Experts say communications plan key to successful strategic planning

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30323
• Published date: 01 June 2017
• Date: 01 June 2017

JUNE 2017

5

NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

Strategic Planning

Experts say communications plan

key to successful strategic planning

Developing a strategic plan to help focus your

nonprot’s goals and objectives is a critical rst step

in ensuring long-term sustainability. But simply hav-

ing a plan doesn’t guarantee success. Actively put-

ting it into practice and measuring progress toward

those goals is just as crucial. To that end, experts

say, nonprots need a formal communications plan

that is designed to support the strategic plan as

the organization puts it into play—something that

many charities don’t quite understand.

By their nature, strategic plans are “big picture”—

they cover everything from succession planning

and developing fundraising and donor engagement

programs to investment strategies aimed at achiev-

ing long-term nancial stability—not to mention

mission-related components that keep the organiza-

tion on track and headed for success. According to

Roger Sametz of Boston-based Sametz Blackstone

Associates, communications touches on it all.

“For any of that stuff to happen, you need

people to think and act in your favor, both inter-

nally and externally. And this often doesn’t happen

unprompted—you need to connect with people and

drive them to action,” he said.

While many charities have general communica-

tion plans in place, they typically are focused on

a small slice of the organization’s activities—for

example, fundraising and donor engagement. When

looking at communications in terms of a strategic

plan, it’s much more comprehensive, Sametz said,

involving numerous stakeholders—or audiences—

that will require different levels of engagement and

information. Your communications plan should be

designed to speak to each of these audiences, with

messages tailored as appropriate, he said.

You don’t want to get too fragmented, he said,

but you do need to identify the broad categories of

constituencies you are speaking to.

“A simple approach would be to categorize

them as internal and external groups,” he said. For

example, your staff would be internal, your board

would be right in the middle and your donors or

association members would be external. So would

other stakeholders, like community groups or gov-

ernment agencies you are hoping to partner with

on some program or policy initiative.

The next step is to shape the message you want to

communicate to each audience, and do it through

the most appropriate and tting channels. At this

stage, Sametz said, it’s important to craft any con-

tent and materials with your organization’s brand

in mind.

“It doesn’t have to be a formal ‘brand,’ but they

should have an idea of how they want to be viewed

and what they want to be known for,” Sametz said.

“Your communications should project the quali-

ties you want to be associated with. This will make

it easier to make the connection with your audience

that drives them to think and act in your favor.”

As your organization implements the strategic

plan and marks progress toward goals and objec-

tives, it’s important to keep your core audiences

apprised as well, he said. However, the frequency of

these communications should depend on the level

of the audience’s involvement with the charity—

how close they are to the group, Sametz said. The

more involved they are, the more frequent the com-

munications and updates.

Crafting a formal communications plan doesn’t

have to be an overly expensive venture. According

to Sametz, consulting rms that specialize in this

sort of work can offer different levels of service, and

some will put together basic packages and show the

organization how to take it from there.

“You can negotiate the scope of the work, so

you can benet from the expertise without a huge

investment of time and resources,” he said.

For more information

Roger Sametz is president and CEO of Sametz Black-

stone Associates, a Boston-based brand consultancy

that integrates brand, editorial and digital strategy with

(See PLANNING on page 8)