In the meantime, they can see how other stores that sell similar things to Angela's are doing. Angela and Erica spend some time identifying their main competitors. They take note of their communication strategies and how their customers respond to them. This is called benchmarking .
3. Objectives
What does this section refer to? Business objectives or communication objectives? Angela asks. Erica answers that it refers to both. First you define business objectives and then the objective of your communications.
Angela remembers a piece of advice from Íñigo, her professor in the marketing course . All objectives must be “ SMART ”. They are specific, measurable , achievable , realistic and for a specific time .
4. Target audience
This is where you decide which audience you're going to focus on, says Erica. What is the profile of your blog's followers? She asks Angela. Angela replies that most of them are young girls with tastes very similar to hers. Erica suggests focusing on that profile for now and diversifying a bit later.
5. Message
The message is “ my store is great, buy stuff from me ,” Angela simplifies. Erica answers that, basically, yes, that is the message that has to be that. So she writes it in the corporate communication plan, although with more appropriate words.
6. Strategy
Angela says that she doesn't quite understand the difference between "plan", "strategy" and "tactics". Erica answers that the plan is the general document, the strategy involves making decisions about how to do things and what channels to use, and the tactics involve the set of actions to be carried out. In her case, the strategy would be to use the blog and social networks as channels to attract clients.
This section is divided into several subsections.
Corporate communication: Here you have to define what image you want the company to give. Angela thinks that right now the company's image will be closely linked to its personal brand . Erica answers that with such a small company it is inevitable. Then she adds that they also have to describe the company's values and decide how to communicate them. Many things are communicated in a subtle way, such as with the design of the logo or the website . Others are more direct, such as the company name or its motto .
External communication: Here Angela and Erica discuss the tone they are going to use on social media and the blog. It should always be the same and with their target audience in mind. So they agree to use a casual tone.
Internal communication: Angela hadn't realized that this is also part of the company's communication plan. But it is true that they have to agree on how regularly she and Erica communicate. For example, they agree on two weekly koreya telefon nomerlari meetings as well as specific alerts, for example, if Angela notices that they have too much stock of a particular product, she will tell Erica. This way, Erica will try to talk more about that product on social media so that people buy it.
Crisis Communication: You need to agree on how Erica will respond if a dissatisfied customer makes a complaint on social media. Typically, you should start by responding publicly and respectfully , so everyone knows that complaints are being addressed, and then discuss the details of the complaint privately .
Public relations: I think you should appear at events related to your sector, recommends Erica. At craft fairs you would make your brand known to both customers and other vendors. It is good that other artisans see you in a good light, so you could do collaborations , concludes Erica.
Relationship between public relations and the communication plan in craft fairs
Corporate social responsibility: And this is where we make your good deeds known , says Erica. The message can focus on the use of environmentally friendly materials and packaging.
8. Calendar
Once the strategy has been decided, it is necessary to decide when it will be applied . In our case, the specific actions will be indicated in a schedule that reflects milestones, such as being more active during the aforementioned craft fairs, says Érica. And of course at Christmas, adds Ángela.
9. Budget
Here we have to decide how much you are going to dedicate to communication, says Erica. For example, if you are going to carry out paid actions on social networks; or my salary...
...Angela begins to have doubts about whether it is a good idea to involve friends in business…
10. Monitoring and Control
And finally, we have to decide how to control whether the communication has an effect on our clients, that is, whether what we do, in addition to having our quality criteria, is effective. A very useful tool would be Google Analytics , says Erica. It is free and very effective.
Monitoring the communication plan with Google Analytics
After reviewing all the sections, they have already outlined a business communication plan. Angela thinks it is very schematic, but Erica assures her that it is fine and that they need to develop it further. They are still a small company with a lot to learn . In addition, the business communication plan needs to be reviewed periodically . The next versions will have more information.
This is the perfect example of an entrepreneur who is in training and has a lot of work ahead of her to develop a complete communication plan, but she is on the right path, that of training. If you also want to learn all the details to correctly implement the communication processes of an organization, at Femxa we recommend the Business Communication Course , with which you will learn the basic notions to achieve, direct and plan strategically how to communicate internally and externally the objectives of your company.