Strategy Survival Guide

• What channels do we know don’t work?
6. Timing:
• How long will it take to change these opinions?
• Are there logical opportunities on the calendar we can exploit?
• When should we start?
• When must we have achieved this attitude shift by?
7. Plan: Using this information, what are you going to do, for whom and how?
8. Evaluation: How will we know if we have changed their opinion?
The answer to many of these questions may be clear. For others, it may be necessary to conduct research.
In drawing up your communication plan the team should consult their departmental press office for any
guidance they have produced on communication. Specialist advice for public sector organisations is also
available from COI Communications.
Drawing up a communications plan
In Practice: SU Voluntary Sector Review
The Strategy Unit’s report "Private action, public benefit", had a very diverse range of stakeholders
across wider Government, the voluntary sector, education, savings bodies, sport and social clubs, and
even housing associations.
The wide media interest ranged from national media to specialist magazines covering the various
sectors.
The overall communications strategy for this project needed to address stakeholders’ needs from its
launch to publication of the final report.
Communications techniques allowed us to identify key stakeholders who were kept regularly updated
on progress and consulted on key areas during the lifetime of the project. This included the press officer
being able to update media on progress and explain reasons why the project was taking longer than
originally expected – thus keeping criticism to a minimum.
Some key points to note:
1. Detailed briefing notes are vital for any launch. The Q and A must be exhaustive and must
address sensitive issues.
2. The launch strategy included a large number of briefing sessions to cover stakeholders and the
media. This was extremely time-consuming but effective.
3. Briefing small groups of the media helped to improve their understanding of the report –
especially for non-specialist media - and resulted in measured and accurate reporting of the key
recommendations. It also allowed specialist media more opportunity to delve into their areas of
interest.
4. The concentrated briefing of stakeholders also resulted in much more informed initial comment
from them than might otherwise have been the case.
5. This model has been followed with other SU reports and tend to show that the investment of
time in preparing briefing notes and with stakeholders and the media is returned in better
understanding and much more informed comment.
6. However, this model is not always possible when Ministers are involved in the launch process.
The time needed tends to make it impractical.
7. Do not forget to plan for the dissemination stage post-launch. Activity should not stop the day
after launch.
An overall communications strategy was produced for the final report’s launch. We have left the
actual text in place in the template wherever it is appropriate.
Strategy Survival Guide – Strategy Skills
Page 84