In December of 2018, I completed my Master’s Degree in Communications Management. As part of that program, I chose to write about, and deeply research, the advantages of having a formal communication plan.

The goal of this research was to apply formal communication planning strategies to public relations campaigns for awareness of academic program information sessions at academic institutions to drive enrollment for specific academic programs. While this research is targeted at academic institutions, it is transferrable to all business types.

Some of the strategies discussed in this research (using funnels, for example) is a function of the academic institution which I was modeling. While funnels may have a place in marketing and sales strategic thinking, I have adopted the flywheel framework. I believe this framework to be more strategic and modern (much the way OKRs are a more modern and actionable application of Goals, Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics.)

This research found that utilizing a formal communication plan resulted in ~28% better results. These results were based on a rubric that was developed through this research. Through examining results based on this grading rubric, the research highlights the importance of having a formal communication plan for academic program information session campaigns. This same benefit can be applied to campaigns that extend beyond academic information session campaigns.

These communication plans and related campaigns are only successful if there are organizational Goals, Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics related to them. Campaigns must align with organizational goals. Otherwise, even the most successful campaign will not align with what the organization is trying to achieve, and will have a high chance of not achieving organizational goals.

By implementing a formal communication plan, campaigns for academic programs are made more effective at reaching institutional goals. Just as important as having organizational alignment with Goals, Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics, it was found that implementing appropriate project management processes could further increase project success rates, as proper project management would help ensure timely task completion.

I have included a link to the research paper.

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