It’s been said that I am a dork — most often by me. (Don’t worry, my colleagues at Go East and I embrace my dorkiness.) My latest proof point to dorkdom is my passion for writing marketing communications plans. I love it. I love it because it’s a tactical manifestation of my organization skills, it’s strategic, it’s creative and frankly, I love the written word.

To be clear, a marketing communications plan is the alignment of specific tactics to marketing strategies. Very often, communications plans are incorporated into marketing plans — but they each serve a different function and likely are formulated and referenced by people in different roles.

At a bare minimum, a stand-alone marketing communications plan should include a calendar that outlines tactics that are in alignment with business objectives and audiences.

Obviously that is not as simple as it sounds. The tactics could and should include everything that a brand is involved in from a marketing standpoint: trade shows, speaking engagements, FSIs, print advertising, product launches, etc. It should also include the seemingly smaller touch points: website maintenance, coupons, sales meetings, etc. These are all events or activities that are going to require attention from a marketing standpoint. It should also include social media strategy.

A 12-month marketing communications plan is the most common. Yet planning a year in advance can seem completely overwhelming. Take a deep breath, though. It can be done! When I develop marketing communications plans for my clients at Go East, I find it very helpful to start by literally mapping out on a calendar big things such as industry trade events or a known website redesign initiative. After that, the little things tend to fall into place. For example, if there is a large industry trade event in November, I know that there will be a need for pre-event activities in September and October. And I know that product enhancements or new products are often introduced at trade events, so I include efforts in May or June related to key message development, etc.

When you take the time to document a strategy, you have a road map to success. Of course, I am no stranger to reality. I know that the unexpected pops up. But that’s when the marketing communication plan is most effective! We can easily ascertain if the “hot need for a new sales tool” is in alignment with the marketing objectives or not. Either it doesn’t — and you’ve quickly ascertained that you can save time and money — or it does. If it does and you didn’t plan for it, just roll with it and make a note to include it in next year’s plan.  In the end, you save time and potentially money. What’s better than that?

So I’ll say it again, if having a passion for effective communication makes me a dork, then that’s what I am. What are your experiences with marketing communications plans? Please share the good, the bad and the ugly and join me in my kingdom of dorkdom!

Posted on Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010 by Kirsi Dahl