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Rapid Fire Communications Planning

Building on the Smart Chart

You can do this!* Lifetime Guarantee Included *

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What is success? How do you get there?

• Planning now means success later

• Do a few things really well – prioritize

• Stay focused on your goals

• Use the media & dissemination strategies to achieve them.

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Make a Plan to Communicate

• Make communications an organizational priority & write it down

• Think “Dissemination” not “Media Relations”– Go beyond the media– Own your target audiences

• Utilize proven resources/Ask for help– Smart Chart– Communications Trainings– Ask your team

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We can all do this!

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So…You’re New To This?

• Your skills apply.– You can think.– You can write.– You can use a telephone.

• All of your daily work skills are transferable. – Persuasion– Cajoling– Consensus building

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Public Speaking Fundamentals

• Be Prepared• Do your homework• Is it better to be right?

Or effective?

• Connect – dry facts won’t do it

• Always come home to your key messages

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YOU are the network

• You know the field and have the “rolodex”

• You have the network & are doing the networking

• You are visible to communities that matter

• You are the frontline of communications

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Where WAS Your Audience?

Start where they are• 55% of Americans watch

TV news every day• 41% read newspapers• 41% listen to radio news• 16% consume online news• 80% getting daily news from

these mainstream sources(Source:Pew Center for People

in the Press 2004)

Slide courtesy of SPIN Project Media Training

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Where Is Your Audience?

Pew 2010

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Where Is Your Audience?

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Reality Check on the Students

Pew 2010

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75% of 12-17 year-olds now own cell phones

73% use social networking sites

Here’s what is available to them•Take pictures / Share pictures•Play music & games•Exchange videos•Go online•Access social network sites•Use email

Reality Check on the Students

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More from Pew

21% of teens who do not otherwise go online say they access the internet on their cell phone.

41% of teens from households earning less than $30,000 annually say they go online with their cell phone.

44% of African American teens and 35% of Latino teens use their cell phones to go online, compared with 21% of white teens.

Reality Check on the Students

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Reality Check on the Students

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Facebook Stats

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What guides our communications?

• Passion vs. Getting it Right

• Think 1992 Campaign– “It’s the economy, stupid.”– Focus on what works

• You can’t convince everyone. – Empower your supporters– Educate the neutrals (give them a home)– Ignore (and/or isolate) the hostiles

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Learn from the Pros

Chevron campaign tries to balance need for oil with global warming – SF Chronicle 9/28/07Chevron executives say they know that an advertising campaign, even one this lavish, won't make everyone love them. The company's market research consistently show that some people approve of oil companies and some despise them."And it doesn't matter what we say - they're going to feel that way," said Helen Clark, Chevron manager of corporate brand and reputation.

"But there's a large faction in the middle that really is open."

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Visualize One Year – What’s ONE Step I can take?

By September, I can…By January, I can…

By March, I can… By Next June, I can…

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THE BIG 5 Questions

1. What objective are you trying to achieve? Can you make it SMART

2. Who is your key Decision Maker? Who determines your success & who influences him/her?

3. What are our assets / challenges?4. Given that – who is you target

audience & what do they need to hear?

5. What Tactics are in your toolbox (and one is, social media) & what are your timing/milestones?

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What objective are you trying to achieve? Is is SMART?

•Specific•Measurable•Attainable•Realistic •Time-bound

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What objective are you trying to achieve? Is is SMART?

•What is the hardest element to envision?

•How could you be more specific?

•What “new” things could you measure?

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Who Is Your Key Decision Maker?

• Think big & unexpected – Aim High

• Goal: Find & Surround the decision-maker

• Examples: Politicians? Patients? Donors? Boards?

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What Are Our Assets & Challenges

• What is your organizational superpower?• What do YOU do well?• What does your star

colleague do well?• How can you answer the

question “only we?”• What good news/resources

are coming soon?• Who is your Face?

• Who else is out there? Who is doing it better?

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Thinking about your audiences

YOUR KEY AUDIENCES ARE:•Patients / Providers•Funders (!!) •Donors•College Students / Seniors?

•How READY are they to hear what you are saying?•What are they already thinking about you?

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Thinking about your audiences

What other audiences are there?

•Who else matters – think “narrow”•Who influences those audiences – and how can you find them?•What are the best ways to reach the audience?

Shrink them & Surround them

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Thinking about your audiences

What News?

Who Needs to Hear it?List all key audiences

In What Format?Note the comm. channel

By When? From Whom Do They Need to Hear it?

Courtesy of HollyMinch.com

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BEYOND the Mainstream Media

Thinking beyond• Where is your target audience?• Who do they rely on for information? • How do they make decisions?

Strategies for Broader Dissemination• Social Media – blogs, social networking, user-

created content• Direct communications – FIND THEM• Attract “listenters” with your expertise• Ethnic Media & Specialty Publications

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THE BIG 5 Questions

1. What are you trying to achieve? Can you make it SMART

2. Who is your key Decision Maker? Who determines your success & who influences him/her?

3. What are our assets / challenges?4. Given that – who is you target

audience & what do they need to hear?

5. What Tactics are in your toolbox (and one is, social media) & what are your timing/milestones?

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Additional Resources

SmartChart.org – tool for building your communications plan