Strategic communications planning is a drive by a company or organization to fully define and integrate its various communication-related issues with the intention of achieving a constant or steady fall-back plan for responding to anything that may occur both within and outside the organization. In order to fully implement strategic communication planning, the company must take various steps that include actions like setting a clear goal it wishes to achieve through the process, discovering its target demographic, and working on clarifying the type of information it wishes to disseminate during the effort. The company must also decide how it wishes to disseminate the information it wants to convey.
One of the very first considerations during the early stages of strategic communications planning is to carry out a detailed analysis of the company’s vision and goals in relation to bringing the whole process into a clearer perspective. Part of this includes an analysis of what matters the most to the organization. For instance, the organization must decide if the priority now is to make a profit at any cost, or if it wants to promote an image of corporate responsibility in addition to making profit. The company must also decide the various means by which it would like to achieve the stated purpose.
The next step in the strategic communications planning process is for the company to discover its target demographic in order to decide the best manner in which to communicate with the audience. If the target demographic is middle-aged individuals, then the company will know how to shape its communication with this group of people. In the same way, if the target demographic is teenagers, this will also give the company an idea of the best manner in which to communicate with them. The company may also decide to approach the demographic through ethnicity; for instance, if the demographic is Hispanic, then the communication might be in Spanish. After identifying the target audience the company will have to develop a message that will appeal to this select group of individuals.
Spreading the information could occur through any of the major communication channels or through more creative ones. Some of the more established methods for communicating the information developed during the strategic communications planning include television and the Internet. More creative channels will be determined by an assessment of the types of concepts that will appeal to the target demographic.
