Creating a clear and actionable communication marketing plan is an essential step for businesses aiming to effectively engage with their audience and thrive. Whether you’re launching a new product, entering a new market, or simply trying to nurture customer relationships, a cohesive plan which ensures your messages are aligned with your goals.
Why You Need a Communication Marketing Plan
Without a structured plan, your marketing efforts may seem scattered and disjointed. A marketing communication plan acts as your blueprint to help you deliver consistent, targeted messages to your audience. Not only does this build brand trust but also maximizes the ROI (Return On Investment) from your campaigns.
In conclusion, before doing anything figure out what it is that you want to accomplish. Do you hope to increase the profile of a brand, improve sales figures, raise visitor numbers to your website or persuade existing customers to stay loyal?
Make sure that your goals are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). In other words, instead of writing “Drive traffic,” you could write something like “Increase website traffic by 20% over the next three months.”
Pro Tip: Set smaller milestones to track progress better along the way when you have big goals.
Step 2: Investigate & Understand Your Target Audience
The root of success lies in understanding your audience. Who is your ideal customer? What are their demographic details, their behaviors, their problems, and their preferences?
Tools to aid with this process are Google Analytics, surveys and audience segmentation reports. The more you know about your audience, the more pinpointed and effective your communication will become.
Customer profiles can deepen your understanding and add fine detail to campaign planning, covering aspects such as age, occupation, values, problems and communication preferences.
Step 3: Create a Message Framework
Your message is to link right up with your objectives and the taste of your target audience. Think back on the core message you want to get across and make sure it fits in with your brand’s voice and reputation.
A good message framework should contain:
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Brand Commitment: Specific value promises
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Emotions: What emotions would you like to evoke
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Call-to-action (CTA): What do you want your target audience to do in concrete terms
For example, if you are aiming at professional buyers looking for productivity apps, your message might be “saving time” and “enhancing efficiency.” Complement these with CTA like “Download the app now” so the user knows what to do and is motivated to complete it.
Step 4: Select Channels and Tactics
Identify the most effective communication channels to reach your audience such as social media, email campaigns, blogs, events and sponsored content.
To maintain consistency across all platforms, design specific channel strategies but don’t forget your big brand positioning. Such as, for LinkedIn your communications might show them being used in scenes with people from different occupations. Or while your Instagram posts may concentrate on captivating pictures, a blog could be more about thought leadership.
Popular platforms include:
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Social Media (LinkedIn, Instagram)
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Email Newsletters
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Public Relations
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Event Marketing
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Getting Creative With Influencers
Using a blend of paid, earned, shared, and owned media can help to diversify your communications.
Step 5: Create A Detailed Timeline
A timeline for campaign launches is the strategy blueprint. Picture every marketing milestone, posting schedule and launch date to stay on track.
Each action item should detail what’s required and who in your team will take responsibility. A timetable ensures nothing gets missed and everyone is pulling in the same direction.
Step 6: Monitor, Measure, Optimize
You can’t just say the communication marketing plan has finished when you press “Send” or push out to Facebook. Regularly monitor and evaluate campaign performance using tools such as Google Analytics, HubSpot or even social media insights.
Key performance indicators (KPIs) may include:
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Website traffic
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Email open rates
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Click-through rates (CTR)
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Conversions
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Social media engagement
Optimize based on results:
If your email open rates are on the low side, A/B test a few subject lines. If you’re just not getting engagement on social media posts, play around with text lengths and tone — try changing it to a more serious or more humorous tale for example? And if that doesn’t work… well, it’s back to the drawing board for those ones! If campaigns are not producing conversions, refine your CTAs or landing pages.
Continuous optimization means that you are always improving – and getting results.
Example of a Communication Marketing Plan Template
Here’s an initial template. Tailor it for your business needs.
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Goals/Objectives Sample: Increase brand awareness by obtaining 5,000 more followers on social media in three months.
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Audience Insights: Demographics, interests, pain points and behavior.
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Messaging: Brand commitment, voice and calls-to-action.
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Channel: Social media platforms, email, blog content, etc.
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Timeline, Deliverables: Key dates, content schedules and who will handle each thing.
A few examples of measurable objectives are clickthrough rates, conversions, or increases in traffic on your site.
Create Consistency and Have an Effect
A disciplined marketing plan can cause your business to go from just an average name to one which is deeply rooted in the hearts and minds of your customers. Following these steps will yield a plan that fosters meaningful interaction and achieves business success.
Still not sure where to start? You can try this set of rules to tailor the template to your own unique situation, or find a marketing specialist for further help.
