A Communication’s Strategy

WHY SHOULD WE HAVE IT?

The area of communication is usually neglected in social organizations, thinking that it is enough to do the planned activities, and not so much to publicize them. But that may be a mistake that can cost a lot to organizations like yours, because in today’s world, one must be like hens, ‘put the egg and announce to the world that you put it’. Only in this way, you can keep the interest of your actual donors, the communities you work with, but above all, potential donors and volunteers, those who have not heard from you yet. Do not close doors, just because you don’t know how to communicate your work. And we are not talking only about communication to the outside; in fact, your priority should be your work team, as they are responsible for giving life to the vision, mission and values of your organization. If they are not aware of it, don’t believe in it and don’t work to achieve it, what can we expect from people who still don’t know us?

If your organization doesn’t communicate what you are doing, donors may stop supporting you, and communities may be less interested in working with you, the organization’s team may not have shared goals, and may not feel the pride you should feel about the work. Will you lose the opportunity to grow and do a better job for not having a communication plan for your organization? The good news is that it is not difficult, but it requires commitment and dedication. Ready to start?

Let’s start with the main thing, what is communication?

It is the activity of exchanging information between two or more participants, in order to transmit and receive information through a shared system of signs. All living beings use it; but when we talk about communication for organizations, therefore, we refer to the possibility of telling what we do to those who interest us or can help us.

Once we decide to start with our communication strategy, we must be prepared to actively listen to what our target audiences (our own staff, donors, volunteers, beneficiaries, etc.) are telling us and in that way improve. After all, communication is a process of two or more parties, this is especially important when who wants to communicate with you comes from an environment different from yours. If you do well, differences can only enrich your work as a communicator.

Remember to actively listen to what they have to say, give feedback to the speaker, and above all, be willing to recognize if you are wrong. If you are able to do that, we are on the right track!

What are we going to communicate?

And here comes the main question: What do we want to communicate? That depends on the image we want to give of who we are and what we do, which is called “Brand and Corporate Identity”, and to know that the first thing we must do is to know ourselves: who we are, our values, but above all, what we want to achieve. So for all these, here you have some tips:

1. We should create and develop a SWOT analysis of our institution. (Do you want more information about SWOT? Check out our last post!)

2. Define the objectives that our communication area will have.

3. Define the communication tools that we will use (check out the Top 5 tools that we recommend).

4. Make a list of our communication platforms (I have to emphasize that you should only have the networks that you can keep active).

5. Define the target audience of each platform (potential donors, counterparts, media, beneficiaries, volunteers, etc.).

6. And define the tone in which we will maintain our communication with each and every stakeholder.

7. Recognize who are our competitors and our relationship with them.

If you finish with all this, congratulations! You already have a draft of the communication strategy of your institution!