Build a Better Communications Plan (fall 2016)
•Download as PPTX, PDF•
0 likes•124 views
This document provides guidance on developing an effective communications plan through setting goals, focusing on key audiences, crafting clear messages, and telling compelling stories. It emphasizes the importance of understanding audiences, targeting communications appropriately, keeping messages simple and repetitive to overcome noise, and leveraging stories to convey impact and solutions in an engaging way. Effective goals should be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). Segmenting audiences allows organizations to better connect and improve performance metrics like opens, clicks, and unsubscribes. Crafting messages requires using visual elements, statistics, and simplicity while planning for distortion. Stories should feature individual impact, problems addressed, and accomplishments to convey who the organization is and what it does
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Viewers also liked
Viewers also liked (20)
Similar to Build a Better Communications Plan (fall 2016)
Similar to Build a Better Communications Plan (fall 2016) (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Build a Better Communications Plan (fall 2016)
- 1. Building a better communications plan Oct. 26, 2016 | Gordon Mayer
- 2. About Public Narrative Founded in 1989 as Community Media Workshop, Public Narrative teaches better storytelling to: • Diversify the voices in the news • Connect the community with the media • Make sure it's not only voices of the powerful that are covered • Work with journalists, people in nonprofits and community members Follow us: @publicnarrative
- 3. Meet Mandy Burrell, Comms. Director at MPC Tell Stories Set Goals Target Audiences Craft Messages
- 4. Goals -- any road?
- 5. SMART Goals Set goals Focus audiences Craft Messages Tell stories
- 6. How SMART are these goals? A. The purpose of the new website will be to persuade prospective home buyers to purchase a Greenline net-zero-impact home in Woodlawn or at another site. B. Harmony, Hope & Healing will raise $19,000 through its circle of friends major gift program by the end of the year. C. Cook County will adopt a mandatory paid-sick-leave ordinance in 2016.
- 7. Focus on key audiences
- 8. BobBlackforCMW The News… Set goals Focus audiences Craft Messages Tell stories
- 9. Focus and go deep, don’t try to reach everyone Opens: 14.13% higher than non-segmented campaigns Unique Opens: 10.22% higher than non-segmented campaigns Clicks: 63.03% higher than non-segmented campaigns Bounces: 1.48% lower than non-segmented campaigns Abuse Reports: 6.36% lower than non-segmented campaigns Unsubs: 10.16% lower than non-segmented campaigns [S]egmented campaigns performed markedly better than their non- segmented counterparts. Set goals Focus audiences Craft Messages Tell stories
- 10. Learn and connect to your audiences Set goals Focus audiences Craft Messages Tell stories
- 11. How will you focus your audience? 1. Which tools will help you understand them better? • Surveys? • Interviews? • Demographics? • Map? • Others? 2. What channels will reach them? • Metro or ethnic news? • Your website, email & social media? • YouTube/Vimeo etc.? • Specialty/niche? • Door-to-door or flyer?
- 12. Craft Messages
- 13. Visual. Statistical. Simple. ‘The phrase that pays’ Set goals Focus audiences Craft Messages Tell stories
- 14. Plan for distortion & noise: Be simple & repetitive Distortion Measuring Set, via flickr CIA Museum artifacts gallery Set goals Focus audiences Craft Messages Tell stories
- 15. Set goals Focus audiences Craft Messages Tell stories
- 16. Set goals Focus audiences Craft Messages Tell stories
- 17. ‘Facts Are Meaningless’ Set goals Focus audiences Craft Messages Tell stories
- 18. Tell Stories Ameca Valley, Jalisco, Mexico Storyteller Figure, A.D. 100/800 Art Institute of Chicago
- 19. How to tell a story • Individual impact • Problem to solution • Cliches and common phrases • “News peg”—play off current events • I stories Set goals Focus audiences Craft Messages Tell stories
- 20. A few good stories • How We Began / Influences / Founders • Obstacles Faced and Problems Solved • Where I Got This Idea • What We Believe • Before our time / After we did our thing • Accomplishments, Victories, Feeling good! Set goals Focus audiences Craft Messages Tell stories
- 21. Who we are, in < 1 minute • Hi! My name is _____ and I work with… • You know how… (problem) • Well, what we do is…(feature) • So that …(benefit) • We’re kind of like the…(metaphor) • Problem: Stated as an engaging question • Feature: the physical traits or description of what you do • Benefit: a feature translated into a member’s satisfaction. What do the members get because of what you do? • Metaphor: a comparison that can be funny or startling; goal is to make your work familiar.
- 22. To make news, you need to do or create something… ...new Man bites Dog, Peter Blapps, from flickr
- 23. Take the stage!
Editor's Notes
- The goal of building a communications plan is not a document, but to use a set of tools to get everyone on the same page about what you are doing, why and how. Today we are going to break down the 4 most important tools you’ll need: Set Goals, Focusing on Audiences, Craft Messages, and Tell Stories. One of the benefits of building a better plan is that your boss and colleagues will know exactly what you are doing and hopefully what they are supposed to be doing, too. I know from our public speaking class that you may only remember the first 15 seconds so there it is. Credential – let’s have gordon write the press releases. Currently I am a communications and fundriasing consultant, specializingin in thought leadership content creation for fundraising and awareness raising Rounds: name, organization and why are you here? How many people have been doing this for 1-2 years? 2-5 years? More than 5 years? Who has a written communications plan? Want to share it? What do you think about this plan? Gene M.
- everywhere I go I find people know public narrative for its advocacy on ending the “tale of two cities” type of narrative about chicago, Support of journalism in the tradition of Studs Terkel and ability to help the community tell their own stories and howit connects the two to promote news that matters. You’ll see some stuff you’ve seen before here, but it’s used in a slightly different way
- I started to build a slide that listed their recent news coverage and mentions on line but I couldn’t fit them all on the slide unless I made them real small. Strategy successes? Goals? Audiences? Messages? Stories? Process: Plan, Implement, Repeat How you lead your colleagues? Other lessons learned? What about create your own media vs pitching?
- If your org doesn’t have goals, you won’t have good comms goals, so manage up. CHEJ story –nitty gritty of who would be writing, when, but seemed content less important than calendar. Flipside – Woodstock –over-shot fundraising goal. Who has written performance goals?
- Specific – what are we talking about Measurable intelligible (ie reasonable people can agree) Attainable, relevant- stretch but realistic (Managing to Change the World) Time- cooking (dough develops flavor as it rises; ribs that slow cook all day, then grill). You don’t need a plan for a single tweet. But a tweet should reflect a plan or a goal. Reasonable people can agree that change occurred. It’s going to take a while—if it’s not, you aren’t being ambitious enough.
- HHH board member story – I think these things are impossible but then our executive director goes out and does them! So are these goals Visionary? Are they SMART? Are you inspired? Could you work with them. What are your goals?
- What’s going on in this picture? You’re very perceptive. That’s the kind of perception I want you to use in thinking about your audiences. Tend to either broadcast or receive but it’s actually all about both- if you go deep, you will get the folks in the front row, not the woman texting in the back.
- Different headlines, different audiences. Ancient history. 1910, Frederick Francis Cook, who claimed to have invented the scoop in the 1860s: “Wilbur [Storey’s] single aim was to make the [Chicago] Times a great newspaper; and he could do this only by making it pay. The grip of the Tribune on advertising was too strong to be broken. Hence he must look to circulation for returns—and the price of five cents per copy left a handsome margin above production. Cook, 333. Public school teacher story.
- How often do you send your eblasts? Story of Gamaliel – not segmented at all. How do you segment? By interest group? By donors vs non donors? What would it look like to send only to your most loyal? What about if you only send to someone who hasn’t opened an email in 5-6 months? (strategic – get rid of them and your open rates will go up) Go deep not broad (Steph Routh story) Google analytics will tell you the top 3 pages visited on your website. Make darn sure those are the best 3 pages on your website. CHEJ, HHH story – people who read online but they don’t execute online (eg donate)
- Gamaliel story – ask questions, start from relationships
- Colleague Favianna What words stuck out for you from the video? What’s the message of photo in front of butterfly (citizens of the world) embrace humanity becoming butterflies I attempt to show the reasons why people cross Even bigger picture – not just crafting a core message but creating a whole alternative story. USSA Story – showing how we are creating new possibilities Occupy , BLM, or Civil Rights – learn the lesson of powerful messaging
- 1 or 2 things you want people to know-the phrase that pays About the time you are tired of saying it, audiences are starting to hear it Craft it Same for all Eye Exam Questions Leadership Being a two way advocate
- People are gonna have a hard time hearing you. Competition, bandwidth, etc. But it’s even worse than that.
- 15
- 16
- 17
- Storytelling as best practice, Andy Goodman- humans are storytelling machines. How we make meaning. What does this all mean ? Illustrate your impact. PTP story. Reach ‘em, don’t teach ‘em. Feel, not think. Made to Stick. s.t. not everyone will tell you that we will – how the heck do you do it?
- II- e.g., having Mandy here.
- Bad choices make good stories – wait, not that kind of story Sue’s advice
- Not just business as usual New programs New people New places New actions/ activities New Information New Stories
- Team Two way advocate Run a EP workshop or a reading group Made to Stick reading group Resources