Communications Planning
By Rockie Blunt, President

Strategic communication refers to any communication that serves a planned and recognized purpose.  It is related to a strategic, rather than a spontaneous, effort.A communication like this is built upon two previous conditions.  First is an analysis of the organization's existing communication:  "Why is a plan needed?"  "What are the organization's current communication efforts?" and "How successful or unsuccessful have those efforts been?"The second condition is a statement of a communications goal.  Based on the information gained from the situational analysis, what do you want people to know about your company, and how do you want them to perceive you?The strategic plan itself involves five dimensions: audience (who you want to send a message to), objective (what you hope to achieve with that audience), message (what information you want to get across), tactic (how you will convey the message), and timeline (when you will send the message, or how frequently).

Keep in mind that you probably have various audiences, which in turn means that you also have multiple objectives, messages, tactics and an integrated timeline.  Thinking of all these dimensions beforehand, writing them down, and then prioritizing them is a way to make sure that your communication is purposeful, not haphazard.