1. SCHOOLOF COMMUNICATION & MEDIA
PR 3380: PR STRATEGIESANDTACTICS(HYBRID)
FALLSEMESTER2016
COMMUNICATIONSPLANASSIGNMENT:RACHELSHOAP
2. Background and Situation Analysis
The ABC Company is 25 years old and recently went through a merger, which
made the company face economic challenges that forced the company to lay
off employees. This raised ambiguity among remaining employees about their
future positions at the company. ABC is having problems with internal
communication (employee engagement, employee-to-leader communication,
and leader- to-leader communication) as well as external communication
(media). This plan aims to ease uncertainty among stakeholders, as well as
strengthen communication within the company and the media. It is
important to address these issues, because they could greatly affect future
business endeavors, and possible financial issues could arise. To be able to
fully resolve these communication issues, ABC should invest in their future to
halt and prevent future uncertainty among stakeholders, as well as make sure
that employee and leadership confidence is high.
3. Recommendations
Two tactical
recommendations that
are suggested for this
communication plan are
bi-yearly SWOT analyses
to gage the problems
the company has, and
the effectiveness of the
plan after it is
implemented. This will
allow the CEO and
Leaders to see where
they still lack or what
they have improved on
in this communication
plan.
Strengths
25 years’ experience
internal portal
Weaknesses
inconsistent leader-to-employee and
leader-to- leader communication
inconsistent external communication
to the media
media relations method of
communication with the media are
outdated
lack of social media use for internal
and external communication
ambiguity amongst employees is
causing a lack of employee
engagement
Opportunities
Internal portal could be utilized
more effectively to allow for
better communication for
employees and leaders.
Social media participation could
increase employee involvement of
future company events and inform
them of news.
Threats
Continued lack of effective
communication among internal and
external stakeholders could result in
a lack of quality work for current and
future clients, which could result in a
lack of business, which would
inevitably bring an end to the
business, and/or cause financial
turmoil.
Continued uncertainty among
employees may cause unrest, and
lack of cooperation among
employees.
Lack of effective social media use for
employee and stakeholder
communication
5. Key Messages
ABC Leaders
• Leaders should know their roles as leaders
• Leaders should feel empowered to make decisions
• Leaders are focused on communicating consistently to employees to improve
company communications.
ABC Employees
• ABC Company is headed in the right direction, and is making progress.
• Employees should feel confident and proud to work at ABC
• Understand that ABC is here to reassure employees and help them grow.
Media Relations Team
• Media Relations should use updated methods and tools to connect with the media
• Media Relations should create a consistent, proactive approach for dealing with
media related issues
• Media Relations should learn how to engage media through social media
6. Strategy
The main goal of this communication plan is to ensure that
effective and beneficial communication is developed between
leaders, employees, and the media. To achieve this, different
tactics must be applied. When we are successful with this plan,
ABC will see the strategic utilization of social media by leaders,
and employees to effectively communicate with the media,
reduced uncertainty among employees, stronger communication
between audiences, and a morale boost that will increase
employee engagement.
7. Objectives and Goals
Improve current and future leader-to-leader and employee-
to-leader communication by at least 50% by hosting a black
tie event with an open forum that will allow leaders and
employees to freely talk to each other face to face, as well as
utilize the internal portal that exists already to create an
anonymous forum for leaders and employees to talk freely
about issues they have with the company or with
communication.
Measurement: Sign-in sheet at the event, Mandatory pulse survey to
attendees of the event given via email after the event.
Improve employee participation in events and
forums by 40% by effectively promoting events on
social media and within the company using flyers
and newsletters.
Measurement: Survey (How did you find out about the
event)
Improve external communication by
improving social media engagement and
posts by 50%. This includes creating
engaging content, utilizing more than one
platform of social media, and posting
frequently.
Measurement: Checkpoint team and quarterly
interviews for each audience group and
department head.
ABC seeks to:
8. Tactics and Measurements
What Why How Audience
Estimated
Budget
Measurement
Black Tie
Forum Event
Creating a annual in-
person CEO hosted
event, where employees
can talk freely with
leaders and other
employees in a fun way
will not only increase
employee engagement,
but the chance of actions
to be taken against
problems in the company
are more likely to occur if
promises are made
publicly
Event promotion (flyers,
newsletters, email
invitations
Confirmation from
employees
Rent space
Hire a catering company
Hire entertainment (live
music/DJ)
CEO
Leaders
Employees
Media
Relations
$2,000,000.00 RSVP count
Sign-in sheet
Pulse Survey
Internal Portal
-Anonymous
online forum.
Creating a safe place for
employees and leaders
to ask and answer
questions is a great way
to promote
communication within the
company. Checked
monthly.
Start projects with web
developers
CEO
Leaders
Employees
$50,000.00 Post and User count
Email survey about
use of the online
forum
9. Tactics and Measurements Cont.
Quarterly
Checkpoint
Team/
Interviews
Making sure that each
audience is utilizing social
media in a better way to
communicate with the
media is important to this
plan, so every three
months a Checkpoint
team will analyze and
report to the CEO the
different methods used by
each department.
Media Relations will select
members of the quarterly
checkpoint team
Interviews will be held
asking employees about
their company social media
use
Coffee and donuts will be
used as incentive for
participation
CEO
Leaders
Employees
Media
Relations
$20,000.00
Quantitative data will
be collected by
conducting
interviews for each
audience and
department head to
see if they are
utilizing new
methods of
communicating with
the media via social
media
SWOT Analysis This will help highlight
things about the
company’s communication
that are good, or that
need attention.
Quarterly checkpoint team
will create this after their
interviews.
CEO
Leaders
Employees
Media Relations
$0.00
Information collected
from the SWOT can
be used to help
better
communication
within the company
Employee
Engagement Page
Within the portal, an
employee engagement
page should be added to
highlight employees of
the month, deliver
internal news, and
promote engagement.
Web Developers will create
this alongside the
anonymous forum.
Employees
Leaders
$0.00
Employee
engagement can be
measured by traffic
on the page.
10. Tactics and Measurement Cont.
Survey
A quick online survey is a
great way to find out what
people did or did not like
about and event, or how
they heard about the
event. It is important to
obtain feedback from
audiences to understand
concerns and improve
communication.
Create a free Survey Monkey
survey.
Send to all employees via
work email.
CEO
Leaders
Employees
Media Relations
$0.00
The feedback will give
us qualitative data
about how employees
feel about a certain
situation or event
Media Relations
Equipment
Upgrading equipment will
help each audience reach
the media faster and
smoother.
The new software will be
able to give employees,
leaders, and media
relations a better idea of
who their audience is, and
how they can reach the
media more effectively.
Updated Computer Lab
(iMacs, printers,
photocopiers, office supplies
,projectors)
Software
Cision
Vocus
Hootsuite
Media Relations
CEO
Employees
Leaders
$500,000.000
Virtual Sign-in sheet at
the lab before you can
gain access
Sign-up count for
different software
Quarterly checkpoint
team interviews
11. Best Practices
Surveys have always been a great tool to gage the feelings and thoughts of
employees and leaders around the world. Mandatory, anonymous surveys
could be given to employees to understand how employees feel about a
current situation, measure their overall happiness, see what they liked
about events, if they went, or why they did not. This gives employees a safe
way that they can freely express things that are bothering them without
feeling that they will receive backlash.
12. Best Practices Cont.
SWOT’s highlight the strengths and weaknesses of a company which
gives the company an idea on what things they need to work on to
improve the company, or communication in ABC’s case as a whole.
Example of a SWOT analysis of the McDonald’s Corporation
Strengths
Open door policy to the press
Ceres guidance and co-ordination and active CSR
Selective supply chain strategy
Rigorous food safety standards
Affordable prices and high quality products
Nutritional information on packaging
Profitable
Weaknesses
Inflexible to changes in market trends
Difficult to find and retain employees
Drive for achieving shareholder value may counter CSR
Promote unhealthy food
Promoted CSR meat imports in error
Opportunities
Attractive and flexible employment
Positive environmental commitments
Higher standards demanded from suppliers
Corporate responsibility committee
Honest and real brand image
Threats
Fabricated stories about the quality of chicken
Unhealthy foods for children
Health concerns surrounding beef, poultry, and fish
Labor exploitation in China
CSR at the risk of profit loss
13. Best Practices Cont.
To promote a stronger employee involvement, an employee
engagement page should be created in the employee portal to boost
employee participation. Coca-Cola has done this on their website. Even
though there is not too much activity, it can be tweaked to allow
feedback from employees.
14. Calendar Q1 and Q2
January February March April May June
ABC COMMUNICATION PLAN
Quarterly
Checkpoint
Team
Interviews
Quarterly
Checkpoint
Team
Interviews
Anonymous
Forum Review
Anonymous
Forum Review
Anonymous
Forum Review
Anonymous
Forum Review
Anonymous
Forum Review
Company wide
email about
black tie event
Rent space and
promote event Send RSVP’s
Hire catering
Promote Event
Promote Event
Post on
Employee
Engagement
Page
Post on
Employee
Engagement
Page
Post on Employee
Engagement Page
Post on
Employee
Engagement
Page
Post on Employee
Engagement Page
SWOT
Set up new lab
Post on Employee
Engagement Page
Order iMacs
And printers for
SWOT
Anonymous
Forum Review
15. Calendar Q3 and Q4
JULY AUGUST SEPT OCT NOV DEC
ABC COMMUNICATION PLAN
Post on
Employee
Engagement
Page
Post on
Employee
Engagement
Page
Post on Employee
Engagement Page
Post on
Employee
Engagement
Page
Quarterly
Checkpoint
Team
Interviews
Quarterly
Checkpoint
Team
Interviews
Anonymous
Forum Review
Anonymous
Forum Review
Anonymous
Forum Review
Anonymous
Forum Review
Anonymous
Forum Review
Anonymous
Forum Review
Promote Event
Hire DJ
Pulse Survey for
event
BLACK TIE EVENT HELD
Sign-in sheet
Post on Employee
Engagement Page
Post on
Employee
Engagement
Page
SWOT
SWOT Executive
Summary
of plan results
16. Wrap Up
Develop a team transition
plan (include at least two
weeks to accomplish)
Inventory and collect of
all materials developed
into one location and
document all results
captured
Meet leadership and
other key stakeholders to
debrief and document
learnings- include what
went well and what
needs improvement.
17. Results
Communication was the key issue concerning
the ABC Company. Lack of communication
among leaders and employees led to
uncertainty, disgruntled employees, and
confusion. After this plan is implemented, it is
projected that communication with internal and
external audiences will improve greatly, and will
also improve the business of the ABC
Company. This plan will be documented
throughout its application and will be presented
to the CEO and management up and across
the organization via presentation and email.
