Communication Strategies

Does it matter what we say? To whom? When? How?

Communication Strategies So, problems can arise when communication within an organisation is not co-ordinated Co-ordinating what you say, to whom, when and how you say it are all part of a communication strategy Ineffective for different people within an organisation to give inconsistent message

Communication Strategies Lots of documents on the internet to help Some are clearer than others Look at some of them in the toolkit Will now look at what a strategy includes

Communication Strategies The Process HistoryObjectivesAudienceChannel/ToolsImplementationEvaluation

To begin at the beginning… Where are you now? You need to know what has been achieved so far How effective were those communications? This is useful for both a project campaign and overall strategy

What do you want to achieve? What are your objectives/messages? Are you trying to inform, educate, change behaviour, consult etc? Is this for a project, strategy, programme etc?

What do you want to achieve?

SMART(ER) objectives Create SMART(ER) objectives This should help you work out how you will actually achieve each of them Specific Measureable Achievable or Agreed Realistic or Relevant Timed Evaluated, or Ethical or Ecological Reviewed or Rewarded

Objectives All your goals/objectives should link back to your organisational objectives. Why? Check that they do!

Audience Who is the message aimed at? What do you know about this target audience? For example, children would be one audience. And we know that many of them are familiar with using IT.

Channels/Tools Must be appropriate for the audience What kinds of communication media, channels or tools do you think there are?

Your skills Audience plus Type of communication plus Media/Tools/Channels equals You may need to be a … Public speaker Report writer Children’s entertainer Facilitator Blogger Interpreter Website designer …

Management/Implementation Your next step is to consider the practicalities of your chosen technique. A prime-time TV advert may work well, but do you have the budget? Don’t forget your timescales Refer back to your objectives, which should have this information.

Measurement & Evaluation Has the communication worked? How do you know? Your objectives should have been written so you can check this.

Communication Strategies The Process HistoryObjectivesAudienceChannel/ToolsImplementationEvaluation You and Your Skills

And finally… There is lots of information on the internet This is just a brief outline Some have more detailed stages or place them in slightly different order Use whichever ones suit your purposes