Communication Tools

Without a strategic communications plan, the program is nothing more than a series of one-offs: disparate media comments without a unifying message, isolate marketing opportunities without follow-up or follow-through. The strategic communications plan identifies target media and target audiences. It assigns roles. The strategic communications plan makes collective effort possible.

Both crisis management and marketing require a strategic communications plan. In both cases, there are long-term as well as short-term objectives. In a crisis, there’s a brand to reaffirm once the smoke has cleared and public interest abates. The strategic communications plan maps out the reaffirmation. The purpose of a strategic communications plan is to ensure that the company brand doesn’t just recover, but is actually strengthened. As such, a strategic communications plan turns crisis into opportunity.

But a strategic communications plan is also dangerous if it creates the illusion that the company is in full preparedness mode simply because the plan is in place. It needs to be constantly revisited. It occasions regular discussion. .A strategic communications plan is a living, changing, developing organism.