Reputation improvement

Relationships established or improved Compliance / complying action – e.g., sales, donations, meeting membership targets, increased staff or customer retention, reduced smoking, improved health outcomes, etc. Organizational change – e.g., insights to inform future strategy, realignment of policies to stakeholders

Social change – e.g., improved health and well-being, increased access to information, etc.  ​

​IMPACT is the flow-on results of your communication related to your objectives.

Impact can include:

Learning/knowledge – e.g., survey or interview data, quizzes, tests

Attitude change – e.g., survey or interview data

Trust – e.g., increased trust ratings in surveys

Preference – e.g., stated preference in surveys, social media comments

Intention – e.g., inquiries, registrations, trialling, survey data

Advocacy – e.g., endorsements in online comments

​OUTCOMES are the effects that your communication had on your target audiences.

You should try to show evidence of:

​Audience attention – e.g., unique visitors, views, clickthroughs

Awareness – e.g., recall

Understanding – e.g., comments, post-campaign survey data

Interest and liking – e.g., likes, follows, shares, retweets, pins, etc.

Engagement – e.g., return visits, subscribing, positive comments

Consideration – e.g., comments, post-campaign survey data

​OUT-TAKES are your target audiences’ initial responses and reactions to your communication.

​You should try to show evidence of:

​Advertising (paid media) – what audience reach, impressions, CPM?

Publicity (earned media) – what volume, how many impressions?

Web sites, blogs, partnerships or supplements (owned media)

Social media sites (shared media) – how many posts, videos, etc.?

Events held – how many attended?

Sponsorships launched – what audience reach? Direct mail, e-mail, or e-marketing, etc. – what audience reach?

​OUTPUTS include: 

​Formative research (e.g., surveys, focus groups, pre-testing)

Planning (including SWOT analysis, PEST or PESTLE, etc.)

​Design of materials

Writing and production of communication materials, events, etc.

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​ACTIVITIES include:

TARGET AUDIENCE ​define clearly with which audiences you are looking to communicate. Be as specific as possible. The more refined your audience definition, the more focussed your targeting can be. Think demographics, socio-economic data and media consumption habits.

​COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES are the specific objectives that your communication program, campaign, or project is designed to achieve. Your communication objectives must support one or more organizational objectives; identify which one/s.

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​Make sure your communications are SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound. Clearly define them and set targets for what you are looking to achieve

​ORGANIZATIONAL OBJECTIVES are usually published in the organization’s business plan or strategy. They are often long-term and require more than communication. Identify which organizational objectives your communication program can support.

Environmental scanning – what environmental and contextual factors will affect your communication?

Having SMART objectives – make sure your objectives are SMART in the context and circumstances

Budget – set a budget and identify the most cost-effective approaches

Resources – what skills do you need? Are there potential partners? ​

INPUTS might include:

STRATEGY define the plan to reach your key target audiences and crucially achieve the SMART communications objectives and pre-defined targets that you have set. What are the key highlights from your plan? ​