Introduction
In this case, the Strategic Communication Plan outlines the critical factors to consider when communicating the need for the website upgrade to the organization’s management. The company’s website is outdated and needs an urgent upgrade to reach out to clients, vendors, and employees effectively. One of the responsibilities of the marketing coordinator is to create a strategic communication plan. Thus, the purpose of this business report is to summarize the strategic communication plan to seek approval and support from the management for the website upgrade.
Communication Plan
The Goal of the Communication
According to Blakemen (2018), the goal of any communication should be clear, concise, and actionable. As such, the purpose of the communication plan is to communicate the need for the website upgrade while minimizing the negativity that often accompanies organizational change. The company cannot afford to have an outdated website in today’s digital age. The website is often the first impression that consumers receive from the company, so it should be designed to reflect and market the organization effectively. The company has yet to upgrade its website for various reasons, and the managers seem to have no idea that the organization’s digital presence is outdated. Perhaps the previous marketing coordinator did not pursue their duties effectively.
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Upgrading the website is aligned with the organization’s goal of reaching out to more clients through the internet. In today’s digital age, businesses cannot afford to have an outdated website, as it reflects on the company negatively (White & Danis, 2013). Once the executive team approves the proposal to upgrade the website, I will create a plan for improving the website within an established timeframe and with a preset budget and goals.
Target Audience
The target audience is the executive team. The executive team is made up of the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Operations Officer, the Chief Financial Manager, the Head of the Marketing Department, the Human Resource Manager, the Chief Strategy Officer, and the Procurement Officer. The audience is a diverse team comprised of individuals from different backgrounds, genders, ages, religions, and interests. The audience characteristics affect the communication plan, as different individuals will respond to different needs. The older demographic is less likely to see the value of an upgraded website, while others will want the website to reflect their interests. The communication plan should meet all of the executive team’s needs while addressing its concerns.
Having worked with some of the executive team members in previous projects. The rapport I have built will make it easier to convince them to approve the change. When communicating with the executive team, I will build on our existing relationships. I have reported findings and marketing research to this particular audience in the past. This will set the foundation for the meeting, although the executives will still want to be convinced with facts of why the website upgrade is necessary. The executive team feels that the company needs to change its marketing approach to increase its competitiveness. The team suggested that the company should leverage technology to meet customer needs, and upgrading the company website follows the executive team’s suggestions as well as those proposed by Waddell, Creed, Cummings, and Worley (2016). However, I will not assume that the executive team will automatically approve the upgrade; instead, the approval will depend on how well I communicate the need for change.
Presentation
I will work with the rest of the marketing team to seek information from the previous marketing team about the target audience. The executive team is known to act in unison and sometimes takes time to reach a decision. Therefore, the marketing coordinator has to treat the proposal with the seriousness it deserves. The executive team will dismiss a proposal that is not well-researched or is presented poorly. The executive team makes all of the critical decisions concerning the company, and they will not hesitate to dismiss the proposal if it does not meet their expectations. I will be tactful during the presentation, adopting a formal and positive tone and attempting to answer each team member’s concerns. For example, the CFO will be interested in the financial implications, while the Chief Strategy Officer will be concerned about the effects of the website upgrade on the overall strategy.
Message
The message should also be curated to attract the attention of the executive team. Hargie (2016) advises that teams are likely to approve upgrades when the messages are personal to every team member. The primary message is the website upgrade. With the desire to emphasize the importance of a good website, the marketing coordinator will focus on how the company website is the first thing that the customers use to judge the company in the digital age. Competitors with well-designed websites attract more customers because they have presented themselves desirably. The website upgrade will garner more opportunities for the company, and the marketing team will be able to market the business using its website and other online channels.
The message has to be compelling, clear, and concise. As such, I can use graphics to show the differences between a well-designed and a poorly designed website. The clarity of the message also guarantees approval; the message should be purposeful and goal-oriented and should address the essential issues that affect decision making, such as the budget and effects on organizational goals (MacDermott & Ortiz, 2017). The message should also be aligned with the goals and needs of the audience. I will suggest an open channel of communication to facilitate the discussion and encourage the executive team to make suggestions regarding how the website should be upgraded. When an executive team participates in the communication process, they are more likely to understand the goal of the proposal and approve it.
Channel Selection
I will communicate with the executive team using different channels. First, I will bring up the proposal to the Head of Marketing to seek approval. Once approved, I will write an email to the executive team seeking an audience to present the proposal.
In this presentation, the appropriate style of communication is a tell/sell and consult/join method. I will begin by convincing the team to approve the proposal (Newman, 2016). After making the presentation, I will also seek their feedback to get the management’s insights and explore challenges that will affect the proposal’s implementation. During the face-to-face meeting, I will try to persuade the team to approve the change using different strategies (Sanina, Balashov, Rubtcova, & Satinsky, 2017). I will also use a PowerPoint presentation to convey my ideas visually and to summarize the proposal concisely and appealingly.
Call to Action
For the company to remain competitive in the modern market, it has to change the way it conducts business. The company’s website is one of the first areas of contact between the organization and potential clients and other stakeholders. A new and improved website will communicate the company’s services and goals to all of the stakeholders while also providing an excellent marketing opportunity.
Description of the feedback
My goal is to progress from a proficient communicator to an expert. The feedback has helped a great deal in the transformation process, and I intend to pursue further progress. The feedback supplied a huge wealth of information on practical communication. To achieve the goal of communication, it is important to pay attention to the choice of words, seriousness, and channels but more so to ensure that the ideas are presented in a way that the audience can relate with them, recall and enjoy the presentation. A communication in which the audience is bored and does not recall any point is crippled. The feedback provided great insight to educate on the importance of connecting with the audience through non-verbal cues such as eye contact, facial expression and verbal indicators such as questions. It should not go without noting here that the feedback revolutionized my way of understanding communication and emphasized the need of entering into communication with a goal to reach the audience and doing everything possible to control the stage and help the audience understand me.
The feedback and my message
The feedback got me looking into my message once more. I have had to revise the content of the message, the methodology of reaching the audience effectively and ways of wrapping up the whole event living memorable glimpses in the audience's mind. I have had to pay more attention to insert points and sentence structures that will allow me to use facial expression to reach the audience. Secondly, I have had to revise the length of my messages today and the in the future to take shorter time min presentations avoiding creation of boredom. Finally, I have learned to look for examples to use in illustrating my opinions to achieve greater impression.
Sources
Blakeman, R. (2018). Integrated marketing communication: Creative strategy from idea to implementation . Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.
White, A., & Danis, M. (2013). Enhancing patient-centered communication and collaboration by using the electronic health record in the examination room. Jama , 309 (22), 2327-2328. Retrieved from https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/1696109
Waddell, D., Creed, A., Cummings, T., & Worley, C. (2016). Organisational change: Development and transformation . Melbourne, AU: Cengage Australia. Retrieved from https://cengage.com.au/product/title/organisational-change-development-andtransfo/isbn/9780170366687
Hargie, O. (2016). Skilled interpersonal communication: Research, theory and practice . Abingdon, UK: Routledge. Retrieved from
https://books.google.co.ke/books/about/Skilled_Interpersonal_Communication.html?id=OCQxDQAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y
MacDermott, C., & Ortiz, L. (2017). Beyond the business communication course: A historical perspective of the where, why, and how of soft skills development and job readiness for business graduates. IUP Journal of Soft Skills , 11 (2). Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=13&sid=f63a436a-16cd-4912-9d2c-e55b7a721869%40sessionmgr104
Newman, A. (2016). Communication planning: A template for organizational change. Cornell Hospitality Report, 16 (3), 3-6. Retrieved from https://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/chrreports/5/
Sanina, A., Balashov, A., Rubtcova, M., & Satinsky, D. M. (2017). The effectiveness of communication channels in government and business communication. Information Polity , (Preprint), 1-17. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=15&sid=f63a436a-16cd-4912-9d2c-e55b7a721869%40sessionmgr104
