSession 102 | November 16, 2012

www.luttrellcommunications.com

Karen Luttrell helps charities raise more money, find more volunteers and fill their programs using strategic communications and inspiring writing. She led marketing and communications for local, national, and international organizations before she launched her own communications service in June 2010. She has since served clients working in health, literacy, equality, and poverty reduction. Karen is a member of the International Association of Business Communicators and the Association of Fundraising Professionals. She is VP Communications for the Professional Writers Association of Canada Toronto Chapter.

What Makes Your Plan Strategic?1 Your communications work directly

supports major organizational goals.2 You can show that it does. (Think

research & measurement.)

5 Elements Your Plan Must Have

1 Issues2 Publics/audiences/stakeholders3 Message4 Media5 Evaluation

Source: The Communication Plan, The Heart of Strategic Communication, Lester R. Potter, ABC, p59

You may also include:

1 Executive summary2 The communications process3 Background4 Situation analysis

Source: The Communication Plan, The Heart of Strategic Communication, Lester R. Potter, ABC, pp 57-58

Getting to Your Goals

What are the most important issues facing this organization?

What are the most important issues that the communication function should address?

What reputation or relationship problems do we have with each audience?

What are our strengths? Our weaknesses?

What threats do we face? What opportunities? How will we respond?

Strengths Weaknesses

Opportunities Threats

What changes does the organization need to make to stay successful?

What do we need to change with regards to our employees? How do we support them to be successful? (Attitudes, behaviours, knowledge, skills)

Issues/Goals

1 Employee relations

2 Volunteer recruitment and retention

3 Outreach and service promotion

4 Fundraising

5 Community relations

6 Government relations

7 Advocacy

8 Awareness building and public education

Common Nonprofit Audiences1 Staff2 Volunteers (Board, committees, event participants)3 People served4 Donors (individual, corporate)5 Funders (government, foundations)6 Suppliers7 Partner organizations8 Media (journalists, editorial boards)9 Government representatives (City Councillors, MPPs,

MPs)

* See worksheet on mapping audiences & communications methods

3 Shared Issues/Goals

Improve tenant relations Engage community members

& neighbours Increase awareness & public

support for social housing

Tactics to Consider

Tactics to discuss for these three goals include:

events face-to-face meetings feedback mechanisms media relations social media

Group Work

Each group will be assigned one of the 3 shared issues. As a group, consider the issue and begin to draft a communications plan to address it. Identify:

the goal the audiences what you want them to think, feel, or do

differently the message you will communicate the media you will use when and how often you will communicate

Schedule: The Workback Plan Start from your final due date and work back

Allow extra time at each stage. It always takes longer than you expect.

Don’t forget to factor in holidays, vacation time, and illness when you plan time for reviews and approvals

Share the plan with the team at the start

Don’t expect that the team will just follow the timeline. Check in and remind people before their deadlines pass.

Schedule Tips

Develop an editorial calendar Plot out activities & major milestones

with a gant chart

Budget

Build it from “$0” based on your planned activities

Add lines for research, evaluation, professional development and training

Factor in staff time Break expenses down by quarter Calculate the cost of inaction

Budget

Common expenses/line items: Research Writing, editing, proofreading Graphic design Audio and video production Printing Postage and shipping Website hosting Software (graphic design, video & audio editing,

social media monitoring & management) Events Monitoring and evaluation Transportation Professional development/training

Resources

The Communication Plan, The Heart of Strategic Communication, Third Edition, by Lester R. Potter, ABC

Social Media for Social Good, by Heather Mansfield

Power Phrases! by Meryl Runion

Keep in Touch

Questions welcome. And please keep in touch.

karen@luttrellcommunications.com www.luttrellcommunications.com www.facebook.com/

LuttrellCommunications @karenluttrell