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Communication Plan Template Checklist

Run this Communication Plan Template Checklist when you need to create a communication plan.

Introduction:

Complete checklist details

Set-Up Tasks:

Confirm the type of communication plan

Confirm the communication budget

Confirm when you plan to review the plan

Create your communication plan document

Establish organizational goals

Analyze your current communications

Establish communication goals

Define Your Audience:

Understand who you are communicating to

Define Your Key Messages:

Establish what you need to say

Approval:

Decide When to Communicate:

Establish a timetable

Decide How to Communicate:

List preferred media channels

Identify chosen media channels

List potential risks & issues

Write-Up Plan:

Write-up your plan

Approval:

Implement your plan

Measure Results:

Evaluate the plan

Sources:

Related Checklists:

Introduction:

"A well-written communication plan will help you achieve your business objectives and maximize your performance" - Axia, 6 Steps to Creating an Effective Communication Plan

A communication plan is an essential tool for ensuring your organization sends out clear, specific messages at the right time, to the right people, in the right way.

This Communication Plan Template Checklist will help you identify the key messages you need to send, who you're targeting those messages at, when you need to send these messages, and which channels to use.

Whether you're creating an internal communication plan, a marketing communication plan, or a crisis communication plan, this template will prompt you to think about the general principles around communication planning, which include:

The company's goals and objectives
The key messages you want to send, to help you meet the company goals and objectives
The people you need to communicate these key messages to
The optimum time to deliver these key messages
The best way to reach your target audience

This checklist is to be used alongside your communication plan document. It's purpose is to gather data, come up with ideas, and define your audience, your key messages, timings, and channels of communication. Then, using the information you've gathered, you can write-up your plan.

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Complete checklist details

Provide details about who is running this checklist, in the fields below, to let people within your organization know who to contact if they need additional information or have any questions.

Name

Job title

Email address

Checklist start date

Set-Up Tasks:

Confirm the type of communication plan

Source

Select the type of communication plan you are creating from the drop-down menu below, so that everyone within your organization understands what type of communication plan you are creating.

Type of communication plan

1

Internal communication plan
2

Marketing communication plan
3

Crisis communication plan

Top Tip: If you're creating an alternative type of communication plan, add this to the above drop-down menu by following these instructions:

1. Select to edit the checklist

2. Click on the last option within the drop-down menu

3. Press Enter

3. Type the name of the type of communication plan you are creating

Confirm the communication budget

Confirm the communication budget you have been allocated for this {{form.Type_of_communication_plan}} activity in the field below.

This is so you can keep track of your budget during the course of your plan.

Communication budget

Confirm when you plan to review the plan

You will need to review your communication plan so you can evaluate how effective it was in achieving your goals & objectives.

Select the date/s you plan to review your plan in the field below.

You might want to review the plan weekly, monthly, quarterly, or an an annual basis - depending on your organizational and communication goals.

Top Tip: If you want to receive an automatic notification when your communication plan is due for a review, use the task due dates feature.

Review date

Create your communication plan document

Next, you need to create your communication plan document, using a document authoring tool such as Word or Google Docs.

You'll need to create sections for the following, as a minimum:

Audience profile
Key messages
Key timings
Communication channels
Risks & responsibilities

Once you have gathered and researched all the required information for your plan, you will need to write it all up into your document. So, add the URL or file location of your document to the field below.

Communication plan URL/file location

Establish organizational goals

Next, you need to establish, in the field below, what your organizational goals and objectives are.

This is so that all the communication activities you plan, are focused around meeting these goals.

Organizational goals

Analyze your current communications

Now you need to conduct an audit of your current communication activity to evaluate where you currently stand, in terms of communications.

Gather and analyze all relevant information within your company by:

(Subtasks)

1

Conducting an audit of your current communications materials
2

Brainstorming with communication staff
3

Conducting surveys and focus groups to see how effective current communication is
4

Talking to customers or other departments within your company

Try conducting a GAP analysis to identify where the gaps are in your current communication strategy.

Top Tip: Use this Process Street GAP Analysis Template to identify the gaps that need filling by your communication efforts.

Summary of communication audit findings

Communication efforts that are working well

Communication efforts that need to improve

Establish communication goals

Source

Now you understand what's working well and what's not, it's time to set some communication goals.

What do you want to achieve with this {{form.Type_of_communication_plan}}?

Define your overall communication objectives and set SMART goals for your communications plan based on the results from your audit, in the field below.

Ask yourself:

What are the results you want to achieve?

What do you want to accomplish by implementing this communication plan?

As an example, your SMART goals could be:

Centralization of communication efforts

Enhanced teamwork of the employees

Improved delivery processes of products

Visibility for the industry you represent

Influence on consumers, media, and similar audiences

Try using this SMART Goal Setting Template to help!

SMART communication goals

Define Your Audience:

Understand who you are communicating to

Source

Before you start thinking about the key messages you want to communicate, and how and when you need to communicate them, you need to think about your audience.

Who are you wanting to communicate with?

Use the below sub-tasks to help you gather data, define who your audience is and create a profile of who you're planning to communicate with.

You may have multiple audiences that you need to communicate with, research and record each audience's details below.

Each profile only needs to be 1-2 sentences that describes your audience, to help you establish what to say, how to say it and when to say it.

Top Tip: Try using the following resources to find out more about your audience

Surveys: Ask demographic style questions to gather the information you are looking for.

Google Analytics: Learn about who is currently visiting your website.

Competitor sites: Search through your competitors sites or social media followers to see who they appear to be attracting (and compare that to your own followers)

(Subtasks)

1

Look at their demographics (age, location, income level, education level etc..)
2

Think about the desired action of you target audience
3

How does your audience think?
4

What needs, challenges and frustrations do they have?
5

How does your idea, service, or product help or affect your target audience?
6

What media do they use?

Audience profile

Define Your Key Messages:

Establish what you need to say

Source

Now you're ready to plan what you want to say to your defined audience/s.

When planning the content of your key messages, keep in mind your organization and communication goals, as your messages should be aligned with these:

Organizational goals & objectives:

{{form.Organizational_goals}}

Communication goals & objectives:

{{form.SMART_communication_goals}}

But more importantly, put the audience at the center of your messages.

As a reminder, this is your audience:
{{form.Audience_profile}}

You might need to think of several key messages to meet the objectives of the audience you are trying to communicate with.

Think about the following and brainstorm what your key messages should be.

Post your ideas in the field below.

(Subtasks)

1

What are the most important things people need to know about your organization?
2

What are some common misconceptions you need to combat against?
3

What does the audience need and want to know?
4

For this specific audience and message, what is the most effective way to get your message across?
5

What emotions do you want to appeal to?
6

What type of language will your audience respond best to (eg. should it be informal or formal, does it need translating, what style will they relate to etc..)?

Message ideas

Now you've got a collection of ideas on what you want to communicate, you need to hone these into concise, powerful messages that will reach your audience and meet your goals.

Top Tip: Think about your messages carefully. You don't want to run the risk of over-communicating and diluting your messages with unnecessary ''fluff''. They need to be clear, concise and on-point.

Key messages

Get these messages approved in the next task, so that key stakeholders are onboard and in agreement with the direction of communication.

Approval:

Establish what you need to say
Will be submitted

Decide When to Communicate:

Establish a timetable

Source

Now you know what you want to say and who you want to say it to, it's time to plan when you want to communicate your key messages to your audience.

Based on your research and resources, develop a solid timing strategy to execute the steps of your communication plan.

Upload this timing plan into the field below so you, or your team, can update and refer back to it at any point.

Communication plan timing plan

Decide How to Communicate:

List preferred media channels

Before you begin to write up your communication plan, you need to decide how to communicate your messages to your audience.

What channels would be the most effective to get your message delivered to your target audiences?

Top Tip: Ask yourself:

What does your intended audience read, listen to, watch, or engage in?

You have to reach them by placing your message where they’ll see it.

List all the possible communications channels you could use, in the field below.

To help, here's a list of suggestions to get you thinking:

Email
Newsletter
Teleconference
Notice boards
CEO briefing
Posters
Lunchtime meeting
Intranet article
Launch event
Team meeting
Podcast
Newsletters
Promotional materials (items such as caps, T-shirts, and mugs can serve as effective channels for your message)
Social media channels
News stories, columns, and reports
Press releases and press conferences
Presentations or presence at local events and local and national conferences, fairs, and other gatherings
Community outreach
Community or national events
Public demonstrations
Music
Exhibits and public art
TV or radio ads
Theater and interactive theater

Preferred communication channels

Identify chosen media channels

Source

You might have a massive budget that will allow you to pay for an expensive, all singing, all dancing advert on TV. Or, you may only have budget to create a targeted email campaign.

Now you have your list of possible communication channels, use your allocated budget to work out what you can afford.

Budget: {{form.Communication_budget}}

Your plan should include careful determinations of how much you can spend and how much staff and volunteer time is reasonable to use.

Ask yourself:

(Subtasks)

1

What do you have the money to do?
2

Do you have the people to make it possible?
3

If you’re going to spend money, what are the chances that the results will be worth the expense?
4

Who will lose what, and who will gain what by your use of financial and human resources?

Now, list the final communication channels you plan to use in the field below:

Chosen communication channels

List potential risks & issues

Any number of things can happen, at any time, during the course of your communication plan.

Someone could forget to e-mail a press release or include the wrong phone number. A crucial word on your posters or in your brochure could be misspelled, or a reporter might get information wrong.

It’s important to try to anticipate these kinds of problems, and create a strategy for dealing with them.

Brainstorm and list every potential risk associated with your communication plan into the field below.

Potential risks

Then, assign members of your team to take responsibility for each identified risk.

Identify who will deal with what and add this to the field below.

For example:
Who will deal with the media issues: Lisa
Who will correct errors: Stan
Who will decide when something has to be redone rather than fixed: Jeff

Risks & responsibilities

Write-Up Plan:

Write-up your plan

Source

Now it's time put all your ideas together into a plan that you can act on.

Here's the document you created: {{form.Communication_plan_URL/file_location}}

By the time you reach this point, your plan is already done, for the most part. You know:

What you want to say
Who you want to say it to
How you want to say it
When you want to say it

Now it’s just a matter of putting the details together into your document. To help you here is a reminder of what we've established during this process:

What you are wanting to say
{{form.Key_messages}}

Who you are saying it to
{{form.Audience_profile}}

When you are wanting to say it
{{form.Communication_plan_timing_plan}}

How you are wanting to say it
{{form.Chosen_communication_channels}}

Who is responsible for issues
{{form.Risks_&_responsibilities}}

Simply fill in the following sections with the information above, and upload the final draft into the field below, so it's ready for approval:

Audience profile
Key messages
Key timings
Communication channels
Risks & responsibilities

Final communication plan

Approval:

Write-up your plan
Will be submitted

Implement your plan

Now your plan has been approved, it's time to get cracking!

Compose and design your messages for your chosen channels, make contact with the people who can help you, and getting everything in place to start your communication effort.