A brand’s ability to present itself in a memorable, trustworthy, engaging way has never been more important. Even notoriously brass-tacks B2B buyers – 7 in 10 of them, according to a recent survey – prefer to gather information on their own, rather than interacting with a sales representative, making your brand’s presentation all the more important.
A communication plan is essential for businesses to effectively convey their messages and build trust. It helps translate your company’s mission, vision, and identity into tangible assets communicating those aspects clearly and effectively to the right audiences. To put it more concretely, a communication plan is crucial to differentiating, trust-building cohesion when producing web copy, ad campaigns, and SEO-related projects.
How does it help?
Your brand identity helps audiences associate characteristics with your brand, which can help create and deepen customer relationships. For example, an organization that provides safety standards for electrical equipment may – among other things – use neutral colors and an authoritative writing tone to convey expertise and seriousness.
The communication plan finds ways to express that brand identity in ways that link directly to your project or campaign, such as web pages, blog posts, and marketing emails.
It makes a major difference. In fact, digital marketing campaigns that start with strategic communication plans have been shown to drive 28% higher ROI than those that don’t. Furthermore, organizations that prioritize communications have shown a 10% increase in customer loyalty and repeat business, and those with effective communication practices enjoy a 19% higher market premium than their less-effective counterparts.
What does it look like?
Creating a communication plan begins with identifying whom you’re targeting. Where, or what, is your market? Who are your customers, and/or who is your audience? Knowing whom you have to persuade and what their motivations are is the foundation for any effective communication plan.
Once you know whom you’re talking to and what they want, it’s time to answer the question: Why get it from you? Identify your key differentiators, so you can occupy a clear, unique, and advantageous position in the market. Is your certification process uniquely quick, or uniquely thorough? Does it have a unique focus or perspective? Is it the only one accepted by certain governmental bodies? The answers to these questions should be front and center in your communications, because these differentiating factors are what helps pull potential customers from the “Awareness” stage to the “Interest” stage and beyond.
Perhaps most obviously, the final piece of the puzzle should also be central to your communication strategy: What are you selling, and how can people get it? It is difficult to overstate how often an organization’s communications, when unplanned and unstrategic, lose the plot and don’t serve an actual purpose within the organization’s or campaign’s goals.
How we can help
Our strategists and copywriters can assist you with completing a series of exercises to document, research, and edit your foundational communication documents. By walking you through this process, we can help you not only solidify your brand voice and identity, but begin finding ways to use it to help drive engagement and growth.
Get the process underway with our free suite of worksheets:
To discuss your findings – or work out your answers with experts – schedule time with us.
