Nonprofit Marketing Template

Division of Media and Communications

Communications Planning Process and Template

OVERVIEW

A Communications/Marketing Plan is a highly detailed, heavily researched and well written report that many inside and possibly outside the organization will evaluate. It is an essential document for large corporate marketing departments, startup companies and nonprofit organizations alike. Essentially the Plan:

 Forces management to look internally in order to fully understand the results of past marketing decisions.  Forces management to look externally in order to fully understand the market in which they operate.  Sets future goals and provides direction for future marketing efforts that everyone within the organization should understand and support.  Is a key component in obtaining funding to pursue new initiatives?

The Plan is generally developed for one of the following reasons:

 Needed as part of the yearly planning process within the marketing functional area.  Needed for a specialized strategy to introduce something new, such as new program planning, entering new markets, or trying a new strategy to fix an existing problem.  Is a component within an overall business plan.

Objectives are the starting point in creating a marketing plan. They help give the plan direction and answer the questions "Where do you want to go?," "What will it take to get there?," "How long will it take?," "Why do you want to get there?," etc. In creating your objectives they must be specific and to what you want to achieve. Those objectives must also be measurable. Make sure they are achievable, and most importantly, make sure they are realistic. Ask yourself/management if you have enough manpower, money, materials,

* Can be accomplished through informal focus groups (or surveys) consisting of the target and facilitated internally or outsourced to an evaluation resource to develop and facilitate, the latter of which would require funds.

** Requires additional funds to implement.

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1. Goals

 Key question: What is your organization’s main goal (1-2 goals)? What are your communications goals (1-3 goals) and what are the communications goals that will contribute to achieving the overall goal?  Examples: o Organizational goal: . Improve community health by significantly increasing the number of individuals who actively seek out and receive preventative care through a primary care setting o Communications goals: . Build awareness about the clinics services . Increase new patient visits to the clinic . Motivate individuals to seek out and visit the clinic for care

2. Objectives

 Key question: What are 2-5 concrete, specific, measurable (when possible) steps to take to achieve your communications goals?  Examples: o Develop partnerships with two community organizations to promote the clinic o Establish referral process with one hospital Emergency Department o Increase the number of new patient visits by 10% by XXX date.

3. Target Audience: Evaluation and Research to Identify Segment Data * Can be accomplished through informal focus groups (or surveys) consisting of the target and facilitated internally or outsourced to an evaluation resource to develop and facilitate, the latter of which would require funds.

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 Market Research: Identification of community types, cultural diversity of individuals in the community, uninsured or underinsured vs. insured, and where they are located geographically, and what are the best ways to reach them, are things to research and consider to drill down to your target audience.  Key question: Who are the 1-3 top audience groups you need to engage to meet your communications objectives and what do you need them to do? Most importantly, what are the wants, habits and preferences of each group?  Examples: o Low SES individuals located in New Orleans East o Primarily African American adults age 18+

4a. Message Development: Benefits and Cost Analysis:

 Market Research: Research can determine salient points that best resonate with the audience, and identify what barriers may be to taking action. This will better inform the initial creative messaging.  Key question: Given your target audience groups and the actions you want them to take, what is the cost (challenges/obstacles) they must overcome and what is the benefit to them in taking that action.  Examples: o Cost (challenges/ obstacles): . Access to primary care services has been limited post- Katrina . Cost of services if uninsured/underinsured . Trust in quality of services o Benefits (or ways to reduce the cost) . Clinic located in the community . Sliding fee scale or some services free . Reduces the need for long waits in Emergency Departments . Can educate on the quality of services and trustworthiness of staff

4b. Message Development: Message Pretesting

 Research and Evaluation: Once the messaging has been informed by research as outlined above, the overall message and creative elements (rough drafts of the radio script, artwork for posters or billboards, etc.) should be tested with the target audience to determine if the message resonates well.*  Key questions: Is the message clear and succinct? Is it compelling enough to keep attention? Does it motivate to take action? Is there anything confusing in the message?  Example: o Informal focus groups identified that although the message was clear, they wanted more information on the sliding fee scale, and thought the colors of the posters should be brighter to catch attention. Radio spot was a little long. Would like to hear the number repeated twice to catch it.

5. Placement and Promotion Strategy

 Key question: How and where to deliver the messaging to your audience via these strategies?  Examples:

o Talking points about the clinic and services—develop and implement throughout communications and in conversations. o Org “look and feel”—Design a new graphic identity (logo, colors, typefaces) to be used consistently throughout online and offline communications. o Develop a partner outreach plan to partner with community organizations to assist in distributing information about clinic services o Develop referral process with area Emergency Departments discharge protocols o Promote newsworthy stories/ events through earned media (Public Relations)

o Develop and implement a mass media campaign: including radio, billboards** o Develop and distribute collateral materials (flyers, direct mailers, door hangers, etc.)** o Develop social media strategy and implement

7. Roles and Responsibilities

 Key questions: o Who does what? o Existing staff? New staff? Outsource? o How many hours (per week or month) is it expected to take? o What training (if any) is necessary to build necessary skills?

8. Step-by-Step Work plan

 Key question: How to roll out the program?  Elements: Every discrete task that needs to be done, who tackles each task, start date and deadline for each task.

9. Budget

 Key question: How much is it going to cost? o Ideal to begin planning process with an idea of what you can spend so you can plan realistically. o Goal is to develop an understanding of greatest return on investment (ROI) and to track budget in coming year. o These findings will inform the budget for the following year.

10. Evaluation

 Evaluation: Evaluation of what was successful and what was not successful is paramount in planning for the following year. If possible, conducting a pre-awareness survey among your target prior to the implementation of the plan to capture a baseline and then repeating the survey after the implementation can be a good way of determining effectiveness of both the messaging and the vehicles used to relay the message.*  Key questions—Measure outputs and outcomes. o What is working best, so your org can do more of it? o What targets are engaged and which segments do you need to engage differently? o What content is most compelling to your base? o What messaging generates action, and what fails to stir the pot?  Examples: o Number of new patients during and shortly thereafter the implementation of the plan o Responses on new patient forms i.e. “Where did you hear about us? o Change in volume of incoming inquiries from each source (website, volunteer referral). o Website usage analytics: “What are the most visited pages on your site” o Response rate to direct mail, direct e-mail.

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