A PF Solutions Presentation May 26, 2017

Agenda Importance of a Communications Plan Statement of purpose Your Current Situation PEST Analysis SWOT Analysis Competitor Analysis Organisational and Communications Objectives Identifying Stakeholders Workshop Key Communications Methods Work Plan Evaluating Success

Importance of a Communications Plan

Importance of a Communications Plan Clarifies your agency’s goals and objectives Clarifies the relationships between audience, messages, channels, activities and materials To identify and implement a variety of communications activities Clarifies staff, stakeholders and others role in the process To develop creativity and camaraderie amongst your team members

Importance of a Communications Plan To help staff and stakeholders “get on the same page” To include stakeholder input into the communications process Ensures you are reaching out to stakeholders and constituencies effectively Allows everyone on the team to have a stake in your success To gauge your plans success and areas in needs of strengthening

Statement of Purpose

Statement of Purpose Why have you developed a communications strategy? What do you hope to achieve? This does not need to be a detailed exercise Example: “This communication strategy shows how effective communication can: help us achieve our overall organisational objectives engage effectively with stakeholders demonstrate the success of our work ensure people understand what we do”

Your Current Situation

Your Current Situation Briefly outline what your organisation does What are your main functions? Where do you operate? What are your strengths? In the past five years, what has been successful? What has not? The tools on the following slides will be of use

PEST Analysis

SWOT Analysis

S W O T Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats HELPFUL To Achieving Objective HARMFUL To Achieving Objective Internal Origin (attributes of the organization) S Strengths W Weaknesses External Origin (attributes of the environment) O Opportunities T Threats

Competitor Analysis

Competitor Analysis A common method of analyzing a competitor is to create a competitor array Define Your Industry Determine Who Your Competitors Are Who are your customers? What do they expect? Determine the key strengths of your competitors (i.e. service, price etc.) Rank the Key Success factors by giving each one a weight. The sum total of all weightings must equal 1 Rate each competitor on each key success factor Multiply each cell by the Success Factor

Competitor Analysis Key Industry Success Factors Weighting Competitor #1 Ranking Competitor #1 Weighted Competitor #2 Ranking Competitor #2 Weighted 1- Extensive distribution .4 6 2.4 3 1.2 2 – Customer Focus .3 4 5 1.5 3 – Economies of Scale .2 .6 4 – Product Innovation .1 7 .7 Totals 1.0 20 4.9 15 3.7

Organisational and Communication Objectives

Organisational and Communication Objectives A communications strategy should closely reflect your overall organisational plan Examine your organisation’s over all vision and aims How will communications help deliver these goals? This section should give a sense of principles of communications that underpin the strategy and the key messages that the organisation wants to convey It is important that your communications objectives should contribute to overall objectives. Objectives should be complimentary. Tip: When setting objectives, it is important to be realistic in terms of time, budgets and resources.

Identifying Stakeholders

Influence on Policy and Resources Keep Satisfied Key Players Influence on Policy and Resources Monitor Keep Informed Interest in Your Organisation

Workshop Give a detailed description of your main audiences – both internal and external Examples: Public Politicians Service Users Staff Many organisations will have audiences who use only a portion of their services

Messages

Messages f p By now you have identified your audiences Next, you must break down your objectives into relevant messages for each of your audiences Start with audiences are the highest priority and work down Messages need to be relevant and appropriate to your audience Consider using more forthright language with supporters and donors than you would use with local authorities It is important if you take this approach, you ensure a continuity across the messaging

Key Communications Methods

Key Communications Methods For each previously identified audience, indicate the most appropriate communications channel Example: eBulletin Conference Workshop Leaflet Press Release There are pros and cons to all these channels

Work Plan

Work Plan Draw up table to indicate: Key Communications Activities Budget Resources Plan should also include proposed timescales and milestones There may be specific projects, events or publications that you know will take place and should be highlighted

Evaluating Success

Evaluating Success Any communication strategy should conclude with a section on evaluation It should indicate which tools will be used for evaluation Tools could be simple measures such as number of responses to eBulletins Hits to your website Increases in donations following a mail out Did you have an increase in media coverage? Not just volume, but breadth and depth? Include milestones in your evaluation section so that you measure progress to ultimate goals

How we Do It

Action Framework Metrics of Success Personalized Approach Leader donor engagement (including company owners) Personalized Approach Public Recognition Sharing information (two way engagement) Donors inspiring other donors Early donations (leader donors) Retention of donors Increase in donations (movement to the next level) New leader donors Some product matching Year of birth collected Purchase of table at SOCC Attendance Kick Off

Plan Milestone Who Date RE, AW, CC (Support from SH) June/Early July Direct Contact from United Way RE, AW, CC (Support from SH) June/Early July Donor Letter CC, SF June eNewsletter once a month SH (email AP) Monthly Personal Invitation to SOCC RE, AW or CC (Support from SH) February