Roadmaps. Foundations. Compasses. Whatever analogy you want to use, the implication is the same – successful communications efforts begin with solid plans.
Given its importance, we could all benefit from tossing our keys on the table to learn from each other. Whether sharing these insights is helpful while developing a new business pitch next week or with 2010 planning at some point this year, the fact is that we’ll all be smarter next time around the planning cycle.
I’ll kick it off with three things I believe we should keep in mind while planning. Please share a couple of your keys in the comments.
Bring at least 3 big ideas that will push everyone at the table.
It can be easy to remove the ideas you think may challenge the comfort zones of those at the table, especially if you’ve been working together for a while. Don’t. Develop 3 – 5 ideas that are on-strategy, interesting and outside the tried-and-true norm. Even if they don’t get implemented, 98 percent of the time you’ll get points for thinking bigger and pushing boundaries.
Stop hording and get the right people in the room.
You don’t usually get those status-quo bashing ideas by locking a few senior VPs in a room to handle planning all by themselves. And, sitting in a room with a handful of people with the exact same areas of focus as you probably won’t bring all the potential to bear.
Include junior-level employees in brainstorms. Invite a few folks from interactive, media planning, PR, advertising, direct marketing. Bring in a couple administrative assistants. Ideas are currency in our business and a great idea can come from ANYONE. You do not have a monopoly on them. Neither do I.
Show how the ideas can come to life *outside* of your fiefdom and across the marketing mix.
This shows that you think about their business holistically, beyond just your area of concentration, and implies that your goal is to help them succeed.
Say you’re in PR, your client is an outdoors equipment manufacturer and you believe your client should start engaging in a few targeted social networks, like serving as a resource and answering questions on a local hiking/camping/fishing message board. Great! But why stop there? Also recommend they work with their advertising agency for opportunities to sponsor the message board and have exclusive rights to the online advertising that shows up there. Whether they do it or not, doing this tells them that you’re thinking about their brand in a way that most don’t.
Your turn… What are some of your keys to successful communications planning?
*Image by Linus Bohman.
David spends his days focused on marketing communications strategies and execution. He blogs here regularly about integrated communications, PR and social media.
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David – You provide some really good insight in this post about how to actively and positively help clients as they begin to plan their 2010 PR plans. One point you make that I am not in total agreeance with, however, is your third point regarding talking to a client about sponsoring a message board that fits within their industry and seeking exclusive rights to the online advertising that shows up there.
My main problem with this point is that it comes right after you say PR firms should work with clients to get them actively engaging with their customers on messages boards within their industry. I think that’s a wonderful idea, and certainly a great step toward active engagement with customers. However, I don’t feel you can say that, and then tell a client they should also advertise on that message board. I think that’s a conflict of interest because to me, any fan or user of that client’s industry who reads that message board, sees a client’s advertising on it, and then reads a post on the message board from the client (even if transparency is apparent throughout the post), is going to wonder what the client’s true intentions were. Was the client replying and posting responses on the message board out of a true interest and desire to help others (as I believe a client should always do when responding to message board posts), or is that client using the message board purely as an advertising and marketing vehicle, which defeats many of the purposes of active online engagement.
I’m interested to hear your thoughts.
Thanks,
Keith
Keith,
Thanks for taking time to weigh in with your thoughts. One of the things I’ve loved about blogging is it opens the door to lots of different perspectives.
To clarify, based on the rest of your comment, I’m guessing that it’s not the third point you question, but the illustration I used as an example. Is that correct? If you have issue with people thinking beyond their discipline borders to see and tell how an idea can fully come to life, then let me know so I can address that, too.
I’m glad you brought this up. In fact, I think I’m going to write a post on my POV. Here’s my take, since you’re interested in my thoughts…
…okay, so I wrote my thoughts and it was a novella. I’m going to share them instead in a new post tomorrow so we can keep this comment stream loosely focused on tips for communications planning. Keep an eye out for the advertising in social media post tomorrow.
Thanks for firing up a conversation starter, David. It’s hard to limit it to three, but here are three things to keep in mind while planning:
1. Dare to Be Different. Sure, it sounds like a Hallmark cliche, but it’s still good advice. The #1 mistake most companies make is looking and sounding like their competitors. Retreating to a message that mirrors your competitor’s is a sign of fear, uncertainty and an ill-defined identity. What message does that send to the customer?
2. Just Do It. With respect to Nike, more companies need to stop balking out using communication tools they’ve never used before. The longer you wait for someone else to validate the channel’s value, the more time you waste. Jump in, learn how to make the medium work for you, then make sure everyone knows YOU are the case study for success.
3. Build a Communications Dream Team. In the old model, you built your roster with the best available talent within a narrow geographic radius. But this is 2009, for crying out loud! The communications platforms exist that let you break free of that leash. Build your team with the best available talent in the world, then find a way to make it work. Even with a few hiccups, it’s better than settling for a communications team whose best qualification is proximity to the office.
David – this is a great conversation, especially because 2010 planning will likely get started in earnest in the next 2-3 months. Your stop hording point I think is particularly worth paying attention too. Have you ever noticed that the same people are in the room for every new biz/client brainstorm? I know I have.
If I could add a couple to the discussion (some of which will probably not surprise you):
1. Be Prepared to Demonstrate Results – an oldie but goodie, but given that communications budgets are going to continue to be restricted for at least part of 2010, it’s an incredibly important point. If you get money for a new social media push, or a new media relations effort, you better be prepared to show how those efforts contributed to the bottomline; especially if you’d like to see that money continue to flow.
2. Don’t Suggest something just because it is cool. How often do we hear a client/boss say we should get involved with social media. When you ask why, how often do you hear that it is because they’ve heard about other companies using it? That shouldn’t be the reason you use social media.
Thanks again for the convo. Enjoy this stuff!
I love Scott’s comment – especially the “Just Do It” mentality. It ties in with what David said about having some junior staff and people with a different perspective on the planning team.
One thing that I would add is to constantly ask “Why Not?” during communications planning. It is so easy to take an idea and shoot it down, explain why it won’t work in a particular company, state some sort of legal or process objection to it, or just cast it aside as too different. When people start listing all of the reasons NOT to do something, step back and really, truly ask Why Not? Why can’t we do this? Are the objections valid? Why can’t old ways of doing things be challenged? What’s really getting in the way here?
@amymengel
I’d add be willing to let people into the discussion that you may not have even considered worthy 3-5 months ago. Random places (at least for me) always tend to produce the best ideas. Especially for campaigns. So get the office in the room and start brainstorming. If you are starting from scratch (most companies likely are) it’s the best way to accelerate thinking…
Nice Post, David! This is something we need to all adhere to – especially as we appraoch a greater appreciation of social media. I bring this up b/c all facets of ‘communications life’ are jumping in on this type of networking and discussion.
One thing I would add to this is the NEED TO CHECK YOUR EGO AT THE DOOR. Some of the *best* ideas I have come upon have come from the most unlikely suspects…and these would have never come about had the team thought, “Oh, that person can’t come up with anything that could work b/c he/she doesn’t know enough about the industry…”
HOGWASH
When you check your ego at the door, you
* open yourself up to new ideas
* open yourself up to new people
* open yourself up to actually admitting when things go wrong (go figure)
* make yourself soo much more easy to approach with new ideas
David –
Thanks for addressing my original argument per your third point in this post (re: Show how the ideas can come to life *outside* of your fiefdom and across the marketing mix.) You were right in that my main problem was actually the illustration of the point, rather than the point itself.
I completely agree with you that showing clients how a communications plan fits outside of their world of business is a fantastic idea. Too often, we see companies and clients only looking at their world of the business spectrum and wanting to know how a PR/communications plan will help them advance in that world. That is a good thought to have as an over-arching reason to have a strong PR plan, but there definitely needs to be some rather frank and open discussion about what a strong PR plan can do for a company in terms of opening that company up to new customers and clients from outside of its own spectrum of an industry.
I really think that in today’s always-tuned-in world, many clients could benefit from looking outside of their current niche of an industry and thinking more big picture. How can we find new clients and customers that are outside of our current industry or business, but may benefit from our products, services or expertise? If you can get a client to think about that and then put those thoughts into action through some part of a PR plan, then I think you have really strengthened the overall scope and success of a plan, not just for the short term, but through the next growth market and subsequent recessions, etc.
Thanks for addressing my points … looking forward to reading your new post soon about this!
Keith
David,
Great thoughts on planning. I especially like your suggestion to get the right people in the room and Scott’s idea on building a Dream Team.
My experience suggests that sometimes the best ideas are a mix of new innovation and proven classic methods of communication. Although we have to stay on the cutting edge, we also have to remember that sometimes a simple approach is best.
I also think that a vital member of our dream team is someone to play the devil’s advocate. We always need someone to challenge our ideas and plans to keep us striving to make our best plans better.
I’ll throw out one idea that’s not really germane to communications planning, but it’s critical (in my opinion) to fostering an environment that routintely kicks out plans that kick ass.
1–Consider the environment of your planning sessions. You’re looking for big ideas right? Sometimes, that conference room you’ve been holed up in for most of your natural born life isn’t the best place to conjure up that idea that’s going to “wow” the client. What about an off-site meeting? What about getting together at a non-traditional venue (art museum, bowling alley, etc). You might be surprised what a change of venue can do for your thinking.
* Bring in some outside “talent.” Ever think about bringing in someone to facilitate an improve session with you staff? Sounds ridiculous, but improv can help you think more creatively–and more quickly. Two skills that are absolutely crucial to our success as counselors. Or, what about bringing in a musician or songwriter to talk about their craft? The idea: Get your brain thinking in different ways. That usually has a tendency to benefit the client
Hi David,
Nice post! I especially love the concept of bringing three big ideas to the table. Depending on time, it also might be interesting to ask each participant or department to do the same.
I totally agree with involving people outside the communications area in the initial planning process. Not only do you invite fresh perspectives and interesting ideas, you also encourage teamwork among different departments who often end up being responsible for some facet of execution.
Based on my experience, I would let the communications team ‘host’ the meeting. I would clarify the meeting is simply to generate ideas — not to decide which idea(s) will be used. After brainstorming, the communications team needs to sift through the ideas to determine those with the best potential for success against the budget. (A follow-up meeting presenting the actual plan to the original brainstorming team is always great, too.)
I agree with Arik on utilizing an outside meeting facilitator to keep the ideas flowing. Too often, I’ve seen such meetings deteriorate into ego battles and old squabbles, especially if the person leading the meeting is someone people want to impress, such as the CEO or other key executive.
Another nice touch is to designate one person to record the ideas so that the group can stay creatively focused. And all ideas should be recorded – even those doomed to that great parking lot in the sky.
Can’t wait to read your post tomorrow!
Thanks again. It’s all good!
Jenifer @jenajean
Keith and Jenifer – I didn’t get a chance to write the post tonight. My wife and I got into a great discussion and she takes precedence.
I’ll write the post tomorrow and post it for Wednesday.
David, Great post with some wonderful insight on how to plan and implement effective communications. I’d like to throw into the mix two additional strategies:
LISTEN! Its shocking, but true: so many of us want to have the first and final word that we forget about this essential step. The key to actually having successful discourse is the ability to listen to others and take on board the needs/concerns/opininon of you clients, audience, constituents, etc.
Identify your audience: When it comes to communicating about your company, many have a tendency to get caught up with the shiny new strategy or tool and reach out to audiences haphazardly, or simply spray their message to everyone they can think of. This is exactly what you don’t want to do. If you can identify your audience (or potential audience), respect their preferred mode of communication and reach out to them in a targeted, conscientious manner, your communications will be exponentially more effective. An additional benefit of this part of the planning process is that once you identify your audience, solutions become infinitely more clear.
Thanks for getting this conversation going
David – this is one of my favorite posts from you ever. Everything rings true but I especially love your point about involving those at all levels in the planning process, which is a good reminder for me as I work feverishly on several new business plans.
At my first agency, there was an expectation that all junior level employees participate in the strategic planning process and offer up ideas. A lot of times the junior level employees demonstrated the most creative thinking because they weren’t so burned out of the brainstorming process.
Thanks to this post I’m going to do a better job at empowering my staff to exercise their creative juices for our clients.
Thanks for the kind words, Rachel. Here’s another reason why involving junior-level staff is important. They will be doing a decent amount of the day-to-day execution. Giving them the opportunity to help shape the plans gives them a level of ownership in it, as well. And most people work harder toward success if they feel ownership in what they’re doing.