Communications Plans, Part III: Mapping Communications Channels


This is the third part in a series about communications plans, which are crucial tools for nonprofits and businesses. Check out part I and part II for more!
 
A communications plan lays out a comprehensive picture of an organization’s communications goals and offers executable steps for how to achieve them. It can be created or updated annually to align with the fiscal year, or it can be developed as a companion to a 1-, 3- or even 5-year strategic plan.
 
It’s an incredibly useful tool for mapping out future growth. But it’s impossible to create without first understanding where you are now.
 
That’s why, when we create communications plans for our clients, one of the most important steps entails laying out a comprehensive picture of an organization’s current communications channels. This includes digital publications such as blog posts and email blasts, social media, print publications such as annual reports and newsletters, and events and in-person communications such as fundraisers or tours.
 
This can be a simple list, but it should be as comprehensive as possible. For some organizations, it might include five channels; for some, it might include 50. And for each channel, all relevant details should be included: give bullet points to the goal of the communication, the target audience, the timeline or frequency of the communication, who is responsible internally for producing the communication, and any budget and production specs available. That way, there are multiple angles available for easily slicing through the communications picture: Which members of your team currently bear the greatest communications burden? Which projects require the largest chunks of your budget? Which audiences aren’t hearing from you frequently enough?
By laying out a complete picture, you can begin to see where you’re putting most of your energy, what’s being neglected or underutilized, where you’re doubling up unnecessarily, and how content can be leveraged from one channel to another. If, for example, your primary goal is to grow your organization’s membership, but all of your resources are going to annual reports and blog posts, it becomes clear that changing tack is merited.
 
In other words, this part of a communications plan is from whence the planning commences.
 
This picture can be used to develop and prioritize new communications projects, strategize ways to streamline workflow, design upcoming campaigns, revamp existing collateral, or create tools or templates for internal use. In short, it’s the best foundation for an organization to ensure that it’s moving in the right direction to efficiently align its communications with its long-term goals.
/by

Constructive Criticism: What to Do When You Asked For It

Our post on beta readers offered a strategy for soliciting structured feedback before project release. But it didn’t discuss strategies for handling that feedback once it arrives in your inbox.
 
Reading criticism is hard. After all, writing requires time and self-expression. No matter how professionally oriented, criticism can sting.
 
But integrating criticism is even harder. It’s never easy to judge which critical feedback is useful and which isn’t.
 
The simplest strategy? Look for repetition.

Repetition can be straightforward. If more than one beta reader (or more than one feedback form) specifies the same weakness, well, it’s a weakness.
 
But repetition can also be oblique. Consider the beta-reader responses to a question that asked about the translation of SME material into everyday language:

  • Reader A: “This doesn’t speak to the [product’s] purpose. Can it be cut?”
  • Reader B: “John Doe isn’t the right SME here. You should ask Jane Doe.”

The answers differ in content, but they’re the same in kind: This translation isn’t landing.
 
And repetition can be overwhelming. It’s no fun to read about the many different problems with your project. Luckily, these can usually be condensed into just one or two actual issues. For example:

  • Wordy 
  • Too long
  • Complicated
  • Confusing
  • Broad
  • Hard to follow
  • Awkward

​These are all different ways of saying that the writing must be more direct to meet readers’ needs.
 
Criticism might not be fun, but it’s so fruitful. And not just for you. Soliciting critical feedback and then actually (and visibly) using it sets in motion a positive feedback loop that strengthens your project, your team, and your business’s commitment to your organizational end game.

/by

Double Shift Press Presents Margaret Klein Salamon

We’re thrilled to introduce one of our inaugural Double Shift Press authors: Margaret Klein Salamon.

 
Margaret is the founder and director of The Climate Mobilization, a New York-based nonprofit that’s shifting the conversation about climate change, activism, and ultimately, the future of humanity.
 
The Climate Mobilization lays out a policy platform that approaches climate change as a global emergency that can—and must—be met head on with honest, reality-based solutions.
 
Margaret holds a PhD in clinical psychology as well as a degree in social anthropology, and this perspective informs The Climate Mobilization’s approach. In a recent article, she argues that we must respond to a changing climate by acknowledging and experiencing the dark feelings that this reality provokes. Only when we allow ourselves to feel fear, anxiety, and even despair will we be able to look at the cataclysmic specter of climate change honestly, and start grappling toward real solutions. And when we begin to enact these real solutions, we’ll begin to feel real and encompassing hope for our shared future.
 
Why is Margaret writing her book now? She wants to gather her existing work, currently published in disparate places. She wants to expound and intensify her ideas through examination and evidence. And she wants to use her book to launch a series of high-profile discussions that will spread The Climate Mobilization’s work.
 
Margaret is writing the future, and we feel lucky to be a part of it. Check back for more about her forthcoming book.
/by

Beta Readers: Recruiting the Right Feedback

While a beta release refers to the rollout of an early, mostly untested version of software, the beta phase (and the iterative form of software development in general) is an excellent way to pretest communications projects, too.
 
Software development usually proceeds from a pre-alpha phase (where R&D is completed), to an alpha phase, (where core functionality is built), to a beta phase, and finally to release.
 
That beta phase is so crucial because it puts the software—usually ugly and incomplete—out into the world. Chosen users can then play with it and provide the targeted feedback so necessary to completing and releasing the work.
 
Communications projects (reports, technical manuals, strategic plans) follow a somewhat similar route. First, there is the research and development; then, the outlining, drafting, and collating; finally, execution and testing.
 
But a beta release is rarely figured into this execution—and it definitely should be.
 
While most of us pay close attention to after-the-fact metrics, a beta release tests whether content is functional in a way that meets readers’ needs before delivery. Communicators can use the release to gain on-the-ground feedback and integrate it into a project ahead of publication.
 
To make the most of this opportunity, make recruiting beta readers (using a generic application like Google Forms to help identify members of your target audience) a part of R&D. Later, when the project is almost complete (but still malleable!) push it to beta readers with another form soliciting the feedback required. Common questions include responses to SME material or to calls to action.
 
For any client-facing project with a long development phase, a beta release creates a space in which meaningful info can be gathering and used. It’s a bit of a time investment, but the payoff makes it absolutely worthwhile.
/by