Taking the first step

As with any new project, the first steps are always the most challenging. Once you have an outline of the intent of your communication plan, the rest follows. The first step in strategic communication planning is research.

Strategic communication research is an essential part of designing strategic communication planning. Remember, the research will help define the problem or challenge you are facing. And it is the research that will lead you toward defining your organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The research will help guide you to your communication objectives and goals, which is why it is essential to let the research set you on the path to your strategy. As a whole, your strategic communication plan will serve as your roadmap. The intent is that you can cover all the areas that can lead to your communication objectives and goals. From there, you can move toward messaging strategy and tactics and on to implementation. The critical piece is the expected outcomes and how you will measure them. You can review a completed strategic communication plan for Paws of War in the projects section of this site.