Marketing Communications Internal

Photo credit: Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau

Marketing and Communications Plans

Responsive Management has substantial experience developing marketing and communications plans for agencies and organizations. Marketing is a deliberate and orderly step-by-step process that begins with people (markets) and ends with programs, products, services, and strategies. Note that this is the opposite of how many programs, products, and services are often developed—starting with a program, product, or service, and then looking for constituents and customers to use them (the proverbial “product in search of a market”). The marketing process assists agencies and organizations in making the right decisions by taking them through a series of smaller decisions and information gathering processes that ultimately reach larger decisions. By following a marketing approach, the “what to do” part (strategies, programs, products, and services) emerges from the process.

The purpose of organizational marketing is to both better meet the goals of the organization and to better meet the needs of its constituents by providing them with quality programs, products, and services. Successful marketing begins with the development of a quality marketing plan. A marketing plan spells out the goals, strategies, and tactics that will be used in reaching the organization’s objectives. The marketing process asks the following questions:

  • Where are we now? (Situation assessment)
  • Where do we want to be? (Development of objectives)
  • How will we get there? (Development of marketing strategies)
  • Did we get there? (Evaluation)

Like marketing, the discipline of communications is highly specialized involving the creation of a strategic plan to convey specific messages to a targeted audience. Communications plans help agencies and organizations communicate to the public, their constituents, and stakeholders in a more compelling manner about issues of importance. A communications plan can accomplish the following:

  • Provide a foundation on which to base decisions and allocate resources for communications
  • Focus an organization on where it wants to be and what communication strategies can help get it there
  • Provide a means of monitoring and evaluating communication efforts
  • Improve the overall effectiveness and credibility of an organization

Overall, communications plans identify the messages that resonate among specific target audiences. The key to developing an effective communications plan is to understand and explore goals, target audiences, and messages in a step-by-step manner. Responsive Management’s approach to communications development entails the following strategies:

  • Identify and prioritize issues concerning the agency/organization
  • Identify and prioritize information and outreach considerations that address the prioritized issues
  • Define goals and set measurable objectives
  • Develop, define, and target specific groups within the general population
  • Understand the audience
  • Identify, define, and test the message
  • Consider demographic, social, economic, and political trends
  • Get the message across using a marketing and advertising approach
  • Address internal considerations
  • Evaluate the efforts quantitatively