Mission Critical: Crafting Your Communications Strategy Workshop

#CommsStrategy

30 May 2012

Assessing Your

BrandGrant Imlach, Communications

Manager

Bowel Cancer UK – We Can Save Lives:

25th Anniversary

Rebranded last September, new website launched in October

Bowel Cancer second biggest cancer killer in the UK. The barrier is no-one wants to talk about it. It’s not a breast or a testicular cancer.

Main competitor – Beating Bowel Cancer.

I have responsibility for brand, PR, media relations, website, social media, print & design, merchandise, advertising, films and photography.

I’ve worked for in Comms for RNIB, Age UK, Action for Children, NSPCC

Our old logo

Brand & Comms Strategy: Questions for you

How many of you are directly responsible for the brand? (It’s part of

your work).

How many of you are directly responsible for putting together the

comms strategy for your organisation?

How many of you are involved in some way with the brand?

How many of you deliver some or all of the day to day comms work in

your organisation?

Brands typically are made up of various elements, such as:

Name: The word or words used to identify a company, product,

service, or concept.

Logo: The visual trademark that identifies the brand.

Tagline or Catchphrase: "The Quicker Picker Upper" is associated

with Bounty paper towels. Or in our case ‘We Can’

Graphics: The dynamic ribbon is a trademarked part of Coca-Cola's

brand.

Shapes: The distinctive shapes of the Coca-Cola bottle.

Colours: Owens-Corning is the only brand of fiberglass insulation that can be

pink.

Sounds: A unique tune or set of notes can denote a brand. Intel processors.

Scents: The rose-jasmine-musk scent of Chanel No. 5 is trademarked.

Tastes: Kentucky Fried Chicken has trademarked its special recipe of eleven

herbs and spices for fried chicken.

Movements: Lamborghini has trademarked the upward motion of its car

doors.

Your Brand – What you’d like covered?

Starting work on a brand positioning comms strategy ensuring

integration and buy-in from across the organisation

To get a clearer picture of how to assess brand position

Branding issues, importance of logos, celebs, good PR tips

Any others?

BREAK OUT SESSION ON BRAND

Let’s get into groups and share our experiences

What are your burning issues? What do you need help and support

with? What can you pass on?

Come back and share with the room about what’s been talked

about, the successes, the challenges and any pearls of wisdom that

we can all take away.

Your Communications Strategy

Statement of intent

Current situation – PEST, SWOT, Competitor analysis

Organisational Objectives (inc. depts objectives) - SMART

Communications Objectives

Audiences & stakeholders

Messages

Your Communications Strategy

Key communication methods - tools and activities (what’s the

messages and what tools are you going to use)

Resources

Overall timescales

Evaluation and re-evaluation

Work plan (with detailed activities and timings)

Your Other Strategies (these flow from overall Comms strategy):

Social media strategy

Website strategy

PR strategy

Media relations strategy

Marketing strategy

What you’d like covered?

Check I’m on track with it as it’s currently in development

reflect and refine existing communications strategy - identify any gaps

/ weaknesses and develop plans to address. Learning from best

practice - particularly, practical tools that can be implemented within

my organisation.

About to start developing or in the middle of developing the strategy

Want a future proof and measurable strategy

Training to support hospices in this area

What you’d like covered?

Hoping to improve our existing strategy

To discover ways of making our organisation appear more appealing

to funders/general public

Ensure integration of the comms strategy across the organisation and

how staff will implement it

What you’d like covered?

how to make a strategy 'live' so that it has a real effect on how you

and others work as so often they don't

how to measure effectiveness/change resulting from it in a way that is

as low cost/resource as possible

how to manage internal demand and get internal buy-in to what you

are doing because a good strategy should perhaps also be explicit in

terms of what you are going to do less of or better

What you’d like covered?

Recommended books for further reading

How to communicate strategy with membership - especially when

they're so used to the 'he who shouts loudest wins' approach in the

past

Measuring reach and outcomes on a small scale - evaluating and

adapting your strategy.

BREAK OUT SESSION ON COMMS STRATEGY

Let’s get into groups and share our experiences

What are your burning issues? What do you need help and support

with? What can you pass on?

Come back and share with the room about what’s been talked about,

the successes, the challenges and any pearls of wisdom that we can

all take away.