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How’s your communication planning for 2013? The best communication results – whether in public relations, media, social media or content marketing – come from having a realistic plan, being smart about resourcing it, and sticking to your commitment. Sound hard? It needn’t be. The BlueChip Communication team has compiled this list of Communications Resolutions to help get your company’s communications off to a flying start this year.
- Always start by defining a goal or set of goals. What do you want to achieve from your communication activity and how will you measure it? Refer back to your goal frequently to make sure you’re on track – it’s easy to get sidetracked.
- What is your key message? Make sure it’s aligned with your key goal /s. Decide it, agree it, practise it – and say it again and again.
- Hone in on your target audience/s and decide on a few key communication channels. Scattergun won’t work. Who are you trying to engage with and where do they get their information? What other groups might influence your target audience?
- Make it two-way – or more. Invite engagement, reaction, interaction from your audience – but only if you are able to respond.
- Sing from the same song sheet. Make sure all your communicators are well versed in your messages and what you want to achieve, so they present a consistent story to the world.
- Content is king –more than ever in 2013. Make sure what you’re saying is relevant and valuable to your audience because if it’s not, it will be drowned out by a thousand other voices. Remember: it’s not about you – it’s all about your audience.
- Reduce, reuse, recycle. If you have a great case study, report or insight to share, then be sure to get the most of it. There’s a variety of ways to use content from media campaigns through to short and sharp on social media, LinkedIn discussions, tweets, online articles, infographic and blogs.
- Apply discipline. Plan and do what you can ahead of time. Create a calendar of activity that links your tactics, messages and goals and stick to it. The better prepared you are the tighter and stronger the message and freer you are to leap on unexpected opportunities when they arise.
- Don’t overcommit: less can be more so long as it’s done well.
- If you don’t have the resources to do it internally, hire professionals. If communication isn’t your core business, it can be too easily pushed aside – which spells missed opportunities.
Once you’ve set your resolutions in place, be sure to monitor, measure and take note of what worked and what didn’t – all the more fuel for improvement for 2014!
