I used to write marketing plans. Now I write a communication plan for clients. Marketing plans rely on economics and communication plans let you control your growth.
My son’s schoolwork includes “opinion writing” every day. He hates it. He loves stating his opinions (all day long!), but he hates writing by hand, so this assignment is always the most tedious.
Today, I’m demonstrating to him how opinion writing works in the real world while sharing with you something a truly believe – you need a communication plan.
Why do you need a communication plan?
I should start by sharing that I’m a planner. I’m not a fly by the seat of my pants kind of gal, but I can improvise at the moment when needed. However, I prefer to think through what I’m doing and account for the “what ifs” that may occur. If you are a planner, too, then this makes sense to you. If you’re not a planner, you probably recognize the importance of a plan in general.
So, let’s get to it – what are the benefits of a communication plan? A communication plan
- Gives you an understanding of where you have been and where you are going.
If you have been in business for a while, you have probably tried some marketing in the past. How did it work for you? How are things working for you now? A plan forces you to look at your ideas and learn from them. If your business is relatively new, a communication plan lets you chart a course and evaluate it as you go. - Makes you think through what you want to do
We all have a lot of ideas buzzing through our heads throughout the day. A communication plan forces you to write them down and think about how you’d execute your ideas. You can see your concept and think through the possible ways to get it done. For example, if your brainstorming is to promote your business at Lollapalooza, adding that tactic to your communication plan forces you to think about what you would do at the event, who you contact, how much it cost, etc. - Keeps you accountable.
Once your ideas are in your communication plan, they are still just ideas until you have a plan to execute them, including timelines and deliverables. Continuing with the Lollapalooza example, the timeline would start with contacting Lollapalooza to find out how to be part of the festival and keep through breaking down your display area when Lollapalooza is over. Who is going to do that? What the deadlines associated with these tasks? Your plan can help you keep track of these details. - Creates a structure and rules for your brand messaging.
Marketing plans often include brand guidelines and communication plans follow them. These rules may consist of colors, fonts, certain words, what people should wear when representing the brand, etc. With JPeterson Marketing, the orange in our logo is a specific color, and we use that on all of our materials (thanks to Meghan Lee for the design!). We shorten our name to JPM but never Peterson Marketing. Your communication plan ensures that your entire team understands your brand and speaks about it in a unified voice. - Forces you to think about spending money on outreach.
No business owner likes to spend money, but we all know the phrase “you have to spend money to make money,” and marketing is an area that often gets overlooked when it comes to budgets. When creating a plan, you need to think about how much different tactics cost. Maybe a great idea is affordable, or perhaps it has to move to the someday list, but with a communication plan, you are working within financial reality instead of financial la la land.
These are just a few of the benefits of a communication plan. We often refer to these plans as road maps because they guide you on your road to business growth. Yes, they are time-consuming, but aren’t many things that are worth doing?