Case Studies: Overview | Mission Possible | W. K. Kellogg
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation compiled their Communications and Marketing Kit to help non-profit organizations use communications to achieve their social change goals. The toolkit outlines the essential elements for building an effective communications strategy and provides specific, detailed steps necessary to understand options, identify resources, plan, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of strategic communications.
Communications and Marketing Toolkit
At a minimum, communications plans should include the following six elements:
Objectives
The first step in creating a communications plan is to analyze and refine the organization's objectives. These questions can be used to guide the thought process:
- What will identify and promote the understanding of social issues relevant to the organization? What kinds of new projects could be launched to support these objectives?
- What would stimulate participation in events and activities?
- How can we change perceptions or attitudes toward the organization and its work?
- How can we gain access to key players and opinion leaders?
- How will we attract quality staff, volunteers, and donors who will help achieve key objectives?
Audiences
Messages are made to be received, but not all messages will be received similarly by different groups of people. Messages might vary depending on who an organization wants to reach - whether it is an internal or an external audience, stakeholders, the media, policymakers, or the public. The Pyramid Model of Messaging for Audiences provides a model for segmenting an audience into key constituencies. Once these specific audiences are identified, the communications team can work to develop targeted messages to appeal to each audience.
Messages
In communications work, messages can be thought of as the messengers who deliver ideas and change statements. Messages should be (1) focused on a specific topic, (2) consistent with previous messages in content and form, (3) based on the organization's existing communication strategy, and (4) customized for the appropriate audience. When thinking about key messages, it may be helpful to ask, "What are a couple of the most important messages that I need to communicate to my audiences? In what way should these messages be communicated? What tools am I going to use? Newsletters? Special events? Publicity campaigns? Blogging?"
Timetable
It is important to have both a short term and a long term plan for communications. A short term plan allows an organization to align the people and tools to get the word out immediately. A long term plan will help an organization reach overall objectives and goals and will help keep the organization on track to meet them.
Budget, Staff Skills, and Hiring Consultants
- Budget. Organizations would do well to create a master budget for staff, staff training, professional fees, materials, design and printing, producing audiovisuals, distribution, travel, special events costs, special production, and out-of-pocket miscellaneous expenses.
- Staff Skills. Part of creating a viable communications plan is to assess the skills of the organization's existing staff. It is helpful to ask, "Does my staff have communications skills that I can use, or the capability to learn these skills and balance the workload? Will I need to hire staff with expertise in this area? Or, is the best option to hire a consultant?"
- Hiring Consultants. Another viable alternative, even for organizations with a full-time communications staff, is to hire an external consultant. Consultants can be used on an as-needed or part-time contractual basis. This flexibility allows organizations to keep their costs manageable while benefiting from the expertise that a good consultant can offer.
Top Management Buy-in
Effective implementation of a communications plan is possible only if the top management of an organization believes in the importance of communications and the value of the plan that's been created. All key internal personnel must be onboard before an organization can begin to target an external audience.
The following resources provide additional guidance for developing a communications plan:
- Strategic Communications Plan. This template serves as a guide for creating a strategic communications plan.
- Spokesperson Training. Many school districts and non-profit organizations find it useful to hire a spokesperson to be the "face" of an initiative. This manual provides some key information for training such a spokesperson.
- Crisis Communications. The best way to handle a crisis is to have a plan in place before problems arise. An organization should designate one person to speak to media and other audiences, identify the audiences that will want information on the situation, and practice responding to difficult questions. This checklist helps communications leaders navigate a crisis by providing clear and transparent communications. Go here to view an extensive crisis communications plan.