How to make a communication strategy ?

The communication strategy can be defined as the process to promote a brand, a product or a service, using communication means. Communication strategies are usually designed to reach one or more different targets and often represent significant investments. But what is the best communication strategy? How to make a communication strategy?

what is a communication strategy?

A communication strategy is the plan that defines the actions to be taken to promote a brand, a product or a service. In general, this is a long-term approach, with distinct targets.

In this sense, the communication strategy is all the means put in place by a company to communicate about itself and its products in order to attract and retain customers.

key steps to a successful communication strategy

The communication strategy must start with the analysis of the client’s needs. You must first identify your targets, determine who is likely to be interested in your products or services. This information should be collected through customer and prospect surveys, interviews and focus groups. This step requires a lot of time and effort, but it is essential if the strategy is to stand out. This step is often carried out by one or more specialists in communication strategy.

The second step is to define and prioritize the objectives of the communication strategy, particularly in terms of image, sales and market impact. It is important to know what you want to achieve. In order to achieve these objectives, it is necessary to identify the ideal positioning of the product or service and to determine what image it should offer to the market. More than that, it is necessary to define the communication tools that will be used.

Thus, to create the communication strategy, it is necessary to identify the targets and their needs, define the communication strategy to adopt, prioritize the objectives and finally determine the communication tools to use. It is also important to identify whether you want an offensive or defensive strategy.

how to develop a communication plan?

The development of a communication plan is a very important step in the implementation of a communication strategy. This step allows to define the objectives of the strategy, the communication axes to be privileged and the tools to be used.

The communication plan aims to organize the communication efforts in order to lead to a better efficiency and a better impact on the market. It is above all a decision-making tool. It is important to write the communication plan because it allows you to organize your thoughts and identify the objectives, targets and means in order to develop a coherent plan.

Objectives of the communication strategy

It is necessary to define the objectives that the company wants to achieve through its communication strategy. It is also important to know if we are on an offensive strategy (attacking the market) or a defensive one (keeping our position on the market).

Targets and positioning

The next step is to determine the targets of the communication strategy. You have to know who you want to address (customers, partners, employees…) and for what purpose: to sell or to do public relations. It is also necessary to determine the nature of the company, depending on this nature, it is possible to define a different positioning.

Tools to use

The implementation of a communication strategy requires the determination of the tools to be used. The tools can be different depending on the target: press, Internet, advertising.

set the objectives of the communication strategy

The objectives of the communication strategy must be achieved by a team of people specialized in communication. It is important that the objectives be set by the director and clearly communicated to the various stakeholders. The objectives may be different:

• Before the strategy is put in place, the general objectives of the communication must be defined;
• then, it is necessary to fix the objectives on which one wants to work;
• then set the objectives to be reached within a given timeframe;
• finally, when the object is achieved, it is necessary to set the objectives for the following year in order to continue to communicate on the same subject.

The planning of the communication strategy must be done with the objectives in mind. Indeed, to determine the strategy to be implemented, it is necessary to take into account the objectives set.

Identify your target and understand its behavior.

The communication strategy must include an in-depth study of the target audience. To do this, it is necessary to conduct interviews with the various stakeholders in order to understand their behavior and to meet their expectations.

It is also important to know the different needs and expectations of the target. This study must be thorough, because it will allow to determine the different needs to be satisfied, the key points to be taken into account and especially the arguments to be used to convince your interlocutors.

We also need to consider the different attitudes of the people involved, especially the negative attitudes they might have that could affect the project.

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Updated 11 March 2024