Communication Management |
Strategic ClarityBy: Robert F. Abbott Recently, I developed some plans for a communication project, a media relations campaign. That's prompted me to reflect again on the communication management process by which we transform communication ideas into operational activities. For me, the communication management process has four phases: conception (strategy); development (tactics); operations (execution); and review (evaluation). Coming out of the conception or strategy phase, I think it's essential to have strategic clarity, which means a clear, focused objective (or objectives) that serves our ends, the ends of our audience, and allows for effective development and operations. For example when I first started publishing newsletters, I didn't look or ask for strategic clarity from my clients. The result? Newsletters that faltered, sputtered, and eventually lapsed. Clients had wanted newsletters because they thought a newsletter would be a good idea. Communication is good, right? But, communication without a well-considered purpose is largely ineffective. Other clients, though, did know what they wanted, both for themselves and for their readers. They turned out to be good clients with lots of staying power. And they had staying power because they clearly knew why they were communicating, and had some sense of the results, even if those results couldn't be measured. To get strategic clarity, we first need to step back and ask some important questions. What do we want for the time, money, and perhaps other resources we're committing? What is the objective? Now, go one step further and articulate that objective in terms of reader response. Write down what they will do if you successfully communicate with them. Next, write down why they would do what you're asking of them. It's one thing to have objectives, and it's quite another to serve readers' objectives as well as your own. And, what's the connection between your needs and the needs of the audience? Does this sound like a lot of work? Well, it is. But, ask yourself how much value you get if you rush off and do something without thinking it through. I've published two newsletters for my own company in the past 10 years or so. The first went ahead quickly, with little strategic planning. Instead, I concerned myself with matters like color, typefaces, and so on. That was a mistake; the newsletter died after perhaps six or eight issues, and accomplished little. Before I started my second newsletter, I carefully worked through all the strategic issues. In fact, I started on the newsletter project in May and didn't publish the first issue until September. Of course, I didn't work full time at it, but still a lot of hours went into clarifying the strategy. And, it worked. More than five years later, I'm still publishing it, every week, and it's still doing the job it was developed to do. In summary, your communication project has a greater chance of success if you take the management time up front to identify and articulate your objectives, as well as the desired reader response.
To read another article, click here More communication resources...Want to make your writing more lively, more interesting, and more effective? Robert Abbott shows you three quick and easy techniques for achieving those goals, and as a result, getting better results. You get the techniques, a practice document, and an example document in one concise booklet.
One of my favorite resources on public speaking is a free newsletter that arrives by email -- Tom Antion's Great Speaking. Whether you're an experienced speaker/presenter or you're just getting started, this newsletter will help you.
Effective communication begins with a strategy. A plan and a statement that ensure you put your words into the right framework. How to Craft a Communication Strategy, guides you through the four steps involved in developing a strategy and a statement for the strategy. Want to know more? http://www.effective-communication.com/booklets.htm
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Copyright Robert F. Abbott 1999-2006 |
What do you need to know before you begin writing or designing your newsletter? Find the answers in A Manager's Guide to Newsletters: Communicating for Results, the response-focused newsletter book. It was written by Robert F. Abbott, who wrote most of the communication articles you've seen above.