A communication plan is a critically important part of any project, program, or business activity and its effectiveness lies in sharing relevant information with the right persons at the appropriate time. Before learning to write an effective communication plan, it is necessary to thoroughly understand the purpose and scope of the project, program, or business activity.
Communication plans may be defined as forming an integral part of action documents and the success of any project or program is dependent on the effectiveness of the communication plan.
Basic Parameters
Before setting out to write an effective communication plan, the writer must fully understand certain basic parameters. First of all decide on the nature of content and the manner in which it is to be presented. Secondly, all the prospective recipients of the information must be identified. The timing of the communication plan is also crucial as any belated communication might cease to be valid.
Business Communication Plans
Any business communication plan has certain inherent limitations. The communication has to reach a lot of recipients, most of whom the writer may not personally know. The audience will invariably comprisecolleagues of same rank, subordinates and also senior officials who may be the writer’s reporting authority. This can mean the writer may, at times, be at a loss to know to what extent he can afford to be informal.
All business communications have to be concise and the messages to be conveyed must be free of all ambiguity and irrelevancies. To make all business communication plans effective, business houses will have to evolve certain communication strategies and develop suitable tools to get across the messages effectively to all intending recipients.
Communication Plan for Marketing
An effective communication plan is most critically needed in the area of marketing. The objective of a marketing communication plan is to establish regular communication with existing clients and to develop a communication series to be sent regularly to all prospective clients. The success of a marketing communication plan lies in retaining the existing customer base and reaching out to potential customers in a targeted manner.
Feedback
To improve the writing skills of a communication plan, the writer must constantly evaluate the plan. There is a need to check, at least randomly with some of the recipients, whether they were able to clearly understand the message that was conveyed and how timely and useful the communication was. It will also be necessary to ascertain whether the communication served the purpose it was intended for and to solicit suggestions from the audience for improvement.
Communication is the best known way to share information, promote better understanding, find solutions to problems and ensure that tasks are completed as per time schedules.
For the communication plan to be effective, it is necessary that the content is written in simple language and as far as possible free from all technical jargons. What is of paramount importance is the recipients clearly understand what they are being told and fulfill the purpose of the communication.
 |
