Step 1: Get Started

What is the name of your organization, campaign, or coalition?

Step 2: Key Objective

What is your primary communication goal?

Your goals are the starting point for a successful communication effort. They are your “why.”

See below for examples of some common goals you might want to build your plan around. Then, input the goal that best describes your focus.

Step 2: Key Objective (CONTINUED)

Are there upcoming, time-sensitive, or key moments that you can leverage to achieve your objectives?

Key moments can be defined as compelling events that your goal can be built around.

They are usually time-sensitive events that will have an effect on the outcome of your efforts.

Using the previous example of a goal, here is a sample compelling event that might serve as a key moment in your campaigns:

Step 3: S.M.A.R.T. Goal

Turn your objective into a S.M.A.R.T. goal

S.M.A.R.T. goals provide a means for turning your objectives into a framework that makes them more attainable.

S.M.A.R.T. goals are key to ensuring that your goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Reasonable, and Time-Bound.

S.M.A.R.T. goals move us toward realizing the outcomes we want to achieve and provide a basis for measuring success. Later, we’ll explore methods for measuring our results and the best metrics for tracking progress.

Step 4: Audience

Who do you need on your side?

Your target audience(s) are the individuals or groups you are trying to reach through your communication efforts.

Identifying target audiences is essential to achieving your S.M.A.R.T. goal. You need to identify the specific groups of people you need your messages to reach and the specific set of actions you want them to take.

Being extremely clear and specific about who your target audience is will help you find and reach them more easily. It will also help you create effective communication strategies to persuade them to take action on your behalf.

Let’s assume your organization is selecting a Community Engagement or Action goal where you are trying to register people to vote.

Step 4: Audience (CONTINUED)

Primary audience considerations

Creating a compelling message requires understanding your primary audience’s motivations, concerns, and needs.

Now that you’ve identified your primary audience and the internal stakeholders who are going to support you in bringing this campaign to life, it’s time to get even more specific about your primary audience’s needs.

The following questions are designed to help you dig into your primary audience’s motivators. The answers to these questions will be critical in helping you define and refine the messages you’ll create.

Step 4: Audience (CONTINUED)

Secondary audience considerations

As we just learned, all communication efforts should have a primary audience you are aiming to reach. But what if you don’t have direct access to that audience (e.g., if your audience is an elected official who you do not have influence over)?

Or what if directly reaching that audience is not enough (e.g., you have reached an elected official who trusts your opinion but they say they cannot support your policy because it would upset their constituents)?

Then you need to consider secondary audiences which are groups or individuals who can help influence your key decision maker.

For example, if your primary audience is an elected official who you don’t have influence over (or enough influence over), your secondary audiences might be local political journalists, business leaders who fund their campaigns, or their constituents.

Below you will have the opportunity to add a secondary audience.

Secondary audiences are not required. If this doesn’t apply to your goals, click “Next.”

If you would like to add multiple secondary audiences, click “Add Secondary Audience” after inputting each audience detail (you can add up to five secondary audiences).

When you are done adding audiences, click “Next.”

Do you need a Secondary Audience?

Step 4: Audience (CONTINUED)

Secondary Audience Considerations

As we just learned, all communication efforts should have a primary audience you are aiming to reach. But what if you don’t have direct access to that audience (e.g., if your audience is an elected official who you do not have influence over)?

Or what if directly reaching that audience is not enough (e.g., you have reached an elected official who trusts your opinion but they say they cannot support your policy because it would upset their constituents)?

Then you need to consider secondary audiences which are groups or individuals who can help influence your key decision maker.

For example, if your primary audience is an elected official who you don’t have influence over (or enough influence over), your secondary audiences might be local political journalists, business leaders who fund their campaigns, or their constituents.

Below, you will have the opportunity to add a secondary audience.

Secondary audiences are not required. If this doesn’t apply to your goals, click Next.

Step 4: Audience (CONTINUED)

Primary audience considerations

In addition to considering who your primary audience is, it’s also important to think about who within your organization you will need to seek approval or alignment from when developing communication messages.

Just as you’ll need to be clear and specific about identifying your external audiences, so too should you prepare details of your internal alignment strategy!

Consider who will need to sign off on your messaging and who will be required to help you bring your vision to life.

If you would like to add multiple internal stakeholders, click “Add Secondary Stakeholder” after inputting each stakeholder detail (you can add up to five secondary stakeholders).

Step 5: Message

Craft your message

A powerful message is the backbone of a successful communication effort. You must be able to clearly articulate the problem at hand, how people are being impacted, the desired solution, and how people can lead and contribute to change.

For more detailed instructions on messaging, visit the “Messaging” section of the Strategic Communication Hub. After reviewing the key elements of a strong messaging framework, come back to this page and input your core message.

Step 6: Approach

Choosing your approach: tactics & activities

Now that you have built the foundation of your communication strategy by identifying the “what” and “who,” it’s time to think about the “where” and “how.” Let’s dive into tactics and activities to prepare for executing your communication plan.

Before you begin, ask yourself: what organizational strengths can you leverage to reach your audience? Consider:

What’s happening in your community?

Are there cultural or community contexts that will help you reach your audiences or add urgency to your goal? Examples of relevant moments could include frustration over how your governor is handling an issue, high profile incidents in the news, or an ongoing public health crisis. An example of a cultural context could be celebrations around the Juneteenth holiday or an annual parade. Events can also include upcoming moments that will drive conversation, such as a historic anniversary, Supreme Court decision, or election.

This context can help inform how quickly you need to act. If the time is ripe to engage your audiences, opt for quick, high-impact tactics.

Tactics & activities

Now that you’ve considered resources and significant community moments, it’s time to think about what action you want your audiences to take. You will then select tactics that are best suited for these calls to action.

Consider the following tactic types. Which will be most effective for achieving your goal?

Here’s the S.M.A.R.T. goal you set back at Step 3 as a reminder:

Seeing your goal again and thinking in the context of these campaign types, please select up to three key tactics that will form the backbone of your plan:

Step 7: Metrics

What metrics will you use to measure your success?

Measurement is a key consideration when launching a communication effort. It’s crucial you outline how you will understand and quantify your impact.

It’s important to establish in your planning process what metrics define success for your communication effort. These often are called KPIs or “Key Performance Indicators.” Establishing KPIs early will help you stay on track — and it’s important to measure these KPIs throughout the initiative, not just at the end.

Using the campaign types we defined earlier, let’s look at some KPIs that might be commonly associated with these different efforts:

Step 8: Timelines

For how long will you execute this communication plan?

In this final step, consider the internal and external timelines that are important to reaching your goal.

Ensure you evaluate internal operations at your organization such as:

• A major organizational announcement
• A strategic planning shift that may affect your message
• The coming of a new fiscal year

You should also consider external moments such as:

• High-profiles summits, conferences, or meetings
• Public budget planning cycles
• Election cycles
• Major holidays

All of these and more may influence the rollout of your communication plan.

After you complete this step, hit “Finish” to obtain your communication plan output.