Communication Plan (PBL 5)

During the opening of the fifth PBL, we came up with the following problem: How to create a communication plan/campaign (globally)?
The learning objectives to this problem are:

1. What are communication planning processes?
2. How to construct a unified global campaign?
3. How to translate a message to a global audience? 

According to Hieran.com, a communication plan is a written document that describes the following things:

• What do you want to accomplish with your association communications (objectives)?
• In which ways can those objectives be accomplished (goals, the program of work)?
• To whom will your association communications be addressed (audiences)?
• How will you accomplish your objectives (tools and timetable)?
• How will you measure the results of your program (evaluation)?

According to James Howe on slideshare.net, communication is connecting your audience with the message you are delivering so that it is received, understood and acted upon. A communication plan is a process to help you reach that goal.

What are communication planning processes?
Hieran.com says that there are the following steps to develop an effective communication plan:

1. Conduct a research communication audit: evaluate your current communications. 
2. Define objectives: define your overall communication objectives and the results you want to achieve, such as excellent service to members, member loyalty or improved product delivery.
3. Define audiences: list all the audiences that your association might contact, attempt to influence or serve. Audiences could be members, consumers, related industries and the media. 
4. Define goals: define a program of work for each objective. Goals include general programs, products, or service that you will use to achieve stated objectives. 
5. Identify tools: decide which tools will be used to accomplish stated goals. 
6. Establish a timetable: quantify the results in a calendar grid that outlines roughly what projects will be accomplished and when. 
7. Evaluate the results: it is important that you build a method for measuring results into your plan. The form of the evaluation can, for example, be a monthly report on work in progress or a year-end summary for the annual report. 

According to James Howe on slideshare.net, there are five steps for communications planning.

1. Research and analysis.
2. Outlining the context and objectives. The context consists of the background, the current situation and the communication issues. The goals are the overall changes you wish to cause. The objectives are the short-term, measurable steps you take to reach your goal.
3. Target audiences and key messages. Your target audiences are the people you want to reach. The key messages are what you want to say. 
4. Communicating for understanding and action. In this phase you need to pick your communication tactics, you have to set a timetable and determine your budget. 
5. Evaluate: during this phase, you are going to find out successful you are. 

How to construct a unified global campaign? How to bring an idea to life? 
The Snickers campaign  "You´re not you when you´re hungry" can be seen as a global campaign. Mediacom.co.uk describes how Snickers constructed their campaign and how they brought their idea to life.
First of all, there was the challenge. The challenge here was that people simply were not thinking about buying Snickers when out and about. They needed to remind people why and most importantly when they can enjoy a Snickers.
Then there is the insight. People all have those moments when they are not feeling like themselves: irritable, whiny, bad tempered. Snickers placed the blame for these moments at hunger´s door, positioning Snickers as the hunger busting solution to make sure that people would see Snickers as the solution.
The third thing is the big idea. They made Snickers own these moments, so that every time someone is not feeling themselves, they reach for a Snickers.
As fourth, there is the execution. Snickers used their commercials, which were adapted to the different countries/markets. But most of the time, people do not feel hungry when they are watching TV, so the best way of landing the idea was the leverage of the power of celebrities and people in the public eye. Snickers created a media storm by getting these celebrities to tweet out of character messages and got everyone talking about Snickers. There were also emergency Snicker bars given to commuters at the metro in the morning, so that if they were feeling hungry, they should break the ´emergency glass´ and eat their Snickers. This causes the feeling to the commuters that Snickers is the solution to their hungry and when they are not feeling as themselves.
At last, there are the results. The result for Snickers is that they, over the twelve weeks of the launch campaign, saw an increase in the number of Snickers singles sold in the impulse channel: 705.000 more bars than last year.

How to translate a message to a global audience? 
Due to the internet, the world seems like a smaller place. Doing business internationally is now accomplished with a simple click of a button, and companies enjoy their products and services reaching bigger audiences and gaining customers all over the world.
Martina Iring is giving some tips on ebridgemarketingsolutions.com to shape the marketing of your company so international customers understand and respond to it.

• Research cultural taboos before moving into a marketplace: a logo may be adorably creative in the United States, but at the same time highly offensive in other countries. 
• Show respect to the customer: take a country's primary religious beliefs into account when creating an international marketing initiative. 
• Be concise and specific: use plenty of graphics and visual elements that are familiar to your audience. Be also sure that the meaning of your message in the different languages is good. It happens a lot that meaning is lost as a result of poor translation or trying to be too clever with the messaging. 
• Translation considerations: create various social media accounts in the languages of the audience you serve. This is an easy way to stay connected with your audience. Take also into consideration which parts of your website you are translating.
• Understand how your message translates: you should take measures to ensure that the message still properly promotes your product or service once it is translated. 

Christian Arno also shares a few tips on contentmarketinginstitute.com.

• Identify your core message: the core brand messages should stay the same worldwide, but may be adapted to fit other cultures. The style, brand image, or tone of voice should stay consistent. For example, McDonalds uses the same slogan in every country: "I'm lovin' it". However, in Swiss this is associated with an image of a woman relaxing, alone, listening to music through headphones. On the more colourful Indian site, the same slogan is associated with a family enjoying a trip to the supermarket. 

• Getting the language right: when you are writing for a global audience, it is important to use clear language and an easily understood style. People also prefer to browse the web in their mother tongue. According to the research "Can't Read, Won't Buy" of Common Sense Advisory, 85% of the respondents were restrained to buy important products or services, if they could not receive information in their first language. It is important to keep this in mind. 
• Localise: localisation is the process of making the content relevant to a target culture, including correct spelling and the use of local and cultural references. For example, many Asian cultures prefer interactive, colourful websites with pop-up text and videos. The Scandinavian and Nothern European customers, on the other hand, prefer more minimalist, text-heavy designs. 
• Integrate social media and other content marketing: here it is important to keep in mind that popular social networks vary among countries. For example, Qzone, Renren and Tencent Weibo re social media leaders in China, where Facebook and Twitter are still banned. 

Sources
Arno, C. (2012), Create content that effectively crosses cultural and linguistic borders, accessed 25 September 2016, from http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/09/create-content-that-effectively-crosses-cultural-and-linguistic-borders/

Hieran.com (2016), How to develop a communication plan, accessed 22 September 2016, from http://www.hieran.com/comet/howto.html

Howe, J. (2011), 5 steps for communications planning, accessed 22 September 2016, from http://www.slideshare.net/CommunicateAndHowe/5-steps-for-communications-planning-dec-11

Iring, M. (2015), How to effectively communicate your sales message to an international audience, accessed 25 September 2016, from http://www.ebridgemarketingsolutions.com/how-to-effectively-communicate-your-sales-message-to-an-international-audience/

Mediacom.co.uk (2014), Snickers - you´re not you when you´re hungry, accessed 22 September 2016, from http://mediacom.co.uk/en/results/mediacom-case-studies/snickers-youre-not-you-when-youre-hungry.aspx