Like all functional areas of a company, the Communications Department plays a key role in helping an organization achieve its objectives. It makes an organization understandable; emphasize their differences; prioritize messages for your key audiences. Ultimately, Communications works to package and position an organization, to make sure its messages are clear, coherent and consistent. Only then can stakeholders be most supportive.

This packaging and positioning materializes in a Strategic Communication Plan. Whether it focuses on the organization as a whole or its products or services, it addresses two important areas: internal communication and external communication. Internal communication is concerned with creating and promoting a positive and productive workforce. External communication deals with messages directed at external audiences, with the aim of increasing visibility, improving reputation and influencing perception.

The following is a six-step process for developing such a plan. Every organization, no matter its size, needs to follow these steps.

1. Understand the Challenge.
Don’t guess. It’s important to start by taking the time to determine your mission: the real communication concerns and the opportunities for improvement. Are stakeholders confused and can communication clear up the mystery? Have internal or external audiences been neglected? Is this the year to raise awareness and increase media relations efforts?

2. Conduct a communication audit.
Without objective research, the plan will not be customer-centric and will tend to be based on past experience, historical knowledge, or hearsay. Look at the existing communication tools and the messages that are being sent. Talk to people inside and outside your organization about their perception of the organization. Consider the competitors. Who does it make sense to emulate?

3. Package and Location.
Formalize your message. How will you talk about your organization so that your internal and external audiences understand what you do? What are the differential advantages that you need to accentuate? Make sure to create official corporate communication tools to ensure consistency, for example a brand positioning document, key messages and a pitch.

4. Map the audiences.
Determine the audiences you need to reach and establish a plan to connect with them. Think about existing communication channels and current messages. Take advantage of what is already in place.
The objective of a Communications Department is not necessarily to create new communication tools or establish new channels, but to make communications more effective.

5. Improvement Plan.
Determine how to measure success. What quantitative and qualitative data will show that your communication strategy is on the right track? Make sure you have a consistent and sustainable process for connecting with your audiences, measure it, and don’t forget to link your results to the goals of your initial communication plan.

6. Execute the Plan.
Create an implementation plan, work on it and stick to it! It is as simple and difficult as that.
An important point to remember as you develop your plan is that you do not need to target all stakeholder groups at once. The best strategy is to target those that will have the most immediate and positive impact on your business, and those that are a specific source of concern.

For example: Do your employees have a deep understanding of your mission so they can work productively toward your goal? Do your customers have enough information about your products or services to know when to call? Does your media understand your business well enough to use your executives as subject matter experts? Is there potential for your business to have a negative impact on the community?

The last thing you want to do is develop and commit to a process only to find that it can’t be sustained due to limited company resources.

It is clear that your strategic communication plan will become a useful and powerful tool. You will focus your stakeholders on what is truly important in the eyes of your organization and create a reality, simply by putting words on paper and sharing information in a consistent and predictable way. Your plan will be a major catalyst for change, ultimately leading to organizational development, increased productivity, increased employee satisfaction, and improved performance.