If It Isn’t in Writing It Isn’t Real
Define value for your team and your customers

An annual communication plan is a tool for conducting business more effectively, but like all good tools it must be used, maintained and sharpened. There’s no point in preparing a plan that sits on the shelf. Your finished plan should be a practical tool that you can use every day to direct your business and evaluate your performance.

There are multiple reasons for preparing a written communication plan:

• A written plan can be reviewed by senior managers. Use the plan to demonstrate your support for the organization’s business strategies.
  
  
• A written document demonstrates to all team members that the communication plan is serious, real, thorough and thoughtful.
  
  
• Each element of your plan can be matched to a line item in the marketing budget, which improves your ability to calculate a return on investment.
  
  
• A written plan should articulate your value proposition. Define how your organization creates and delivers value for its customers.
  
  
• Team members can review the plan elements, internalize the concepts, adopt the messages and stay on strategy.
  
  
• Your written strategies can be used as a filter to evaluate new tactics. Is the proposed tactic on strategy? Should the strategy be re-written?
  
  
• The finished plan is a tool for evaluating performance against established benchmarks such as customer retention or cost to acquire new accounts.
  
  
• Your written plan is a dynamic word-processed document that can be easily updated to reflect changes in the market.

Writing is a rigorous activity that adds discipline to planning. It is easy to talk about ideas, but much more challenging to prepare written descriptions that are backed up with facts, insights, projections and assumptions about the market.

Support your organization’s success by preparing a written communication plan that defines your value proposition and fosters teamwork. Build a better tool and use it to drive results. If your communication strategies are worth implementing they are worth putting in writing.

Crawford/Mikus offers a full range of marketing, sales and communication services, from brand execution to selling tools, and we implement end-to-end solutions across all media-from concept to execution. We’ll help define your visual voice, and we’ll convert your business goals into solutions that deliver bottom line results. Click on the Contact Us button to the left or call 404.875.7753 to speak directly with Scott Mikus.