Formulating a Communications Strategy

There's a lot of talk these days about the importance of strategic communications... and rightfully so. After all, without a strategy it's difficult to make the tough decisions about your communications efforts—let alone defend your decisions to management. As author Lewis Carroll said, "If you don't know where you are going, every road leads you there."

On the other hand, a simple, clear, succinct strategy statement provides a guiding light for making important choices, such as defining key messages, selecting tactics and laying out a time line.

The problem is many communicators aren't sure how to formulate a strategy.

A common mistake is to view a communications strategy and a communications plan as interchangeable. But a communications strategy is not a communications plan. Rather, it's a key—but often missing—element of a plan.

In general, the steps of the communications planning process should unfold like this:

1. Identify a problem, need or opportunity.
2. Define your primary and secondary audiences.
3. Conduct research and complete a situational analysis.
4. Confirm or revise your preliminary assumptions.
4. Define your goal and measurable, time-bound objectives.
5. Formulate a strategy for accomplishing the goal and objectives.
6. Develop key messages, supporting tactics, budget, etc.
7. Execute.
8. Evaluate your results.

In other words, the strategy is the HOW part of the communications plan. It's the point in the process where you ask yourself: What is the approach I will take in achieving the goal and objectives that I've set?

(Notice we used the word "approach" and not "tactics.")

To illustrate, let's look at three different strategies that have been used in anti-smoking campaigns.

Strategy #1: Make Tobacco Companies the Bad Guy

The Truth Campaign has taken the strategy of making big tobacco companies out to be "the bad guy" by showing kids how cigarette manufacturers are manipulating them. For example, many of The Truth Campaign's commercials highlight incriminating statements made by tobacco executives.

Similarly, the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids employs this strategy by exposing how tobacco companies intentionally develop marketing campaigns that appeal to children.

Strategy #2: Vilify Second-Hand Smoke

Gasp.org has been aggressive in running campaigns with catchy titles such as, "Smoking hurts babies," and "You smoke, I choke," all aimed at making smokers aware of how their choice is affecting others.

Meanwhile, the Take it Outside campaign takes a slightly softer approach, asking parents who wish to continue smoking to at least do so outdoors so as not to expose their kids to the harmful effects of second-hand smoke.

Strategy #3: Appeal to Teenagers' Vanity

A third strategy plays on teens' vanity by showing how smoking makes them less attractive. An example is supermodel Christy Turlington's Smoking is Ugly campaign. In addition, a number of teen-oriented websites point out that smoking makes you smell, gives you bad breath and makes your skin break out.

All three of the above strategies have the same high-level goal: to reduce smoking. However, each organization used a different strategy to accomplish this goal based on their organization's unique mission, priorities and target audience. Each strategy in turn dictated the most appropriate tactics.

The next time you develop a communications plan, take some time to brainstorm the various approaches you could take to accomplish the same goal. See if you can identify at least three different strategies. Then list a few tactics and messages that would support each strategy. Share these options with the key decision makers and be prepared to discuss the pros and cons of each.

The end result will be a truly strategic communications campaign.

Copyright © Bon Mot Communications LLC 2008

Permission to Reprint

Want to use an article from The Corporate Communicator in your e-zine, website or other publication? You can, as long as you include the following:

"Reprinted from The Corporate Communicator, a FREE e-zine dedicated to helping professional communicators and business owners communicate more effectively with employees, customers and the media. For access to the best communications tools, tips, research and best practices, subscribe now at www.thecorporatecommunicator.net."