A client recently asked us to develop a PR plan. Great, we can work with them to develop their key messages and help influence how their audience perceives them. Later that day, the same client asked for a social media plan as well. Wait a minute, shouldn’t they be one plan? Sure, you can involve public relations, social media, advertising, community relations, and events, but make sure the channels fit together into one plan.

Why only one plan when there are so many channels? Consider your audience. People will find out about you through web searches, advertising, newspapers, email, articles, events, and social media. Wouldn’t you want them to receive the same consistent message, regardless of where they find it?

Putting your communication plan together involves asking yourself a lot of questions. The questions all relate to the following four statements.

• Articulate what you do, and what you do better than anyone else. Describe what your business does in one sentence; feel free to include the products or services you provide. Now the tough part – what does your company do better than anyone else? Ask yourself and your customers this question. The customer’s answer could be a real eye-opener. For example, I once worked for a telecom equipment manufacturer that was about to roll out a “quality products” themed global marketing campaign. We were certain that product quality was our differentiator. But our customers had other ideas. A customer focus group told us that our products were terrible! A customer said the only reason he bought from us was because we replaced the faulty stuff with no questions asked. So the true test is how your customers would answer the “what do you do better” question.
• Define the audience. Who do you want to reach with your communications? Are you targeting the local business community, customers (current and potential), investors, business partners, employees, or combinations of the above? Once you have defined your audience, make a list of what is important to each of them.
• Identify your key messages. Now that you’ve identified your audience and what you do for them, you can list what are the most important things you want your audience to know about you. Whether you are the innovator, the low-cost provider, or the communications counsel to the stars, make sure the key points are in your messaging.
• Identify the channels. Back to the idea of the single communications plan. Where does your audience go to learn about new products, services, and developments? What do they read? Do they prefer digital or traditional media? Are they active on social media? Do they attend trade shows or conferences? What kind of content do they need? The answers will lead you to the right channels.

Present a single communications strategy with all of the channels as components of an integrated strategy. There is (hopefully) only one you. Regardless of where you want your name to appear, roll out the same consistent message to all of your communication channels.