Better Communications: Make A Plan, Stan!

By Virgil R. Carter


Have you been caught in the communications trap? I have and it’s not pretty. At the annual meeting, a respected past president says into the microphone, “This organization does a crappy job of communicating. I never know what’s going on, except for my annual dues invoice! What should I renew when this organization can’t communicate any better than that?” Does this ring a bell?

Communications are vitally important. The challenge is that most associations have a wide range of audience segments. These segments are interested in some messages (and media) and not others. This is a case of “I want what I want when I want it (the way I want it).” There is no simple, single solution for communications with diverse members and customers. We are not all a size 6, living in one geographical area!

What to do? One useful proactive tool is creation of an annual communications plan. Conceived at the outset of each fiscal year, and modified as may be necessary during the year, the plan contains a small number of high priority messages for the year. For example, the messages might focus on new technical information, strategic priorities, and/or association achievements which improve the value proposition for members and customers.

A communications plan also includes a schedule of key events and appropriate media to reach desired audience segments during the year. Your public relations staff can use the communications plan and schedule as the guide for creating messages, presentations and articles throughout the year for volunteer and staff leaders.

For an annual communications plan to work, it must have the understanding and support of senior volunteer leaders, senior executives and communications staff. These are the folks who will be doing most of the communications during the year. Volunteer and staff leaders must understand that their individual, personal messages are secondary to the consistent presentation of the important messages from the organization each year. This is what makes for better, more effective communications which reaches more and more of your important members and customers.

Reaching your members and customers effectively is aided by repetition. Yes, I said repetition! Repetition enables more audiences to become more aware of and understand important communications. Have you ever wondered why commercials are so repetitive? One-time messages simply don’t have much impact.

If you want to improve your association’s communications, try working with your volunteer and staff leaders to create an annual message plan, and update it every year. It’s one of the surest ways to reach members and customers—even the members who are challenging to reach.