Writing a communications strategy, Essays (university) of Political communications

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Writing a

communications

strategy

Victoria Pearson, Senior Communications Planning Manager, PAD Carolyne Culver, Head of Communications, MPLS

15 January 2016

 A plan of action designed to achieve a goal or vision.

 All about gaining a position of advantage over competitors/adversaries or best exploiting emerging possibilities.

 A detailed plan for achieving success in situations such as war, politics, business, industry or sport.

What is a strategy?

University of Oxford

To lead the world in research and education in ways which

benefit society on a national and a global scale.

Exercise:

What is your

mission or vision?

Take a few moments to consider the mission or objective of your department/college, event or project…

Type of communications strategy

 Organisation – ideally reviewed annually

 Major, complex, long term project – eg innovation

 A major announcement – eg new endowment which will fund a scholarship programme

 A big event – eg a conference

 Building and opening a new building

“Why don’t we just get on with it?”

 Plan ahead rather than panicking at the last minute

 Exploit all the channels available to you

 Agree responsibilities

 Identify and seek resources

 Identify risks and plan how to deal with them

 A plan against which to measure success

 Taking time to agree what you want to achieve

 A process that helps you learn lessons for the future

Make sure your objectives are….

Not SMART

“We need to raise more money.”

SMART:

“We want to raise £5million to set up a fund to create an extra 20 graduate scholarships from October 2017.”

You can have one or more objectives

Categorise your audiences in relation to your

situation and your objectives

 Influential + interested + supportive = your partners

 Influential + interested + opposed = use persuasion

 Influential + not interested = capture their attention

Use third parties to help persuade and create interest

More than just ‘the public’ or ‘the media’

 HEFCE, research councils, charities, NHS etc

 UK government, local council

 Your colleagues, the wider University

 Alumni

 Donors

 Future applicants

 Local community: residents, businesses, groups

 Media: local, national, specialist

Now think about your messages

 What do you want audiences to know, think and do?

 AIDA model: awareness, interest, desire, action

 Be clear, honest and consistent

 Answer those inevitable questions:  “Why should I care?”  “How does it affect me?”

 Tailor your messages to your audiences: the content and the tone

 Use evidence: statistics and case studies

 Consider two-way engagement

Make people sit up and listen

“Oxford offers the most generous bursary package to undergraduate students from the least well off households”

Inspire action

“We need 5,000 signatures on our petition to the local council to save our library”

Timing

 Work backwards from your deadline

 Create a timetable of all activities

 Coordinate who is told what and when

 Exploit ‘hooks’ to attract interest

 Availability of spokespeople and venues

 Accommodate long lead-in time and sign-off

 Monitor timetable and adjust as necessary

For example…

September 2015 October 2015 November 2015

Lobbying Ask local MP tobook venue invitationsSend out parliamentEvent in

Media

Identify key messages and spokespeople

Propose an interview

Issue press release

Publications (^) and display boardsDesign invitation Print the materials

Distribute the materials at the event