3. Learning Objectives
• Identify and describe steps in the
communication planning process, including:
– Discovery
– Objectives
– Strategy
– Creative development
– Measurement
• Describe and use tools and resources within
each step of the planning process.
4. Planning
• Before embarking on a campaign, the communicator
needs to be able to answer several essential questions:
– What is driving the need for communication?
– What are the objectives of the effort?
– What does success look like; how will it be
measured?
– Who are the target audiences; why should they
care about the communication?
– How will the communication reach them?
5. Planning
• Planning processes developed by
communication firms and advertising agencies
tend to have five essential steps
– Discovery
– Objectives
– Strategy
– Creative Development
– Measurement
6. Planning
• The planning process developed by the
National Cancer Institute (NCI), contains four
steps:
– Planning and strategy development
– Developing and pretesting concepts, messages, and
materials
– Implementing the program
– Assessing effectiveness and making refinements
7. Discovery
• Focuses on conducting research to understand the
environment in which the communication effort will
be implemented
– Legislative context
– Media landscape
– Competitive environment,
– Economic factors
– Relevant upcoming events
– Cultural background
– Target audiences’ attitudes, actions, and preferences
8. Assessing the Challenge
• Description: considers what is needed to solve the
problem or leverage the opportunity to its fullest
potential
• Resources: for obtaining information about
businesses and business challenges
– Hoovers
– SEC filings
– Business publications
– Analyst reports
9. Assessing the Challenge
• The US HHS provides information about diseases
and health conditions, including prevalence and
incidence data for the US population at no cost online
– National Center for Health Statistics
– Healthfinder
– HRSA Community Health Status Indicators
– Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
– Child Health USA
10. Assessing the Challenge
• Information about treatments for various
diseases and health conditions can be found in
the following resources
– National Guidelines Clearinghouse
– The Merck Manuals Online Medical Library
– WebMD
11. Competitive Analysis
• Description: examines the marketplace position of the
product and the concept or behavior the
communicator is attempting to promote, including its
status relative to its competitors and how it fits in the
overall environment of its target audiences
13. Media Analysis
• Description: examines the media environment
of the communicator’s product, concept, or
behavior relative to its competitors.
• Resources
– Factiva
– LexisNexis
– Google News
14. Legislative and Policy Analysis
• Description: examines existing laws and regulations
affecting the communicator’s product, concept, or
behavior, as well as bills and proposed regulation that
may have a future effect
15. Legislative and Policy Analysis
• Resources
– Trade associations
– THOMAS
– State Net
– Google News
– LexisNexis
– Policy-related media
– Foundations, policy organizations, and think tanks
– Institute of Medicine (IOM)
16. Target Audience Analysis
• Description: examines primary and secondary
audiences as well as secondary audiences
• Resources
– Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S.
– PERQ/HCI Focus Journal Readership Studies
– US Census
– PubMed
– The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys
– GfK MRI
– Teenmark
17. Target Audience Analysis
• Resources
– Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the U.S.
– PERQ/HCI Focus Journal Readership Studies
– US Census
– PubMed
– The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys
– GfK MRI
– Teenmark
– Scarborough Research
18. Objectives
• As each program objective is determined, it
should be linked directly to a measurement
methodology
19. Strategy
• A well-stated communication strategy should fit
neatly into a single statement
• The four essential Ms of communication
– Develop a message that resonates with a defined target
audience.
– Determine the most credible and persuasive messenger.
– Drive the message through the most effective media or
channels.
– Deliver the message at the moment when the audience will
be most receptive to it.
20. Strategy
• The four essential Ps of communication
– Product is the product, concept, or behavior being
promoted in the communication program.
– Price is what the product, concept, or behavior will
cost the target audience
– Place refers to where the audience will purchase the
product, encounter the concept, or do the behavior
– Promotion considers many of the factors explored in
the four Ms of communication
21. Creative Development
• Message and Materials Testing
– Early formative phase
– Qualitative testing of messages and materials
– Quantitative test through a survey methodology
22. Measurement
• Intended to demonstrate the effectiveness of
the communication effort and suggest ways to
improve it moving forward
• Links back to the measurable objectives
developed in the second step of the planning
process
– Outcomes measures
– Process measures
