COMMUNICATIONS PLANNING:
WHAT IT IS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
7/2/14

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WHAT WE’LL TALK ABOUT
• WHAT’S COMMS PLANNING?
• WHAT’S THE PROCESS?
• CASE STUDY EXAMPLE

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WHAT DO WE DO AT TMK?
Media Strategy Contact Plan
Engagement Planning Media Planning
Communications Planning
Channel Planning

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WHAT IS COMMUNICATIONS PLANNING?
“Communication planning is the art and science of reaching target
audiences using marketing communication channels such as advertising, public
relations, experiences or direct mail for example. It is concerned with deciding who
to target, when, with what message and how”

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MORE SIMPLY DEFINED...
Reaching the right
AUDIENCE...
...With the right
MESSAGE...
...At the right
TIME!

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UNIFIED STRATEGY IN A CHAOTIC WORLD
Comms planning helps us...
✓Identify the ways consumer interact with brands
✓Prioritize touch points to devise the most effective channel plan
✓Ensure consistency across all media and communications
✓Outlines clear outcomes and expectations
...When there’s so much to consider

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UNIFIED STRATEGY IN A CHAOTIC WORLD
Comms planning helps us...
✓Identify the ways consumer interact with brands
✓Prioritize touch points to devise the most effective channel plan
✓Ensure consistency across all media and communications
✓Outlines clear outcomes and expectations
...When there’s so much to consider

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COMMUNICATIONS PLANNING CYCLE
Brand
Immersion:
Understand the
Brand, the
business and the
target.
Determine goals
and campaign
parameters
Strategy
Development:
Map out
strategic
framework
across all
channels, include
POEM
Tactics
Planning:
Define channel
roles, budget
allocations,
develop media
plan
Implementati
on:
Implement, execute
and monitor media
plan
Evaluation:
Analyze
campaign
performance,
gather insights
and learnings

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TODAY’S FOCUS
Brand
Immersion:
Understand the
Brand, the
business and the
target.
Determine goals
and campaign
parameters
Strategy
Development:
Map out
strategic
framework
across all
channels, include
POEM
Tactics
Planning:
Define channel
roles, budget
allocations,
develop media
plan
Implementati
on:
Implement, execute
and monitor media
plan
Evaluation:
Analyze
campaign
performance,
gather insights
and learnings

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BRAND IMMERSION: FIRST STEPS, KNOW YOUR CLIENT
Deep dive into brand’s business and campaign nuances. Ask questions, get clarity.
Understand the client and their business via desk
research & Client briefs provide info on background, campaign client provided materials
objectives, target market, budget, etc

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BRAND IMMERSION: COMPETITIVE KNOWLEDGE
Conduct a full market landscape analysis to understand what other brands are doing
in media and how to best compete and stand out in the market space
Quantitative Analysis:
What are competitors spending?
How are they spending?
Qualitative Analysis:
What are the communications platforms? What
trends do we see?

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BRAND IMMERSION: TARGET INSIGHTS
Understand the target- who it is, what they like, how they live and how they
interact with brands and media. Target insights can help map out the consumer
journey through media, which helps inform media touchpoints

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BRAND IMMERSION: ALL THE TEAM PLAYERS
Understand who else your client is working with from a communications stand point, what they’re roles are and open
lines of communications between teams. Everyone needs to work together for a successful communications strategy
All looking to
help client
achieve objectives
and goals
Media Planning Agency
Media Buying Agency
Public Relations Agency
Social Media Agency Creative Agency
Events Marketing Agency
CRM Agency
SEO Agency
In house media department
Mobile Marketing Agency
Branding Firm
Content Marketing Agency

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STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT: BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER
Post Brand Immersion, we have A LOT of information, insights, ideas to work with....
Target Insights
Marketplace &
Industry Trends
Agency
Partner Insights/
Ideas (e.g. message
or comms
platform)
Campaign
Goals
Campaign Goals

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STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT: BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER
The media strategy or communications strategy combines all insights to identify the optimal touch points or platforms
for the campaign
Marketplace &
Industry Trends
Target Insights
Agency Partner
Insights/Ideas (e.g.
message or comms
platform)
Campaign Goals
Campaign Goals

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STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT: NOT ALL ABOUT PAID MEDIA
Paid media is no longer the only way for brands to engage their consumers. More than ever before,
brands have many options and outlets to communicate with their target
Paid Media:
Traditional Advertising across
any channel
Ignoring a portion
Owned Media:
Brand’s own content
(website, social platforms,
etc)
Earned Media:
Blogs, PR, Press, Shares, etc

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STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT: PAID_OWNED_EARNED MEDIA
While we specialize in paid media, our jobs as planners is to consider how all media works together
The importance of POEM:
✓Stretches budget
✓Opens up more opportunities for visibility and
engagement
✓Creates the most cohesive marketing programs

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STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT: DEVELOPING A STRATEGIC
Consider a criteria list to help identify how various opportunities, ideas, media channel, placements, etc fit into the
communications strategy:
✓Does this achieve campaign objective?
✓Does this communicate our message?
✓Are we effectively and efficiently achieving our objective?
✓Are we speaking to our target? At the right time? In the right places?
✓Does this leverage all other existing brand efforts?

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CASE STUDY EXAMPLE: A|X DRESSED FOR
The Challenge: Increase consideration by a wider, fashion conscious female audience
Key Insight: Visual web was filled with fashion & personal style images, many of which aggregated under #wiwt
(What I’m Wearing Today)
Solution: #Dressedfor user-generated style board
Paid media support:
Partnered with media that has personal
style curation at its core to amplify the
hashtag

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CASE STUDY EXAMPLE: A|X DRESSED FOR RESULTS!
Paid Media:
Drove $4.56MM in revenue
$12.02 ROAS
Earned Media:
17MM Instagram
impressions
12MM Likes
Owned Media:
3,000 approved looks posted
70 A|X curated looks