Communications Plan
One particularly important part of the planning is the Communications Plan. People are
surrounded by communication - as thousands of initiaitives, news stories, adverts and
campaigns bombard us each day. Only careful planning and superb execution will enable the
church to get its message across.
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Define your audience. The tighter you can define your target audience, the easier it will be to focus your communication. Are you interested in adults and children? In what area? Church-goers, non-churchgoers or lapsed Christians? Young or old? The nature of your event of project may define your target group as having a particular interest or skills. Your target group may also be made up of a number of distinct sub-groups, each of whom can be reached via different channels. |
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| What do you want them to do? All communication has an objective. Whether you want people to come to something, to influence their beliefs or attitudes in a particular way, or simply to make them aware of something, will shape the way that you communicate, and the media choices you make. You may have more than one objective. If so, writing these down will help you become clear on how your communication can achieve these objectives. |
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| Understanding Your Media Options The range of options facing a local church is wider than it has ever been before. In addition to local press, local radio, leaflets, parish magazines and noticeboards, there are now internet options, local tv stations and several commercial advertising opportunities. Using the telephone, direct mail, the library, local networks and the contacts of local Christians are other options for communicating with your target group. |
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| Choosing your Channels of Communication Clarity on your target audience, and the outcome you want to achieve make this reasonably easy to achieve. Without such clarity, a rational evaluation of the alternatives is difficult. Available budget will also have an effect, but for not try to avoid limiting your options on the basis of budget - its amazing what can be achieved for very little cost. You will probably not want to depend on a single channel of communication alone - it can sometimes be much more persuasive to reach people with the same message through several different channels. |
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| Piece together the Media Campaign a. Timings are important - if your want to get someone to come to an event, you may need two pieces of communication; the first needs to be early enough to get the event booked in the diary, whilst as the day approaches some further communication will help to build their desire to attend. A communications time chart can help see how the different elements will blend together. b. Cohesiveness across the different media options being used in the campaign is vital. This can be achieved through use of common logos, slogans and even typefaces and colour schemes. |
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| Finally, Plan Each Element of the Campaign. If you have a team working on the communication, you can share this work out, with each person taking one of the options. However, the team will need to work closely together to benefit from each others creativity, and to ensure consistency of approach. Watch leadtimes - it takes longer than you might think to ensure good communication. Giving newspaper and radio editors reasonable notice may well lead to a better result. Test your communication - bounce your ideas of people outside the communications group, and be prepared for criticism! It's best if these people are representative of the group you are targetting. |
