MODUle

Corporate CommunicationCAMPAIGNS planning

LESSON

communication

Campaign research

Introduction:

Corporate Communication campaign research consists of a plan that charts how relevant

data is to be collected and analyzed so that the results are useful and relevant for making

marketing decisions. Once the research and the related analysis are complete, the results

are communicated to management. This provides management with in-depth information

regarding crucial factors that have an impact on the target market and existing marketing

mix. Market research allows management to make the changes necessary for better results

through adopting a proactive approach.

Discussion:

Before any research is conducted, there needs to be a clear understanding of what

information is needed from the research and how this information will affect specific

decisions relating to the campaign. It is also important to be aware of what information is

already available in order to avoid unnecessary costs for obtaining duplicate information.

Linking research to decision making will reduce the risk of wasting time and other resources

in researching useless information.

At the planning stage of a campaign, important decisions about the attitude/behavior to

promote and the audience to target need to be made. It is also at this time that different

alternatives for promoting the attitude/behavior to the selected audience will be considered.

The types of questions and information that will be involved in research at this stage may

include:

What is the most pressing IP issue that will be addressed in this campaign?

How big is this problem?

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Who is affected / involved in this problem?

What change in attitude or behavior should be promoted?

Which of the different groups involved in this problem is likely to be more responsive

to a campaign promoting a change in attitude or behavior?

How can the target audience be reached?

How can the target audience be persuaded to change the current attitude or

behavior?

In order to answer these and other relevant questions at this stage, research will need to

provide information on the demographic and psychological profile of the target audience.

This profile may include the following information:

Age group / gender / profession

Interests

Sources of information

Travelling /commuting habits

Role models

Perceived advantages/disadvantages of behavior promoted by the campaign

Perceived barriers to adopting the promoted behavior

Perceived incentives which would encourage adoption of promoted behavior

Competing behaviors

Perceived advantages/disadvantages of adopting competing behavior

At the pre-testing stage of an outreach campaign, the purpose of research is to determine

which of the different promotion alternatives that were considered in the planning stage

could provide the best results. Research at this stage can also help to fine-tune

communications products, ensuring that they contain no major deficiencies and making

them more attractive and relevant to the target audience. Research can also be used to

evaluate how the campaign’s message / slogan / communication products rate in terms of

whether the target audience considers them:

Attractive

Easy to understand

Persuasive

Credible

Relevant

Interesting

Memorable

At the monitoring stage of an outreach campaign, it is important to measure more than

just the number of brochures distributed, the number of newspapers that reprinted a press

release, or the number of times that a public service announcement was broadcast. While

this type of data may be the easiest to obtain, and perhaps the most comforting, it does not

provide information as to whether or not the desired objectives, in terms of changes in

attitude or behavior, are being achieved by the campaign.

To properly monitor the effectiveness of an outreach campaign, it is important to measure

the changes in attitude and behavior that the campaign is achieving. How exactly this can

be done largely depends on the communication tools used and the behavior being

promoted. Some examples of how attitude/behavior changes can be measured include:

Increase in calls to hotline or visits to website mentioned in communications products

(posters, public service announcements, leaflets, etc).

Amount of participation in events (such as seminars, exhibitions, contests)

Increase in registrations by target group (for campaigns aiming at increasing IP

registrations).

Decrease in illegal downloads or sales of counterfeit products (for anti-piracy or anti-

counterfeiting campaigns).

Research at the evaluation stage of the campaign is similar though more in-depth than

that in the monitoring stage. Once again, research is used to measure actual changes in

attitudes and behavior though instead of using this information to adapt and steer the

campaign in the right direction, the goal at this stage is to evaluate whether the campaign

has achieved its intended objectives. 

Types Of Research

Market research consists of two separate types of research that can be categorized as

secondary and primary research. Secondary research consists of collecting already

published data to create a "company database" that may serve to perform situation

analysis. It helps to identify the company's competitors, perform a strategy for

benchmarking and also determine the segments the company should target in view of

factors such as demographics, population, usage rate, life style and behavioral patterns.

Primary research serves to provide information through monitoring sales levels and

measuring effectiveness of existing business practices like service quality and tools for

communication being used by the company. It carefully follows competitor plans to gather

information on market competition. Both primary and secondary researches are essential to

fulfill the company's objectives.

Data Collection Methods

Data collection methods for marketing research are divided into quantitative and qualitative

methods. Quantitative studies use mathematical analysis, which can disclose differences

that are statistically significant. The sample size used is quite large.

Qualitative methods are used to provide a base for quantitative research and help in

quantitative research design development. They target problem defining, generating

hypotheses and identifying determinants. They consist of one to one interviews to probe for

personal opinions, beliefs and values and serve to uncover hidden issues. The sample size in

this method is small.

The fact is that you can't have a successful company without having the right data about

customers, products and the market in general. Market research is an essential

management tool for a viable business plan enabling any company to survive and thrive in

today's fiercely competitive market conditions.

Summary:

Research creates benchmarks against which you can judge the success of a campaign and

helps you understand current attitudes or behaviours. Research will also help to understand

the most effective means of communicating with an audience. It may be helpful to test the

reactions of a sample of the audience to a communications campaign, checking any

assumptions about what might or might not be effective.

In the planning stage of a campaign, research can provide key information about the

environment within which the campaign will operate, and about the target audience(s) at

whom the campaign is aimed.

Research at the pre-planning stage of the outreach campaign will yield information

regarding which messages, communication tools and products could be most effective for a

particular campaign.

Once the campaign is launched, research continues to be an essential element providing

important feedback on the success that the campaign is or is not achieving. Such research

provides the necessary information to keep the campaign flexible enough to allow important

adaptations to take place. By changing elements that are not working and playing up

elements that do work, a campaign in danger of failing mid-way can be turned into a

success.

Finally, at the end of the campaign, research is also essential to evaluate the campaign. Of

specific interest at this stage are questions regarding whether the target audience adopted

the specific attitudes or behavior promoted by the campaign. 

LESSON

Corporate Communication planningIntroduction

Communication planning for communications campaign is important not only to know

whether the message that you want to communicate to your public is aptly receive, but

also to win the support of your organization. Indeed, the most often criticism about

communication planning for a public information campaign is that it is difficult to plan and

impossible to measure.

But with proper planning, a public information and campaign practitioner or specialist can

indeed defend and count for their actions trough a comprehensive and proactive

communication plan.

Discussion:

Before organizing a communication campaign, one must take into account the objectives

and strategies; planning and budget; and research and evaluation. The wide environment

in which the organization operates must dictate the overall objective of the organization .

In turn, these will dictate specific public information and campaign objectives and strategies

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Once the objectives and strategies have been defined, the communication campaign

planning flow will be uncomplicated.

Environment

Organizational objectives

Information and communication Campaign Objectives

Information and communication Campaign Program

What are the elements of a communications plan?

The elements are basically the same whether an organization is, for example, a large not-

for-profit hospital, a museum, a university, a small advocacy group, service provider, or

foundation. A communications plan affirms and is driven by the organization's goals and

outcomes, its vision, as expressed in a mission statement, and its values and beliefs.

Overall communications goals:

The organization's communications goals may include:

Developing and implementing communications plans for enhanced visibility and crisis

management

Generating positive media coverage by cultivating relationships with reporters

Increasing the awareness and involvement of specific, targeted groups of individuals

Changing attitudes or teaching new skills to clients and staff

Generating support from the public, policy makers, and clients for community

reforms across your state

Encouraging financial contributions

The activities in the communications plan should support the organization's overall

communications goals. It is important to set measurable goals in order to know when they

have been achieved and to be able to gauge the progress along the way.

Vision and mission statement

The organizational mission statement is the cornerstone of the communications plan, driving

the overall direction of media activities. The organization should include this mission

statement at the very beginning of the communications plan to remind staff, board

members and other internal decision makers that media-related activities flow from the

organization's core mission and vision, not just from its communications department. Media

activities enhance the organization's overall image, advance its agenda and influence public

will.

Organizational values and beliefs

Every organization, foundation, public agency and institution has at its heart a system of

values and beliefs. These values should be reflected in all that the organization plans and

does, including communications goals and strategic plans.

Critical elements of a communications plan

In addition to the goals, vision and values that form the cornerstone of an organization's

communications strategy, there are six critical elements organizations need to construct

that strategy:

An understanding of the target audience and how to reach it

Research into past media coverage and public opinion about the issues

Messages to be delivered

Materials to be produced

Financial resources from which staff and equipment will be drawn

A written work plan

It is important to identify these elements and put them in place before implementing day-to-

day activities. Successful implementation of a communications plan depends on pulling

these elements together:

Setting objectives, formulating strategies, and planning are important if the public

information and campaign function is to be considered at par with other organizational

component.

Public information an campaign planning varies. It depends on the goals that the

organization wants to achieve. Planning a short-term public information and campaign

program for a new service may require less deliberation and time than planning a long-

term public information and campaign to gain support for a public policy issue.

So much so, that a communication plan for a job fair for the annual Labor Day celebration

requires lesser thought and time, than a communication plan pushing for legislative

amendments in the Labor Code of the Philippines.

However, in each case, the communication plan must include clear cut objectives to achieve

organizational goals; strategies to reach those objectives; tactics to implement the

strategies; measurement to determine whether the tactics works; and evaluation to analyze

and review the outcome and output of the tactics.

Communication planning is essential to an organization. A written communication plan will

give your day-to-day work a focus,

help you set priorities,

provide you with a sense of order and control,

help get the chief staff executive and staff to support your program,

protect you against last-minute, seat-of-the-pants demands from staff and members,

and

prevent you from feeling overwhelmed, offering instead peace of mind

A communication plan is a written document that describes

what you want to accomplish with your association communications (your

objectives),

ways in which those objectives can be accomplished (your goals or program of work),

to whom your association communications will be addressed (your audiences),

how you will accomplish your objectives (the tools and timetable), and

how you will measure the results of your program (evaluation).

Communications include all written, spoken, and electronic interaction with association

audiences. A communication plan encompasses objectives, goals, and tools for all

communications, including but not limited to:

periodic print publications;

online communications;

meeting and conference materials;

media relations and public relations materials;

marketing and sales tools;

legal and legislative documents;

incoming communications, including reception procedures and voice mail content;

committee and board communiques;

corporate identity materials, including letterhead, logo, and envelopes;

surveys;

certificates and awards;

annual reports;

signage;

speeches; and

invoices.

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Communication Audit

Take the following steps to develop an effective communication plan

Conduct a research-communication audit. Evaluate your current communications. know

your environment. Some organizations hire consultancy firms to do this, but the price for

the objectivity of an outside auditor can be high. To conduct your own audit, find out

what every staff person is doing in the way of communication,

what each communication activity is designed to achieve, and

how effective each activity is.

To get the answers you need,

brainstorm with communication staff,

talk to other departments,

interview the chief staff executive,

interview the board,

talk to communication committee members,

survey the membership,

host focus groups, and

query nonmembers.

Define objectives. Armed with information from your audit, define your overall

communication objectives-the results you want to achieve. These might include

excellent service to members,

member loyalty,

centralization of the communication effort,

increased employee teamwork,

improved product delivery,

visibility for the association and the industry or profession it represents, and

influence on government, media, consumers, and other audiences.

Define audiences. List all the audiences that your association might contact, attempt to

influence, or serve. You should identify those audiences with whom you need to

communicate to achieve your organisational objectives. The best audiences to target in

order to achieve an objective may not always be the most obvious ones, and targeting

audiences such as the media may not always help achieve your objectives. Everyone would

like a higher media and political profile, yet activities aiming towards this may ultimately be

self-serving and only communications driven, with no wider impact. They can even have a

negative effect if you dedicate resources towards this that would otherwise be put towards

communicating with key stakeholders. Included on your list may be

members;

nonmembers;

consumers;

related associations;

adversarial associations;

educators;

snational, regional, and local governments;

related industries; and

the media.

Set objecives. With stated objectives or goals , and considering available human and

financial resources, define goals-in other words, a program of work for each objective. Goals

include general programs, products, or services that you will use to achieve stated

objectives. For example, if the objective is to improve member service, goals might include

improved training for the member-service function, special communications directed at first-

time members, a reference manual for handling complaints, and ongoing information for

members.

Identify strategies. Decide which strategies will be used to accomplish stated goals. These

strategies are tools which can be anything from a simple flyer to a publication of a glossy

magazine. Don't overlook less obvious tools such as posters, report covers, Rolodex cards,

and Web sites. Brainstorm ideas with your staff.

Establish a timetable. Once objectives, goals, audiences, and tools have been identified,

quantify the results in a calendar grid that outlines roughly what projects will be

accomplished and when. Separate objectives into logical time periods (monthly, weekly,

etc.).

Evaluate the result. After the conduct of a public information and campaign program, an

evaluation of the success and failure of the program must be undertaken. In devising the

communication plan for the public information and campaigns program along these lines,

and organization is assured a public information and campaigns program will rei force and

complement the overall goal of the organization. Build into your plan a method for

measuring results. Your evaluation might take the form of

a monthly report on work in progress,

formalized department reports for presentation at staff meetings,

periodic briefings of the chief staff executive and the department heads, and

a year-end summary for the annual report.

Developing a written communication plan will take effort. Plan on three or four days the first

time you do it. Once in place, the written plan will smooth your job all year long, earn you

respect from your officials and other staff, help set work priorities, protect you from last-

minute demands, and bring a semblance of order to your chaotic job.

The Media Plan

Working effectively with the media does not come from a one-size-fits-all solution or from

vague concepts. Outreach to the media is not hard, but to get the best results –– a story

that carries your key messages –– you must be able to provide the media with the right

information at the right time and know how that information advances your mission.

Below is an outline of a media plan. We have provided you with a brief description for each

section as well as real-world examples for a fictitious Summer Reading Program. In this

way, we hope to bring the plan to life and make it more applicable to your own situation

and needs.

Media Plan Outline

I. State your goals . By conducting outreach to the media, what are you trying to

accomplish? Are your goals long-term (over a few years) or short-term (next month)?

Ideally, your goals should be results-oriented and concrete so you can assess whether

you achieve them and measure your success. Remember that ultimately you are trying

to reach key audiences through the media.

Examples of your goals may include:

• Increase awareness in the community about the 2006 Summer Reading

Program and schedule.

• Increase participation in the program.

• Increase enrollment of low-income or minority youth.

• Encourage more volunteers to become involved in the program.

II Define your audiences . Your audiences will be defined largely by your goals. Start by

identifying the people you currently reach and those you are trying to reach to achieve your

goals. For example, the audiences for Summer Reading outreach would include:

• Teachers

• Parents

• Potential donors/sponsors

• People who have influence in your library and others

II. Messages . Based on your goals, determine what key points you want to communicate to

the media. Ask: What makes your program unique or different?, What does your

audience need to know?, So what? and Why now? Choose only three to four key

messages to answer these questions in a concise yet personal and compelling way.

Design your messages to be consistent with your mission and values, and make them

easy to remember. Make sure that your messages effectively speak to your audience.

Also remember that, while your messages should remain consistent, they can also be

customized to speak directly to different audiences, reporters and outlets. Some

sample messages for the fictional Summer Reading Program include:

• The Summer Reading Program targets children ages 3 and above.

Studies show that the younger we can get kids interested and eager to

read, the better their academic development.

• One of the primary objectives of the library is to give back to the

community and children are the library’s largest group of patrons.

Last year, children ages 5 to 15 checked out more than 40 percent of

the materials that circulated through our library system. The Summer

Reading Program is the library’s most popular program for these

children.

• All children who are signed up for the Summer Reading Program by

May 25th will receive a special book bag designed to carry books to

and from the library. The retail value of the bag is $35 and it includes a $25 gift

certificate provided by Barnes & Noble.

Media List

In order to be effective in your outreach, you must not only be able to identify all of the

media outlets in your area but you must also know which reporters or m departments cover

the topics relevant to your story.

For example, if you want to place a story about the exciting new theme, authors and

schedule of your 2006 Summer Reading Program, you probably don’t want to be conducting

outreach to the business reporter at the local paper (unless that person is a demonstrated

supporter of the program). However, if you are hoping to place a story about the

importance of support from the business community –– i.e., potential sponsorship –– the

business reporter is exactly the person you want to contact.

V. Media Tools

Information is included in the Tools section of this binder that provides guidelines on how to

develop a media alert, press release and pitch letter for the media.

Timeline/Workplan

As with any project, the creation of a timeline is a critical part of the process helping you to

track what needs to be done, whether its happened and what the outcome was. The below

timeline/workplan highlights the media outreach that might take place in preparation for

our fictitious 2006 Summer Reading Program kick-off.

Lesson 3

Strategic

Communication

Introduction

Strategic communications is an art – the art of presenting ideas clearly, concisely,

persuasively and systematically in a timely manner to the right people. Strategic

communications is about maximizing available resources and positioning your organization

to be proactive instead of reactive. It’s about advancing your mission and actualizing your

vision.

Discussion

According to Frank Karel, Founder of The Communications Network, strategic

communications is much more than a set of tools. It's also a process guided by the

relentless pursuit of answers to deceptively simple questions. What do you want to

accomplish? Who has to think or act differently for that to happen? What would prompt them

to do it? Those are the same questions that also drive good grant making, and that's no

surprise

Kathy Bonk, Henry Griggs and Emily Tynes, Strategic Communications for Nonprofits ,

however, said that what makes communications 'strategic'? Strategic communications does

not consist of sending out an occasional press release or publishing an op-ed once a year. It

means that an organization treats media relations and communications as important, fully

integrated.

The purpose of writing a communication plan is to effectively use communications as a tool

to help solve a problem or exploit an opportunity. Large corporations retain professional

communication specialists experienced in writing these types of plans to assist them with

issues management, project management and day-to-day business operations. They know

that being prepared and thinking about what you want to say, to whom you need to say it

and why it needs to be said could mean the difference between keeping your workforce or

watching everyone walk out.

Every company, no matter what size, needs to develop, socialize and follow a

comprehensive strategic communication plan. One that considers their company priorities

and goals, follows the leadership perspective, and responds to crisis management in a

proactive manner.

 

There are numerous challenges to constructing a strategic communication capability. You

must balance the strategic and operational focus of your company. Permit your divisions to

focus communications to their individual aims while maintaining the company’s image and

current focus. And you must arrange your exterior communications framework to adapt to

the new processes. In the end, this would make your company a better armed risk taker and

challenger to competition in all fronts.

The following components make up a typical communications plan

Executive Summary

This provides the reader with a general overview of what the communication plan

seeks to accomplish. Tell the reader what the problem or opportunity is and what the

impact will be to the organization. Then explain how the plan will help solve the

problem or help the opportunity.

Situational Analysis

In this section you'll want to list all the issues that will be addressed in the plan.

Along with each issue, provide facts about the issue or what affect this issue will have

on the business.

Development of Key Messages

These are the messages that you ultimately want to convey in your communications.

Key messages should be simple and clearly written. For example, if you're putting

together a communication plan because your company is closing an office, one of

your key messages might be, "While the XPZ will be closed permanently at the end of

next month, there will be no job loss. Employees will have the opportunity to

transition to other positions within the company."

Target Audience

It may sounds like a difficult term, but really this is just about identifying your

audience. This could include stakeholders such as employees, managers, investors or

the media. You might even want to segment each audience. For example, employees

might be broken up into groups of new employees versus long-term employees or

unionized employees versus non-unionized employees. This section is important

because it reminds you that your message needs to hit different groups of people

with potentially different needs and expectations.

Planning and implementation

Think of this as the master to-do list to achieve your objective. It's easy to keep track

of your plans using a worksheet or table format. Your columns should use the

following headings: Date/Timing; Action; Description/Comments; Target Audience;

Objectives; and Lead/Responsible. On each line or row, list the steps required to

move your plan from start to finish. You'll want to include actions such as conference

calls, meetings, memo distribution or whatever needs to take place to bring your plan

to completion.

Monitoring and Evaluation

How will you know if you achieved your objective? List the things that will happen or

what will be achieved to consider your plan a success. By evaluating your plan you

will learn what messages worked with what audience, which activities had the

greatest impact and which ones were a waste of time. By measuring your success

you will be in a position to develop a stronger, more comprehensive plan when the

next issue or opportunity develop

The following is a process flow on communication planning:

Define core messages and themes based on program objectives

Identify target audience

Develop detailed strategies to reach your audience with your intended messages and themes

Develop and implement communication plan that incorporates your program objectives, messages,

themes, target audience, strategies, and evaluation results

Monitor progress, adjust strategies, and report results