Mapping Your Journey

When you start on a journey, you've usually got some idea of where you're going and how you're going to get there — a plan or a map. Public relations are no different. Without a good understanding of where you're going, you'll spend more time spinning your wheels than getting ahead.

Your communications plan should include the following: company background; issues statements; key messages; audience; key messages per audience segment; timing, goals and objectives; strategy and tactics; budget and measurement.

The first step in planning your communications campaign is to look at where you stand now. Develop a background for your communications plan by including a history of your business, and what communications you've conducted to date. Imagine you're writing the plan for someone who doesn't know anything about your business, and doesn't have all your assumptions. In other words: be thorough!

The Issues Statements section of your plan will focus on challenges your company faces in trying to get messages out to your target audience. The problems you face go in this section; your plan's overriding goal will be to solve them.

Once you've figured out where the challenges exist, it's time to figure out how to tackle them. The Key Messages section of a communications plan outlines your unique selling point (USP), and explains the most important things you need to communicate about your store.

The best messages are easy to grasp and personalize, furthering people's understanding, and ultimately affecting their purchase habits and commitment to your store.

Your Audience section describes who your communications plan will reach. What is your target demographic? Determining who you're talking to will help narrow the publications you communicate with.

Now it's time to refine your USP, tailoring the messages to speak to your audience directly. If you have several product lines for different customers, you need to develop messages for each group. Your key messages will remain the same, but how you transmit them will differ.

In the Timing, Goals & Objectives section, decide when you're going to begin your communications plan, what your overall goals are, and what your measurable objectives are. The timing is up to you — but do learn the deadlines for key media.

Your goals are big-picture statements. For example: educating consumers about your product; driving sales to retail outlets and websites; increasing awareness through print and television coverage; increasing awareness among ethnic groups.

The objectives section is where the meat of your plan is. Your objectives should be S.M.A.R.T.: that is, Strategic, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Tangible.

• Strategic. A specific goal has a greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal, answer the six “W” questions: Who is involved? What do you want to accomplish? Where will your goal be achieved? When will your goal be achieved? Which requirements and constraints apply to the goal? Why is accomplishing the goal important?
• Measurable. Establish criteria for measuring progress toward each goal. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement.
• Attainable. Your goals must be reachable. If you've only got an hour a day to work on your communications, a goal of four hours a day is out of reach.
• Realistic. While shooting for the stars is important, chances are you won't get on Oprah with your first press release. Overnight successes rarely come overnight.
• Tangible. A goal is tangible when you can experience it with one of the senses: taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing. When your goal is tangible, you have a better chance of making it specific and measurable, and thus attainable.

The budget section sets out costs and the time you'll spend working the PR plan. This may include printing press kits, long distance phone calls, travel — anything required to put your plan in motion.

Finally, the measurement section of your plan outlines how you'll know you've reached your goals. Measurement will be based on your SMART goals.

Once you've written all of this down, put it all together, you've got a communications plan! The plan gives you a roadmap to figure out where you want to go, how you'll get there, and what it will look like when you arrive. All that's left is to put the plan in motion.