Resources

1. Overview

The first section should be an overview of the main strategic themes agreed by the Chief Executive and the Board.

2. Current context

This section should set out the organisation’s current position in the market place, defining the competition and setting out the organisation’s short to medium term business strategy.

3. Values and attributes

The values associated with the organisation should be outlined here along with what differentiates it from its competitors.

4. Identity and image

This section should cover how your organisation want to be perceived by its stakeholders and business partners.

5. Target audiences

In order to determine specific key messages for individual audiences you should undertake a stakeholder mapping exercise.

6. Communication objectives

These will become apparent when you have defined the key messages for each area of the organisation.

7. Key communication themes

There should be no more than three or four of these and they will emerge once consultation has taken place with the directors on strategic themes and key messages.

8. Key core messages

The starting point for the core messages is a straightforward explanation of what the organisation is and does and what it wants to achieve.

9. Key current messages

These should underpin the three or four main communication themes and cover the significant business activities.

10. Communication working practices

Crucial to image and brand credibility will be an effective communications operation.

11. Communications action plan

From the communication strategy you will need to develop an action plan that marries the key messages to the method of communication.

12. Evaluation

You will need to explain in this section how you propose to evaluate the success of your communication activity.

13. Budget

Budget and resources should be broad based at this stage because you need to get approval for the strategy first and then complete a more detailed action plan.