Strategic communications planning is key in the current economy

Communications planning is something that every company should be doing. All businesses have business plans and marketing plans, but few have a comprehensive communications plan.

A communications plan is essential to making sure that your company or organization's key messages are getting to your target audiences. Like a business plan or a marketing plan, it's a forward thinking document. It can help you to:

• Anticipate changes
• Respond to issues or situations in a timely and effective manner
• Identify core competencies, opportunities for improvement or growth
• Develop compelling messages with clear objectives, strategies and tactics - which leads to measurable outcomes
  

Social Media in PR

Social media is dominating communications discussions all over the place these days. I'm often asked what the impact of social media websites like Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin is on the public relations field. My answer to this question is that social media is a great way to reach reporters and target audiences. It's a supplementary tool to the traditional ways of communicating with reporters and journalists. You can use social media sites like Twitter to drive traffic to your blog, your news releases, your websites. More and more, SCS is managing Twitter accounts and Linkedin discussion groups for clients to help them communicate directly with target audiences and reinforce traditional PR approaches.