Align the content towards the audience to build support and drive the changes and improvements that need to happen to leverage the company’s behavior towards its intended reputation. The strategic communication plan is essential for institutions, agencies, and businesses to look over accomplishments and reorganize for the coming year. It takes time and effort to create a strategic communication plan, especially for individuals who have no prior knowledge of it. Below is a helpful guide to writing a comprehensive and effective strategic communication plan for your organization. 1. Establish a Communication Audit Begin your strategic communication plan by conducting comprehensive research and data analysis to gain an understanding of the budget and stocks. This allows you to identify the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and risks, and resources the company currently possesses. It also allows you to distinguish the audience’s needs. There are various ways to conduct a communication audit. One is through a SWOT analysis to identify elements to accomplish the initiatives and investments you have for each department. 2. Determine the Communication Goals and Objectives After building the communication audit, align the company mission and values, stemming towards the source of the company's direction. The principal goal is to get the target audiences to think, believe, and act towards supporting organizational goals. The communication objectives serve as a statement to deliver concrete facts and information for the audience to feel that they have to take action to achieve the identified outcomes. 3. Identify the Key Target Audiences and Develop Key Messages As stated earlier, there are different classifications of audiences, and it is necessary to focus on the primary and secondary audiences. The first one refers to the individuals or groups that you want to influence to achieve the communication outcomes. The secondary audience represents persons or entities that can directly affect the primary audience. The step also allows you to consider how the audience views programs and activities the organization currently provides. Remember that different people receive different messages accordingly. Make sure that the messages you produce are simple, concise, catchy, yet informative. Deliver them with consistency and coherency to influence individuals to perform the company initiatives. 4. Develop a Strategy and Implementation Plan Develop an effective strategy to get your message through the audience. If the goal serves as the destination, the plan serves as the comprehensive roadmap. Preparing a strategy helps plan and make the necessary decisions and actions when allocating resources. This step also allows you to build techniques to employ audience groups using relevant timelines and milestones to consider the plan a success. The strategy must be malleable and open to change, reflecting the vision, mission, goal, and objectives of the organization. 5. Develop a Planning Calendar An essential step to implementing the strategic communication plan is to monitor whether the strategies you enforce work out within the timeline. It helps the company to stay on track with the different tactics they implement for a year. The planning calendar helps the organization and the management to identify effective strategies and which ones need revising and improvement. 6. Determine the Measurement Criteria Remember that communication is not a one-sided process. Meaning, there must be a thorough assessment process from beginning to end for the company to identify which strategies are effective and those that need revisions. The review details the indicators to monitor and evaluate techniques and activities that resonate with the desired outcomes and objectives.