Communications Plan Assignment S&T

School of Communication & MediaPR 3380: PR Strategies and Tactics (Hybrid)

Fall Semester 2016Communications Plan Assignment: Kevin Hall

ABC Company Communication Plan

Background and Situation Analysis

Background Situation Analysis The ABC Company has over

5,000 employees globally. The Company has been in

business for 25 years. The company sells Billions of

widgets. The ABC Company in the last

year has merged with another company.

Employees are fearful and unengaged about their future, due to recent layoffs within the company.

Employees are confused about information coming from the company because of lack of unity from the leaders.

Employee’s engagement has decreased over the past years. As a byproduct employees are leaving the company and also burning out.

There is an absences of proactive media relations which is causing turmoil throughout the company.

External media relations are out dated and not currently being used effectively. There is no focus on social media internally or externally.

There is a lack of consistency of internal communication channels that employees have to collaborate and seek information.

There is no consistent medium for leaders to communicate with employees.

There is no key messages leaders can relay back to employees.

We will develop a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis to have a better understand of how the company can work in a more

Communications Plan Assignment ▪ Page 1 ▪ Kevin Hall ▪ Fall Semester 2016



efficient way. This will give ABC Company vital information on what employees enjoyed about the company before the layoffs. This will also help them better visualize what is happening to ABC. This will also be used to measure success at the end of the campaign.

An entrance and exit survey will be distributed. This will help to see employee attitudes before the campaign and after the campaign is finished. By doing this it will provide information on if the communications plan was affective.

Audiences

There are three key audiences: Employees, Leaders, and Media in order of significance.

Employees are the most significant audience. Without this important stakeholder the ABC Company does not have a back bone to lean on. The employees are what makes the company work at an efficient rate. Without them the company will fail. To better understand employee needs and employee complications surveys, focus groups, and one on one interviews will be implemented.

Leaders are the second most significant audience. Leaders are where important information is learned. They also are the catalyst for relaying key messages. The leaders are also the examples that employees look to in how they should be performing their jobs. To develop a greater understand of the leader’s one on one interviews and leader workshops will be performed

Media relations is the third most significant audience. Due to if all other audiences are handled properly media will naturally follow along with it. The best proactive tactic is to have a media calendar. This will let leaders know when they should post and what information they should post for the media. This will help media relations keep up to date with ABC Company’s affairs.




Key Messages

Employees We are committed to bringing unity and pride to our employees. We are creating an optimistic environment for our employees to be

enthusiastic about their futures. We are devoted to instilling strong leadership so employees are never lost.

Leaders We are devoted to instilling strong leadership so employees are never lost. We are commented to creating consistence in leadership to accomplish

common goals. We are creating a medium for leadership to share ideas and goals with

employees.Media relations

We are devoted to have a consistent stream of information. We are committed to improving employ knowledge of current affairs. We are committed to developing relevant strategies for employee

information.

Strategy The ABC Company is passionate about sculpting sound futures for employees. As our leaders become united to accomplish common goals we will see the future of ABC Company become bright. We will see all employees and stakeholder pride overcome tremendous obstacles. With a renewed sense of purpose ABC Company will strive to change the world with our widgets.

Objectives

We want to renew the life of ABC Company. We want to communicate clearly and timely to all company outlets. We want to educate and encourage employees in order to better their futures.

Goals

We want to increase employee engagement by 20% by October 7, 2017.




We want to increase leader onsite visits to 6 times a year by October 7, 2017.We want to improve media relations and the teams capability’s through new and innovative strategies which will yield better results by 20 percent. Internally and with our customers by October 7, 2017.

Tactics

ABC

What Why How EmployeesSurvey This is a quick way to learn

valuable information. This will help to find the attitudes of the employees towards the ABC Company. It will help to build a comprehensive SWOT analysis.

This will be distributed electronically through each employees email.

Focus group This will help get more in-depth information for the SWOT. This will give people the chance to bounce opinions off other employees. It will also help to find more detailed information on what employees actually know about what is happening with the company.

This will be held by a neutral person. We will go to each department and hold 2 focus groups of 12 people. This will give the best yield.

SWOT Analysis The SWOT will help the ABC Company see what they are doing right, wrong, what they can capitalize on and what may hinder them in the future. By doing this it will help the company better visualize what is happening in the company and what will happen in the future.

The SWOT will be created from the survey and focus group information. A team will go through all information and develop a comprehensive SWOT.

Employee In The Box Talks An In The Box Talk will give employees an outlet to let them talk about their problems within the company. It will help manage the confusion of the company. It will also help

These will be once a month where employees and at least one leader get together onsite and speak about problems that are going on within the company. This is more of an open dialogue rather than




leaders learn information about employees so they can further help employees and their needs. This will give Leaders a chance to speak in unity. These sessions will help gain trust in leaders and build unity and pride around the company.

questions and answers associated with town hall meetings.

Employee Spot Light An employee Spot Light will be a once a month post on the employee portal showcasing an employee’s accomplishments. This will help with employee engagement and will show that the ABC Company cares about their employees.

This will be created through the media relations team. The team will create a page dedicated to the spotlight on the company website and the company portal. This will be gauged by outstanding performance from a department or you may be nominated by a leader from your department.

Employee and Leader retreat This retreat is to show employees that the company cares about them. It will educate employees and give leaders an outlet to speak in one voice. This retreat will instill pride and unity back in to the company.

The company will send all employees and leaders to a destination. There will be a calendar created for team build exercises and for talks that leaders performing. The talks will be no longer than 30 minutes to keep employees moral high. This will be produced and over seen by a large team due to the number of employees.

LeadersLeader work shops A leader work shop is where

leaders form the company all get together and speak about the company. This will help to educate them on what they should all be saying.

Leader works shops will be held once a month. This will be facilitated by a public relations professional. Leaders will meet at a certain location.

One on one interviews This is where we will go and interview each leader. BY doing this it will provide in-depth information on the attitudes of the leaders. It will give us information on what each leader has been communicating to the employees. From here it will help manage what has been said.

A group of interviewers will be sent to each leader to do the interview.




Town Hall Meetings Town hall meetings will give leaders a medium to speak with one voice. This will give them a outlet to speak to employees and earn trust.

These will be held once every three months. Leaders from each department will go to a town halls meeting at near their locations and sit on a panel and answer questions.

Checkpoint Meetings Check point meetings are to see if the communications plan is on track. It will help leaders see what is working and what they need to adjust on.

Check point meetings will be held every 3 months. All leaders and communication plan members will meet and discuss the execution of the plan.

Employee and Leader retreat The retreat will allow all leaders to get together in one place and speak in one voice, allowing the employees to see they are all on the same page. The team builder exercises will help employees trust in their leaders.

The company will send all employees and leaders to a destination. There will be a calendar created for team build exercises and for talks that leaders performing. The talks will be no longer than 30 minutes to keep employees moral high. This will be produced and over seen by a large team due to the number of employees.

Media RelationsMedia Calendar A media calendar will help to

manage all information coming out to employees and other outlets. It will allow leaders to speak in one voice and give them specific times when they should speak.

The media relations team will create a calendar consisting off all the days information has to be distributed out.

Employee portal update Due to the employee portal not being used efficiently updating the portal and making it relevant is a great opportunity. This will give leaders a medium to connect with employees and employees connect with leaders and with other employees.

Media relations team will update the website. They may bring in a separate team that specializes in this field.

Media Tool Kit A media tool kit will help the media relation team distribute information to leaders and other outlets effectively and efficiently.

The media relations will create a team that will collect all information for a tool kit.




Develop social media accounts By having social media accounts it will allow employees to receive quick and easy information about the company, rather than having to log in to the portal or find it on the website.

The media relations team will create accounts and manage the accounts.

Create a CEO about my life page This will help employees know what the CEO is doing. He will post once a month sharing his personal and work life. This will give the employees a way to engage with the CEO. The page will also have his social media accounts so they may interact with him on a more personal level.

The media relations will create the page. They will help him manage the page in order for the CEO to always stay engaged.

Best Practices

SWOT Analysis

The SWOT is a proven method that helps companies. The SWOT does this by breaking the company down into four sections, Strength, Weakness, Threat, and Opportunity. Each section provides information on how the company is executing their tasks. It allows companies to see what they are doing well, what they are doing poorly, what the company needs to capitalize on and what might happen in the future if they do not fix a problem. This is a fundamental tactic in public




relations that provides an ample amount of information to create a sound plan that works.

Spotlight Page

A stories page, in ABC Company case a spotlight page, on the company website and portal is a key tactic that allows employees an outlet to shine. It develops a relationship between employee and company allowing the employees to see that the company cares for its employees. It is a way to build pride, trust and employee engagement in a company. It also is another way to find the strengths and opportunities of a company. This happens by the company reproducing the kindness they showed to their employees.

Company Retreat

A company retreat is a great opportunity to build trust with a company’s employees. This allows the company to treat their employees. By doing this it shows that the company cares enough about a single individual to take them on a trip.




Retreats build leadership, not only in the leaders’ the company already has but the up and coming employee that is trying to make their mark in the company. Retreats also allow for a high amount to employee engagement. This will help build relationships in the company, these relationships will give the employee a sense of home. This will allow the employee to want to stay at the company longer.

Measurement

Entrance and Exit surveys. This will provide ABC Company comprehensive results on how attitudes change from the start of the campaign to the end of the campaign. They can measure what percent changed their perception on each question.

Employee Portal. The ABC Company can measure how frequently employees are using the new Portal. If the number goes up from previous months this would be a great tool to gauge if the new media relation strategies are working efficiently.

Check-Point Meetings. These three month meetings will help communicate if leaders are making their number of “Town Hall meetings” and the number of “In the Box meetings”. The meetings will also help to keep track of the numbers for other tactics.

Budget

ABC Tactic Estimated Budget Survey $0

Focus group $5,000-10,000

SWOT Analysis $1,000-$2,000

Employee In The Box Talks $1,000-$3,000

Employee Spot Light $1,000-2,000




Employee and Leader retreat $1,000,000

Leader work shops $5,000-$10,000

One on one interviews $5,000-$10,000

Town Hall Meetings $1,000-$2,000

Checkpoint Meetings $5,000-$10,000

Employee and Leader retreat $1,000,000

Media Calendar $0

Employee portal update $1,000-$2000

Media Tool Kit $0

Social media Accounts $0

CEO MY LIFE $0

Timeline

January 2017

February2017

March2017

April 2017

May2017

June2017

In the Box Tool Kit Leader

Workshop Introduce

Employee Spotlight

Introduce CEO MY LIFE

In the Box Town Hall

Meeting Leader

Workshop Spotlight

post CEO MY

LIFE

Check in Meeting

In the Box Leader

Workshop Spotlight

post CEO MY

LIFE

In the Box Leader

Workshop Spotlight

post CEO MY

LIFE

In the Box Leader

Workshop Town Hall

Meeting Spotlight

post CEO MY LIFE

In the Box Leader

Workshop Check in

meeting Spotlight

post CEO MY

LIFE

July 2017

August2017

September2017

October 2016

November2016

December2016




In the Box Leader

Workshop Spotlight

post CEO MY

LIFE

In the Box Leader

Workshop Town Hall

Meeting Spotlight

post CEO MY

LIFE

Company Retreat

Check in Meeting

Spotlight post

CEO MY LIFE

Distribute Plan wrap up

Distribute surveys

Conduct Focus Groups

One on one interviews

Create SWOT

Town Hall Meeting

In the Box Leader

Workshop Create

social Media Accounts

In the Box Introduce

new portal Check in

Meeting Media

Calendar created

Leader Workshop

Plan Wrap-Up and Results

We will compile all results from the one on one interviews, surveys, and focus groups into one document. We will provide how we measured these findings throughout the communications plan and the results we found at the end of the plan. We will place the SWOT with these documents. The check point meetings data will also be provided in this document. This will allow people to see if any plan was changed or modified along the way. We will distributed these electronically by September 30, 2017.


Documents

Communications Plan Assignment S&T