How to write a business strategy is not my department, but how to build a brand communication strategy is mine. Therefore, I have collected those 8 components, which you should definitely take into consideration and include into your brand communication strategy. From time to time revising these points is also useful to be able to adapt yourself to economy, market, customer demand related or any other changes.
In this previous article you could already read about the first three steps:
1. MARKET RESEARCH
2. SEGMENTATION & TARGET GROUPS
3. BUSINESS GOALS & KPIs
If you click here, you can reach this chapter:
4. STRATEGIES & TACTICS
Let us now conclude this guide by discussing the following components:
5. BUDGET & ROI
To execute your brand communication strategy effectively, you need to have a budget in place that covers all the necessary expenses. Having a proper budget and ROI calculation is crucial for the success of your business.
It helps you plan and allocate resources adequately. Without a budget, it’s easy to overspend or underspend in certain areas, which can lead to financial problems and hinder your ability to achieve your business goals. Also, by tracking the return on investment for each channel, you can identify which channels are performing well and which ones need improvement. This helps you optimize your marketing efforts and get the most out of your budget.
After you defined your communication/promotion mix, it helps you determine where you need to allocate your budget. Here are some examples of what you should take into consideration:
Website Development:
Your website is the hub of your online presence and the collection of your key messages and references. When setting your website development budget, consider amongst others the cost of design, development, hosting, and maintenance.
Visual Development:
Visuals play a crucial role in building your brand and attract the attention of your target audience. Calculating your visual development budget, expect the cost of your logo, brand book (incl. your primary-secondary colors, fonts, logo usage rules, visual guidelines and templates) and branded visual elements like business card, signature, social media posts, videos or animations.
Ads:
Advertising is an effective way to reach your target audience and spread your brand. Depending on your business life cycle and goals, running ads on various channels might provide most of the expenses such as social media, search engines, display networks, and other platforms. What I always suggest is to define your focus channel(s) which are the most efficient ones at the actual stage and start your advertising activities step-by-step.
Events:
Events are a great way to raise your brand awareness and connect with your target audience. Depending on your business type and goals, you can join an existing one or organize an own one. When setting your event budget, consider the participation fee, travel cost, sponsor packages or in case of an own event, calculate with the cost of venue rental, event production, catering, and online-offline promotional materials.
Human Resources for Marketing-PR:
Cost of internal or external people belong to this part of budget table. For example, salaries, benefits, and training costs of employees and colleagues, furthermore project-based or monthly fees of external experts.
TRACKING RESULTS
Once you have set your budget for each channel, it’s time to calculate your ROI for each one.
To calculate your ROI, you need to track the results of each channel and compare them to the amount you spent. According to the previous elements of the budget table, here you are some ROI metrics you can use:
Website Development:
Track website traffic, conversions, generated leads and number of acquisitions.
Visual Development:
Monitor engagement, click-through rates, and conversions.
Ads:
Track click-through rates, conversions, generated leads and cost per acquisition.
Events:
Track attendance, engagement, and generated leads.
Human Resources for Marketing-PR:
Follow the impact of your marketing efforts for instance on business and revenue growth, and customer satisfaction.
Once you have set your budget for each channel and calculated your ROI, it’s time to put them into a table, and you can see each communication channel with budget and ROI together.
6. RISK ANALYZE
When building a brand and developing a brand communication strategy, it’s important to consider potential risks and plan for different scenarios. This proactive approach can help you minimize negative impacts, ensure compliance, and improve decision-making, ultimately contributing to the long-term resistance and success of your company.
- First, list all optional risks, possible inconvenient situations, or unexpected questions that may arise. This helps you identify potential challenges and prepare for them in advance.
- Second, prepare for different scenarios by creating frequently asked questions (FAQs), reactive statements, and other resources that can be used to address any issues that may appear. With this you can respond quickly and effectively to any situation.
- Then, define your reactions in advance by establishing clear ways of working, processes, and responsibilities. This ensures that everyone in your team knows what to do in case of a crisis or unexpected situation.
It’s always better to be prepared and have a plan in place than to be caught off guard and risk damaging your reputation.
7. COMMUNICATION PLAN
To communicate effectively to your target audience, you need a “roadmap” for creating and delivering consistent, compelling messages, which are in hand with your strategy. That is why you need to put together your marketing and/or PR communication plan. It also helps to assure that communication efforts are aligned with overall business objectives.
Create a Yearly and Monthly Planner
Develop a planner that outlines the focus areas, communication channels, activities, and necessary budget for each initiative.
Establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
As I explained also in this article, how important it is to have KPIs, it is also valid, when you have your communication plan. Define KPIs that will be used to measure the success of the marketing and PR communication plan. These could include website traffic, social media engagement, lead generation, media appearances or customer satisfaction ratings.
Align Timing
Use a GANT chart or other project management tool to align the timing of your marketing and PR initiatives with other activities and events. This helps secure that marketing and PR communication efforts are integrated and coordinated.
Monitor and Adjust
Regularly monitor the performance of your marketing and PR plan and adjust as needed based on results. It will provide that marketing and PR efforts remain effective.
8. ACTION PLAN
Last but not least, the step-by-step guide final element is creating your action plan. That outlines the specific projects, tasks, responsible members, deadlines, and status of each initiative.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, which is why it’s worth breaking down projects into smaller parts.
Identify specific projects
Start by identifying the specific projects that is included in your marketing or PR plan. This could include creating a new website, launching a social media campaign, developing a lead generation process, or hosting a virtual event.
Break them down into specific tasks
Once the projects have been identified, break them down into specific tasks that need to be completed in order to achieve the project goals. This might include tasks such as conducting research, creating content, designing graphics, or scheduling social media posts.
Assign responsibility for each task to the appropriate member
Assigning specific responsibility for each task to the appropriate team member or agency is also crucial. In this case everyone understands their role and is accountable for completing their assigned tasks.
Establish clear deadlines for each task
Then, you should establish clear deadlines for each task, and check that they are realistic and achievable.
Track the status of each task and project
And at the end, regularly track the status of each task and project to ensure that they are progressing as planned. Use a project management tool or spreadsheet to keep track of progress and identify any potential roadblocks or issues that need to be addressed.
What are your short and long-term business goals? Have you already set up a brand communication strategy and belonging marketing-PR plans to support them? How do you track your progress?