The template below shows what you need to include in your plan plus it’ll keep you focused and help you think through how you should deal with the matter.

Issue description:

Describe the issue in detail, outlining the challenges and opportunities. Explain why it is an issue. Details should include:

• Context
• Timelines and important dates
• How the issue has evolved
• Project life cycle of the issue
• Public awareness surrounding the issue

Strategic considerations:

Media/research:

A brief synopsis of all related current or past media coverage including online should be provided to allow senior management to identify re-occurring themes and better position the organization to respond in an effective and timely manner.

The media analysis should include key quotes that illustrate positions of key stakeholders, public officials and those in support or opposition.

Relevant market research can help identify trends, viewpoints and interest in an issue.

Stakeholder reaction:

Identify key stakeholders and present an overview of their position on an issue.

Communications objective:

Clearly state your communications goals, objective and how you would like to see your organization positioned on this issue.

The objective may be to make the issue “go away” or minimize the damage it causes. Or perhaps it is an opportunity for your organization to communicate the good things it is doing.

Action plan:

Provide a step-by-step plan for addressing the issue and developing solutions.

Key messages:

State the key messages that will allow your organization to achieve its communications goal.

The messages – no more than four or five – should be written as if your company president is using them in a speech.

Your organization should also be prepared to back up the messaging with key facts that can be put in a fact sheet or backgrounder.

Strategy/tactical plan:

Describe how your organization will respond to the issue (reactive or proactive) and describe what tactics will be used to communicate this position and why to your desired audiences and the media. Considerations include:

• Identification of lead and supporting spokespeople
• Senior executive involvement
• Communications product development – news release, Qs & As, issue note, fact sheet/s, backgrounder/s
• Media relations (press conference, targeted media, exclusive, background only)
• Timing

Now that you’ve decided how to manage the issue you’re ready to present it to senior management for their approval. Good luck!

What is an issue

• Long-standing problems that are difficult to resolve
• Perceived lack of action or too much action
• Direct attack/criticism by opponents
• Positive pressure from government, stakeholders or partners
• Critical events (news) that focus attention on the subject

How to identify issues

The key to identifying issues is to pay attention to what is happening around you and not to take anything for granted. Issues are easy to perceive if you:

• Listen to your audiences – tweets, emails, phone inquiries, etc.
• Monitor the media and the blogosphere
• Pay attention to scheduled events, the release of reports, studies or surveys
• Regularly check Freedom of Information requests (if you work for government)

The three types of issues

There are three main types of issues:

• Current
• Dormant
• Past

Current issues are usually the ones senior management are reacting to now as they have a direct impact on their day-to-day responsibilities. Ultimately, these can turn issues management into damage control overnight.

Dormant issues don’t have a direct impact on daily decisions or actions. These can often be the most difficult to keep track of as they are below the radar but can without warning pop up like a jack in the box.

Past issues are dealt with, filed away and forgotten but can sometimes roar back to life.

All three issue types gravitate and interact at any given time around your organization’s daily affairs and need integration into the decision-making process.

How to manage issues

Issues awareness can become a state of mind. It’s crucial to keep track of and manage the issues your organization is facing. You can do this by:

• Being Proactive.
• Using early warning tools to assess an issue’s priority
• Reading media clips
• Doing media analysis
• Creating an issues forecast
• Preparing an issue note(s)

If you prioritize the issues you’ve identified and review them regularly this consistent attention ensures you’re managing your organization’s issues and are ready to react.

The key audience is your employees and you need to tell them what’s happening first. Your staff can be your best ally or your worst nightmare in a crisis. Rumours quickly fill an information void and take on a life of their own.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, “A rumour gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on” and that’s never been more true than in this age of social media and 24/7 news outlets.

The last thing you want is to have an employee talking to the media off message and off-the-cuff as happened when a John Hopkins Hospital nurse gave an impromptu interview to Fox News during the deadly shooting incident last Thursday.

An effective crisis response is getting ahead of it by making sure everyone in your organization knows these three things:

1. what has happened
2. what you are doing to remedy it
3. only a designated spokesperson speaks to the media.

These interview sins by media spokespeople or interview subjects can reflect badly on both your and your organization’s reputation (let’s not forget BP’s former CEO Tony Hayward).

It looks simple enough to perform well in an interview but it actually takes training and lots of practice. And it’s not only neophytes needing to rehearse senior managers with previous media training usually need refresher courses to prepare for media interviews.

Here’s what not to do and what to do.

1. Don’t prepare for the interview just wing it instead: When a media message or call comes in ask what the reporter wants to talk about and when you can call them back? Use that time to prepare your talking points and compose yourself.
2. Be defensive when asked questions: If the media is calling to talk about your pet project or product remember to show you’re passionate about it but don’t come across as hurt or aggrieved if  the reporter asks you any hard questions.
3. Don’t stay on message: Remember what you want to say to your audiences in this interview and do it.
4. Lose control of the interview: When the reporter asks a question off topic answer it briefly then say “that’s a good question but today I want to talk about…”
5. Become flustered and frustrated: Even if you feel you are being asked the same question again and again or in different ways think of each time as another opportunity to tell your audiences your message.
6. Be obtuse by speaking in jargon or a monotone: Remember who you want to reach with your message and if they don’t work in your industry speak in plain language.
7. Answer in monosyllables or say no comment: Never, ever say yes, no or no comment. You’re being interviewed because you’re the expert on the subject show your expertise.

Can you think of any other cringe worthy sins worthy of addition to this list?

I have a vivid memory of my first day working on a big-budget film set saying I couldn’t wait for the “honey wagon” to arrive only to find out that the term didn’t refer to the coffee and donut wagon but instead to portable toilets.

The communications and public relations industry has its own acronyms which can be confusing and confounding but none that I know of that can be as embarrassingly misconstrued.

As a communicator, how well do you know your industry’s acronyms and how well can you explain them to a potential client or PR intern?

How many of the acronyms below can you get right without peeking at the answers?

1. SOSTAC
2. UM
3. CSR
4. ROPE
5. PSA
6. SMR
7. ROI
8. PEST
9. WIIFM
10. SWOT
11. RAISE
12. EM
13. SMART
14. SM
15. RACE

Answers:

1. situation analysis, objectives, strategy, tactics, action, control
2. unearned media coverage garnered by paid advertising
3. corporate social/environmental responsibility
4. research, objective, programming, evaluation
5. public service announcement
6. social media release
7. return on investment
8. areas to look at when doing situational analysis – political, economic/environmental, social, technological
9. what’s in it for me?
10. strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats
11. research, adaptation, implementation, strategy, evaluation
12. earned media coverage gained by media relations efforts
13. specific, measurable, agreed, realistic/relevant, time-bound
14. social media i.e., FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube etc.
15. research, analysis, communicate, evaluation

Do you have any favourites you would like to add?

But sometimes simple etiquette seems to perplex or elude people who work in this industry. I recently received a bare bones “can you endorse me?” request for a recommendation on LinkedIn that took me aback. It came from someone whom I haven’t spoken to in years and only worked with once on a small project a decade ago that didn’t end particularly well. This got me thinking about the many emails, voice mails and other communications I receive that lack basic thoughtfulness and civility.

Good manners are simply the small courtesies and gestures that consider and respect the feelings of other people.

Here’s a reminder of five simple tips for good communications manners:

1. To paraphrase: communicate with others as you would like them to communicate with you
2. Be clear, concise and specific about why you are making contact
3. Give the date and time you need a response
4. Include what you will do in return (answering the “what’s in it for me” question)
5. Thank them for their time and consideration

For more on how to make friends and keep them in this business or any other visit the website of Emily Post (http://www.emilypost.com/) or Miss Manners (http://lifestyle.msn.com/Relationships/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=8318975).  Emily Post even has an online etiquette encyclopedia (http://www.emilypost.com/etipedia) that can provide the answer to almost any question you have about manners.

Major crises quickly show whether a CEO possesses the qualities needed to be a leader in times of adversity. Here’s my list of what a strong leader needs to do followed by what communications should do to support them:

Leader: Lead by example showing staff, media, shareholders and other stakeholders how your organization will handle the crisis with integrity.

Communications: Relationships and trust you have nurtured with all stakeholders (from media to investors to community and governments) will help you support your CEO now.

Leader: Foster a culture that encourages everyone from the front line to the senior management team to voice their concerns and know they will be heard.

Communications: Internal communications has worked closely with your CEO from day one to build a culture of trust with employees in every area of your organization through walkabouts, breakfasts with the CEO and engagement through the company intranet and regular updates.

Leader: Be self-aware enough to acknowledge if their policies, procedures or leadership style contributed to the root cause of the crisis.

Communications: If your CEO asks about their communication style and how they are doing be completely honest with suggestions for improvements and how to implement them.

Leader: Have the ability to accept the crisis could get much worse and understand the need to get out in front of it and not downplay its severity to the media, employees or stockholders.

Communications: Don’t spare your CEO the reality of how bad it could get and what needs to be done to manage it in advance. Prepare a strategy that will show your CEO is being upfront about what is happening now, what could happen and how your organization is prepared for any eventuality.

Leader: Rise to the occasion by demonstrating their values, integrity and willingness to make sacrifices until the crisis is over and the organization is back on track.

Communications: Work closely with your CEO to communicate to all stakeholders the sacrifices they will make to show they are living and breathing the values and integrity of your organization.

Leader: Have enough confidence to ask for help, ideas and input from all their people and implement the solutions.

Communications: The goodwill, trust and respect you have nurtured with internal and external stakeholders pre-crisis will make these groups feel comfortable offering help, ideas and input now if asked.

Leader: Know that showing empathy or making an apology to any one hurt by the crisis is not a sign of weakness or acknowledgement of guilt.

Communications: Work closely with your CEO to prepare messaging of genuine condolence and sympathy that shows their strength of character and integrity.

Leader: Recognize your organization will never be the same again so use this opportunity to make the major changes needed to ensure your company will be stronger post crisis.

Communications: Determine and present to your CEO the best communications approach and tactics to  introduce major changes (i.e., new programs, policies or products) during a crisis.

I’m interested to know what you think of this list.

1. Let it rest, he advises. “Once you have completed your draft, put it aside if time permits. Actually, the speech will never leave your subconscious mind. Your mind will continue to work on it, and when you get back to it, ready to do your editing, you’ll be able to look at it more objectively.”
2. Edit for content. “In editing a speech for content,” Dowis writes, “question everything. Check every statement, every statistic, every quotation for accuracy. Examine every metaphor, analogy, quotation, statistic, and illustration for stability. Be especially critical of your humorous touches. Most important, look at the overall content of the speech and ask yourself once more whether it fulfills the basic purpose of the speech as stated in your prewriting phase.”  Or outline, as we like to call it.
3. Edit for organization. Dowis writes, “Now is the time to be certain the speech is coherent, that it hangs together, that it is a unified presentation rather than just a collection of ideas and information. Remember transitions. When you go from one thought to another, is the transition smooth?”
4. Edit for style. “Editing for style,” says Dowis, “will probably produce the most changes.” This editing “involves how word combinations, sentences, and paragraphs are put together to create the meanings and impressions you want to convey with your speech.” He continues, “Simplicity has a certain eloquence all its own. Never underestimate the power of a simple, declarative sentence.”
5. Edit for language. Dowis urges speechwriters to edit for overuse of jargon, use of too many long words, infrequent use of contractions and personal pronouns, overuse of the passive voice, use of clichés, and use of too many generalities rather than concrete words.
6. Edit for grammar. “Although perfect grammar does not produce a perfect speech, too many instances of bad grammar can damage an otherwise good speech.”

And just like Cynthia, ”I know I’ll use these tips in editing all the speeches I write. But I’d pay a lot of money for time to do the very first one, ‘Let it rest.’ Sigh…”

It seems Tony Hayward has become a cautionary tale for all organizations that it’s absolutely crucial to have the right spokesperson.

Here are the qualities I think a super star spokesperson needs to be or perceived to be:

• Engaging
• Passionate
• Knowledgeable
• Believable
• Trustworthy
• Empathetic
• Cool under pressure
• Quick-thinking
• Flexible
• Able to deliver memorable quotes, stories and sound bites
• Able to gauge and connect with their audience

Anything else you think should be added to this list?

Social media is huge and growing exponentially daily:

• Twitter has 100 million users
• Twitter believes it will reach one billion users by 2012
• The 10 billionth tweet was posted in March 2010
• 80 percent of Twitter usage is on mobile devices – “people update anywhere, anytime”
• Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S.
• Facebook reached 500 million users on July 21, 2010 doubling in size in a year
• More than 1.5 million pieces of content are shared daily on Facebook
• There are over 200 million bloggers and 54 percent of them post content or tweet daily
• YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world

Here’s a two-minute primer on what social media is with stats to show why it’s critical for you to keep up with SM developments in your crisis planning and response.

Your organization’s reputation and perception by key audiences during a crisis will be dictated by the conversation on social media.  The majority of your audiences including news media are on SM meaning you need to constantly monitor and track what’s being said, initiate active engagement and gauge reactions to make sure you are nimble in your response.

Testing your plan is an ideal time to test and prioritize which social media outlets will work best for your crisis response team to inform, update and engage with staff, key audiences and the media.

According to the YouTube sensation Social Media Revolution 2, based on the book Socialnomics by Erik Qualman, “We no longer search for the news, the news finds us via social media.”  You want to make sure you manage it before it manages you.

But before you do, keep in mind that you are writing a plan that’ll be implemented while your organization is in crisis and under stress. Although every plan should be clear, concise, easy to follow and easy to execute it’s especially important for a crisis communications plan.    

And if you’ve already written your crisis plan you might want to review it against this list to see if you need to refine it or strip it down to the basics.

Here are ten tips to make sure you have a practical actionable crisis communications plan:  

1. Avoid minutiae keep it high-level strategic and tactical
2. Use bullets and action directives
3. Break your plan into three phases – preparation, response, recovery
4. Avoid writing long-winded explanations of what to do in each phase
5. Create a one page bulleted checklist for each phase (i.e., set-up, activate etc.)
6. Don’t try to predict every possible scenario. Look at the most likely scenarios and degree of response required
7. Use appendices for lists (i.e., contacts, resources, templates, Qs & As, etc.)
8. Avoid printing binders for everyone have your plan available electronically and password encrypted 
9. Have staff from other areas test your plan to see if it is easy to understand and execute
10. Constantly update your plan

If there’s anything you would add to this list please let me know.

A communications audit is basically a snapshot in time of your organization’s communications programs, practices and activities. It’ll tell you what’s working, what isn’t, what could work better and what needs to be changed.

Here are twelve tips on how to conduct an audit:

1. Put together an impartial audit team
2. Identify your main concerns
3. Create a plan for conducting your audit
4. Gather recent communications and marketing materials for assessment
5. Analyze and assess the materials for overall effectiveness, consistency, clarity, accuracy and call to action
6. Review, analyze, and evaluate media coverage and social media presence
7. Develop a questionnaire for interviews
8. Conduct one-on-one 30 minute interviews with senior management, board members and key partners
9. Hold 60 to 90 minute focus groups of 10 to 15 internal and external stakeholders
10. Create a survey for all stakeholders (that can be completed in 5 to 10 minutes) to assess perceptions, strengths and weaknesses. It’s best to make the questions a combination of multiple choice, rating on a scale of 1 to 5 and written responses
11. Have the audit team analyze assessment results and create a report with proposed changes
12. Incorporate ongoing measurement tools into communications plans to track effectiveness of audit recommendations

A tool I find useful for doing communications audits is a simple table identifying which key audiences received what materials, when, how and the response (i.e., coverage in the case of media).  This matrix helps you see your communications department’s strengths, weaknesses and gaps at a glance.

Communications audits can be seen as continuous improvement in your quest to achieve your organization’s goals.

Now you are moving from the response phase to  recovery which can last anywhere from a couple of months to years or in the case of BP’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico decades.

In the recovery phase you need to:

1. Determine strategies to make sure the recovery is real and solid
2. Continue to monitor the situation and media coverage
3. Tie-up any loose ends with media and stakeholders
4. Gather feedback from the frontlines to the C-suite and external communications
5. Reconvene the crisis communications team to evaluate efforts to date
6. Revise crisis communications plan to incorporate feedback and lessons learned
7. Continue to use earned and unearned media strategies to sustain recovery and rebuild your organization’s public image
8. Continue to work with targeted media to get out stories of recovery
9. Prepare a final report identifying what worked, what didn’t, gaps, accidents, miscues and recommendations for the future

A crisis is both a danger and an opportunity.  The opportunity often is what your organization learns about the need for a comprehensive crisis communications plan and processes to ensure you are better prepared for the next crisis.

Crises are also wonderful learning tools for communicators to learn how to think on your feet, act decisively and quickly to mitigate its effects on your organization’s business and reputation.

What do you think should be added to this list for the eventual BP recovery in the Gulf?

And as we’re seen from the BP crisis in the Gulf of Mexico and their CEO spokesperson Tony Hayward, your response and spokespeople are critical to mitigating the damage to your organization.  All your messaging and hard work can be undone by spokespeople who are seen as neither credible or trustworthy.

This is where your preparation and training for a worst case scenario crisis pays off.

1. Activate all systems (code word, war room, 24 hour hotlines, internal and external microsite(s), notification systems, Twitter, Facebook, blog accounts, etc)
2. Review and release holding statements to give you a chance to assess the situation, get accurate information and develop key messages
3. Continue to develop crisis-specific messages required as the crisis evolves
4. Project trustworthiness and credibility by being clear, concise, consistent and accurate
5. Make sure spokespeople who may need it get a media training refresh
6. Review and revise your comprehensive crisis communications plan as needed
7. Continually communicate updates starting with your internal audiences first, then  media and external key stakeholders
8. Launch public information and media relations campaigns to offset impacts
9. Ensure your designated spokespeople all speak with one consistent voice
10. Constantly monitor the situation and media and make sure you respond quickly if needed
11. Give staff daily briefings
12. Hold daily media briefings
13. Enlist third-party endorsers
14. Form strategic partnerships and host partner and stakeholder meetings to share information and best practices
15. Research through polls, surveys and focus groups to determine if you need to do more and how you should do it
16. Work with marketing on new programs and/or campaigns to reassure stakeholders

It’s important to remember when you’re in the midst of a crisis that it will eventually run its course, the media will pack up and move on to another story and you will move on to the recovery phase.

Oftentimes the crisis doesn’t so much end with a bang as a whimper. You’ll realize the worst is over and you need to move on to the next phase.

Next week we’ll look at what you should do post-crisis.

The most important part of your preparation is creating a rock solid comprehensive crisis communications plan.  This will take time, research and effort to put together but it’ll be a lifesaver in mitigating the effects of a crisis.

There are three main things you should keep in mind when preparing your plan:

1. Each industry has specific types of crises that can impact it
2. The majority of crises happen at night, on the weekend or during holidays
3. Each crisis has three phases — preparation, response and recovery

Here are twenty tips to make sure you are prepared when a crisis hits:

1. Put a system in place to monitor any developments that could turn into an issue or crisis
2. Determine crisis communications resources
3. Determine who will be members of your crisis response team
4. Compile, laminate and distribute contact information for all senior managers and key personnel including mobile numbers, land lines (home and cottage), pagers, personal email addresses, social media accounts
5. Secure an alternative site for senior management and key staff to conduct business during a crisis   
6. Set-up a war room or crisis centre
7. Develop a “codeword” that your response team members will recognize as the signal a crisis has hit and for emergency meetings at a predetermined location (i.e., the war room)
8. Assign roles and responsibilities to management and staff members
9. Decide who will be your spokespeople and who will speak to different aspects of the crisis at different stages
10. Ensure all staff know only the designated spokespeople are to speak to the media
11. Compile and prioritize databases of media, business/government leaders, regulators, partners, suppliers, key stakeholders, media, industry/sector experts and identify gaps and overlaps
12. Nurture relationships with targeted media
13. Assign managers to hold daily staff briefings
14. Senior management to host daily media briefings
15. Acquire domain names for the internet, social media (i.e., Twitter, Facebook, blogs)
16. Secure 1-800 number(s) for 24-hour hotline(s)
17. Develop “dark website/microsite(s)” and populate with background info (i.e., company history, bios, holding statements, etc.)
18. Develop notification systems for informing internal and external audiences ­— blast e-mails and tweets, Facebook updates
19. Liaise with federal/provincial or state/municipal and world agencies (if applicable)
20. Test the plan to identify strengths and weaknesses, test it again and then test it again

Depending on your crisis you will activate some or all of these steps.

Is there anything else you think should be added to this list?

It’s hard to believe that millions and millions of gallons of oil have spewed  into the Gulf since April 20 without an end date in sight. The damage to the environment, the Gulf and possibly up the Atlantic coast, the birds, ecosystem and flora,  people’s livelihoods and way of life is almost beyond comprehension. And yet, even harder to understand is how British Petroleum, a US $240 billion multinational firm, could be so utterly unprepared for this crisis.

Courtesy of BP here’s a primer of how not to do crisis communications:

• Make accuracy an early casualty
• Point fingers at others as being to blame
• Attempt to tightly control media access to the site and surviving and injured workers
• Show you have no clue how to fix the problem by crossing your fingers and trying one method after another all with kooky names to stop the leak 
• Have a CEO/spokesperson who comes across as out of touch and self-centred — the spill “won’t be so bad” because the Gulf is a “very big ocean” and adds it’ll probably  have a “very, very modest impact.” My personal favourite is when he said, “You know, I’d like my life back.” It’s a safe bet millions could say the same and with better reason
• Allow a lame duck CEO your stakeholders do not believe or trust continue to be your spokesperson

Now that you have some idea of what not to do here is what you should do:

• Have a rock solid crisis communications plan in place
• Keep your key messages clear, concise, consistent and accurate
• Get your facts straight — what happened, what the problem is and how it is being fixed.
• Show genuine empathy for everyone affected and let  them know how you’ll help

A webinar is a virtual seminar that is usually an hour in length. Attendees can be anywhere in the world and will be able to see the materials as if they are sitting in their office. If they have a telephone and can access a computer, they can access the meeting. 

Here’s how to host a webinar:

• Start preparations eight weeks in advance by developing a webinar plan and reserving the time and date with a conferencing vendor that can meet your needs.
• Schedule your webinar when the greatest number of people can attend. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are best. Running your session in early afternoon means people from all times zones can attend.
• Choose your topic.  
• Write a script and prepare a PowerPoint for your webinar. Don’t use bullets in your PowerPoint - tell a story.
• Promote your webinar through a link on your website, blog, emails, newsletters, and search engine ads.
• One month in advance send a “save the date” email giving complete information such as the call-in number, web address of your webinar and how to register to all the people who should attend. Follow up with a reminder one week ahead of time. Send a reminder the day before. And remember that word-of-mouth is key, so include an “invite-a-colleague” in all interactions with potential attendees.
• Automate the registration process as much as possible and make sure every registration is sent a “thanks for registering” email.
• Do a run through the day before to make sure everything runs smoothly. Do not skip this step. Have a couple of people who will be participating sign on and ask questions. Familiarize yourself with the controls, and troubleshoot any points with the conference company before the main event.
• The day of the event the speaker and moderator should be ready to go 15 minutes ahead of time – using a landline with a headset and having a hard copy of their presentation in front of them.
• Respect the time of attendees by starting and ending the conference on time.
• Share the information with your participants, but stay focused.
• Take charge of the question-and-answer period by answering questions quickly and concisely. Discourage questions that are off-topic telling participants that you can correspond with them after the webinar.
• Conduct a poll at the end of your session to learn more about your audience and what they care about.
• End your webinar by thanking all who came for their time.
• Record the session and make it available on your website or blog.
• Send each attendee a “thank you” and non-attendees a “sorry, we missed you” email with a link to the recorded webinar.

Like everything else the more webinars you host the easier it gets. By hosting regular webinars and posting them on your website or blog you create a portfolio that showcases your expertise and builds your personal brand.   

Do you have any helpful tips or pointers you think should be added?

There are seven crucial elements to a strategic communications plan. We start with the context section to build a solid foundation. Here you look at what has happened, what is happening now, identify developing trends and if you are faced with a challenge or an opportunity.  Don’t do a long history here just do your research and link the past to the present so you can determine where you want to go.   

Next you want to state your desired results which will also further your organization’s goals and set audience expectations in the objectives section. You’ll want to take the time to seriously think through the results you want and if you can realistically reach and evaluate them because all objectives must be measurable.  

Third you need to narrowly define your target audiences. The more thoroughly you understand your audiences, the easier it is to find and address them effectively. A clear understanding of your target audiences and the best communications techniques to reach them is a key ingredient in deciding what the best strategic approach is. 

Now you are at the most important element of your plan — your recommended strategic approach. It needs to be a sound, strategically based and measurable outline describing how and when you’ll achieve your objectives. The strategic approach could be described as “the elevator pitch” for your strategy, broad strokes with an overview of specific activities which will be fleshed out in your tactics section. 

Key messages are basically how you communicate your objectives to your target audiences. Always think in threes — the three Cs — clear, concise and consistent; the three Rs — relevant, resonant and responsive; and the number three — three short and memorable messages. 

Tactics are the actions and products you produce to support your strategic approach. These are a mix of integrated marketing communications tools in addition to your targeted media relations.  

And last but far from least is your evaluation to determine if you are successfully reaching your objectives.   Monitoring and evaluating along the way helps you stay on course and ready to respond to changing situations. You want to know if you got the right message to the right audience at the right time; realized your objectives; and met your timelines. 

There are other sections you can add to a strategic communications plan but these seven are the most important. 

What other sections do you like to add to your plans?

You have laid out the foundation or basis of your plan in the context, the results you want to achieve in your objectives and now you need to decide how you’ll measure if you’ve been successful in your evaluation.   

Monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of your tactics along the way can help you stay on course and ready to make revisions in response to changing situations. Remember your plan is not carved in stone it’s an evolving document.

The three important questions to ask yourself in the monitoring and evaluation phases are did you:

• Deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time?
• Realize your objectives?
• Meet your timelines?  

The context and objectives sections of your plan should dictate how you’ll measure your success. Evaluation can include measuring:

• Qualitative and quantitative analysis of print, electronic, online media, the blogosphere and social media
• Number of interview requests and article pickups
• Activity on your website  
• Stakeholder reactions and third-party endorsements
• Email, snail mail and phone calls to the CEO and/or senior management team
• Changes in public opinion through research, surveys, polling or  focus groups

Ideally, you’ll be able to compare achieving your communications objectives to whether your business ones have also been realized.

Tactics are the actions and products you’ll produce to reach the right audience with the right message at the right time.

The effort you’ve put into logically building your communications plan — from context and research to target audiences and key messages — pays off now with a clear idea of which tactics will work best for which audience.

But before you can make a final decision of the actions and products you’re going to use you need to know what resources are available to carry out your plan.

By resources I mean the money and personnel available for this project. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that the costs of the tactics you want to use are already covered in your organization or department’s annual communications budget. If this project is new you may need to put together an itemized budget showing direct costs which you’ll need to track throughout the project.

And you’ll want to make sure that the people needed for implementing your plan are available and included in your budget. The personnel required could include project management, writing and editorial services, graphic design, media relations, event production, audio/visual and still photography, and website content development and management.

I recommend preparing an action plan detailing the mix of communications channels and methods you want to use plus the required monies to realize your objectives. An action plan can be very useful to rationalize your choices, guide decision-making and keep you on track.

Next week we’ll look at the importance of regular monitoring to evaluate whether your tactics are working.