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Peter Gilheany, director, Forster Communications Visit the CharityComms website to view slides from our past events, see what events we have coming up and to check out what else we do. http://www.charitycomms.org.uk
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Budgeting for comms
Some points for discussion
October 2014
I have a dream....where communications is understood, appreciated and valued, where proper investment and recognition of interdependence on the part of my colleagues results in a properly resourced and supported communications function.
The golden rules
Budgeting needs to
be done alongside
objective setting,
target setting and
strategic planning
Don’t undervalue
your own resources
Remeber
management and the
insidious power of
“where did the day
go?”
Cost everything –
internally and
externally and
consider scaling
Key areas to consider
Agreeing on the
role of comms
Matching activity
to objectives
The tricky art of
evaluation and
return on
investment
Putting a value on
comms
The role of comms
Agreeing the role for comms
• Step 1 – define what you mean by comms and ensure all decision makers and
stakeholders agree to that definition
• Step 2 – communicate the benefits and limitations of comms as a tool for delivering
against your overall objectives
• Step 3 – split the role for comms into two areas:
leading on delivery against an objective (where comms is originator and
steerer of strategy and implementation)
Providing a service to the lead on delivering against an objective or sharing
an overall objective
• Step 4 – Deciding who delivers comms and where ownership (and budgetary
responsibility) and accountability lie
Matching activity to objectives
Matching activity to objectives
Owned objectives –
break down into tasks,
milestones and roles
Shared objectives – do
the same and agree with
shared lead
Supporting other leads –
do the same (for all
comms requirement not
just that undertaken by the
team you lead)
Don’t forget informal
objectives – e.g. requests
from the Chair, the
pointless press release
Bread and butter duties
– be anal and list out
everything done under the
auspices of
communications
Getting stuff done - add
10% for project
management
Putting a value on comms
Putting a value on comms – time and cost as the metrics
Element approach
Activity planning Allow 10% of time put aside for
implementation
Implementation Break down into delivery,
management, infrastructure,
evaluation (allow minimum of 5% of
resource for this)
Bread and butter Review activity from previous year
and make forecast
Informal objectives Review activity from previous year
and make forecast
The business of working allow 10% of time for the stuff of a
working day (wilfing, team
meetings etc)
Putting a value on comms
• External resource requires management – build into budget
• Consider different activity ratios for different roles – for example, we expect our most
junior staff to spend 70% of their time on client work, we expect our most senior staff to
spend 40-50% of their time on client work, 20% on company management and 20% on
business development
• Remember bread and butter costs – newspapers, media monitoring, event attendance,
staff learning and development, networking allowances etc
• Value evaluation – if you have gone to the effort of matching activity to objective, make
sure you budget the time and money needed to see how you are progressing
• Don’t forget the sometimes hidden cost of internal comms – where does it sit, who pays
for it?
Numbers on a page
• Two broad approaches:
• Start with a budget and work backwards versus price the activity and take a deep breath
• List out your fixed costs – staff salaries, bread and butter overheads, evaluation, travel
etc
• Consider the gold, silver and bronze options – scaling up or down activity, with adjusted
outputs and outcomes
• Slay some sacred cows through prioritisation against objective
• Allow for a contingency budget developed through SWOT analysis
• Factor in recruitment costs
The tricky art of evaluation
Forster Evaluation Model
REACH ENGAGEMENT ACTION
What did the audience
see?
How did the audience
get involved?
What did the audience
change? What changed
in the audience?
Increasing levels of audience involvement
The Forster Evaluation Model
COMMUNICATIONS PLANNINGClarifying objectives, audience(s), channels, call to action, competitor
analysis to help benchmark goals, and ideas for activity
Set SMART
campaign goals
Establish programme
milestones
Agree measurements
& metrics
Forster Evaluation Model
REACH ENGAGEMENT ACTION
What did the
audience see?
How did the audience
get involved?
What did the
audience change?
General perception /
brand awareness
Media coverage
Social media
Website
Partnerships and
stakeholders
Events
Public affairs
Fundraising
Increasing levels of audience involvement
METRICS Reach Engagement Action TOOLS
Audience
attitude /
behaviour
Change in perception,
attitude
Become members
Increase or decrease in
number of people
purchasing something /
doing something
Audit/benchmarking
survey pre and post
campaign: ComRes /
Ipsos Mori / YouGov /
Britain Thinks
Organisation’s own
channels/activity – look
for ways to find
information out
Media coverage Opportunities to see through
target media
Key messages portrayed in
target media
Tone of coverage in target media
Percentage of coverage with a
link to website
Specific, identified media targets
Length of pieces e.g. percentage
of pieces over 300 words
TURF analysis (using TGI data)
Comments on online articles
‘Shares’ on social media
Letter responses in media
Contact from target
audience as a result of
media coverage
Cuttings service
TGI data
Website Number of unique users
Number of visitors to a particular
page/campaign page
Google ranking
Proportion of people from certain
traffic sources
Downloads of a document
Sign ups to a database
Desired audience journeys
on a website – track journey
and drop offs?
User generated content
Completion of quiz /
questionnaire
Data capture
Google analytics
Social media Number of followers
Influence of followers
Number of ‘likes’
Number of ‘shares’
Retweets
Number of people using #
Number of comments @
Postive comments in online
conversation
Analysis of the online
conversation, rating
comments as positive or
negative
Number of shares
Engagement with identified
individuals
Follower Wonk
Simply Measured
Klout
Kred
Gorkana Radar
Sprout Social
Partnerships and
stakeholders
Number of partnerships or
strategic alliances
established
Materials distributed through
partners (e.g. mentioned on
website, in a newsletter)
Extended relationship with
partner as a result of project
Changed perception of
client as a result of working
in partnership
Events Number of events held
People sharing information
about event
Number of
volunteers/regional reps
holding events
Number of
volunteers/regional reps
downloading packs
Public affairs Meetings arranged with
identified people
Identified people attending
events
Identified people reading
relevant emails
Issue mentioned in
Parliament (meaning
identified people have
engaged)
Issue mentioned in a policy
document or a speech
Number of signatures on
petition
A legislation change
A change of opinion
ComRes parliamentary
poll to gauge opinion
before and after
Fundraising (Via other methods listed e.g.
media coverage)
Data capture (via
newsletter/event)
Donations
Number of
members/supporters
Client’s CMS system
Internal Communication to staff e.g.
newsletter
Involvement with
organisational
events/initiatives
Changed perception of
organisation
Acting as ambassador for
organisation
Forster Evaluation Model
Immediate Impact
Legacy Metrics
Electrical Safety First – protecting toddlers
• Our overall aim was to reduce the growing number of toddler burns from hair straighteners
• We created a hard-hitting video using the image of a melted doll’s face and the sound of a baby crying that would resonate with parents and encourage them to take action
• Campaign reach: Over 324 million opportunities to see were generated by securing around 160 pieces of media coverage in target media, and the campaign video accrued over 115,000 views
• Campaign engagement: Over 200,000 viewings were achieved on Facebook with additional traffic driven to the charity’s website
• Campaign action: Over 6,500 people contacted the charity to
request one of the 500 free heat proof pouches to protect their children
Two manufacturers are now also changing their product as a result of the campaign
Communications planning
• Our evaluation model is a key part of our
communications planning services, helping
clients to track audience behaviour
For example:
• We worked with Practical Action to create an
evaluation framework to support all their
communications activity, underpinning the
achievement of the organisation’s business
plan
• We have created Groundwork’s first public
facing campaign and the evaluation
framework to measure involvement from
internal audiences, corporate supporters and
the general public
Visit the CharityComms website to
view slides from our past events, see
what events we have coming up
and to check out what else we do.
www.charitycomms.org.uk
Workshop
22 October 2014
London
#CaseForComms
Making the case for
comms: unlocking the
purse strings
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