Next Gen Communications Planning

by Tracey Batacan

One of the cool things about being a professional communicator is being on the leading edge of a new communications project. The adventure begins when you start working on new projects under deadline pressure and stress only to make it to the finish line successfully.

While there are many options for designing and implementing a communications plan for your organization’s latest and greatest “it” program, it does require you to take the time to build a solid communications program that your agency can sustain.

Some of the best communications plans can serve as the glue that will hold your communications office together and ensure accountability while making your brand stand out. Once this happens, people will line up to learn more about implementing their Next Gen Communications Plan.

So how do you get started? There are four quick steps to the Next Gen Communications Plan.

1. What is the WIIFM?

Professional communicators will always learn more about the “What’s In It For Me” or “WIIFM” when designing a new communications plan to support a new product or service launch. Then they will work with the client to clearly identify the tangible benefits users will find with the new item.

It takes a great deal of selflessness to determine what interests your target audience and so sacrifices must be made to gain solid ground here. Leverage tech tools like online surveys to learn more about what your audience, what they seek as far as products, services and types of messaging as part of your Next Gen Communications Plan research.

2. Communications Channels

It is important to know that a one-size fits all communications plan is not the best way to launch your client’s products and services into the mainstream. Take the time during client meetings to build a rapport and learn more about the product’s lifecycle and development origins. Then create opportunities to effectively communicate relevant details to the target audience.

This also includes learning what communications tools are available to your client. Learn the pros and cons of various communications tools to improve visibility on what the target audience will or will not notice. Then brainstorm with the client to develop messaging and identify the most effective communications tools to deliver the message to your stakeholders.

3. Build the Brand 

It takes more than gusto to build the brand. It requires creative direction, dedicated resources, collaboration with marketing/sales teams, access to creative services, and much more. Consequently, building the brand requires a combination of business skills and creativity. The best communicators will know that budgets, ad/sales goals and access to a multimedia team will make the implementation of the communications plan easier to execute.

For those worried about tight or no budgets, check with your internal partner organizations about leveraging their creative teams’ services for small projects. You may find that they may be able to help you design and implement your communications projects with little or no costs because your organizations exist in the same agency.

4. Measure and Maintain

The easiest thing to do is to build a plan; the hard part is to maintain it. When you design the Communications Plan, ensure that you and your clients can maintain the momentum to build the brand. This may require long hours of thankless tasks all in the pursuit of building on the communications plan you executed.

Measuring your communications tactics will add value to the communications plan implementation. It helps to constantly measure your outputs, check them against your previous months’ communications goals, and make course corrections as needed.

Do some research on what measurement tools work for you. There are many readily available online tools to measure the impact of your communication plan messages to help lighten the load of tracking your data.

Originally published on the Federal Communicators Network. 

How to Tackle Team Resources Issues

by Tracey Batacan

Once upon a time, some government communications offices were fully staffed with large teams of experts who diligently presided over projects their respective projects until completion. They were considered the subject matter experts (SMEs) who would never leave their federal agencies except for retirement or a new promotional opportunity. 

This type of business model has changed over time and resulted in the reduction of staff in some government communications offices due to downsizing, reorganization and attrition.   

Yet, the demand of their work continues to be highly sought after despite the minimal amount of staff available to sustain it. 

So how does one run a communications office with little to no staff? It takes a radical approach to how we do business. Start by having an honest conversation with your leadership team about realistic goals, timelines, and their vision of the communications efforts.  Also discuss any additional staffing, assets (software and hardware), tools, and services that are needed to achieve successful results. 

For example, communications managers will need to redefine the meaning of the word team. There is a difference in the type of work load that a team of 12 federal communicators can complete successfully compared to a team of two.  In addition, some of us think of the federal communications office as the hub of information ran by a large group of talented people who work lock-step on communications projects as the “only” type of team. They all work in one general location and are always a phone call away. This is a legacy construct of how to run a communications program using a limited number of staff which now requires a more leading-edge approach.

Consequently, government communicators need to reimagine ways to sustain their communications programs by leveraging a more agile, mobile and flexible team. Consider the “ad-hoc staff” approach which assembles a team of multi-faceted experts to collaborate on multiple projects. The “ad-hoc squad” can create a “working party” process to tackling agency communications projects and also serve as an informal network of SMEs that can readily share resources. 

Some may consider this a band-aid solution to a very real-problem. Yet, this can also allow you to better target necessary skills, staff behaviors and more by leveraging rotating teams to complete various goals. 

So where do you find them? Look internally to the various organizations that have communications resources, multi-media services and more. Then begin to network and negotiate with the organization’s leadership to obtain members of their staff to support short-term projects and set the foundation for long-term goals. 

There are four phases to this process:

Phase 1: 

Identify the issues that create a lack of resources for your communications team. A lack of staff does not mean that an agency’s communications programs needs to go under. It does however mean that the agency will have to rethink their communications priorities, see how they coincide with the agency’s strategic plans and make course corrections as needed. 

For example, determine the short-term and long-term goals for your agency’s communications endeavors and map out how to source them. 

Phase 2:

Leverage some old fashioned “ideation” to trouble-shoot your resource issue. This includes creating some realistic goals, reinventing the concept of the word “TEAM.” Teams are people who come together for short and long-term projects and may also include representatives from partner agencies. 

How is that possible? This requires gaining access to available staff by communicating your goals with internal and external colleagues. 

Phase 3: 

The ability to team up with other federal partners to achieve your communications’ goals is something that may seem a bit risky and well, scary for some communicators out there. However, once you learn how to make strategic partnerships and leverage their skills, you will be able to gain access to the very resources you seek. 

Also, consider leveraging established programs like professional development details, rotational assignments and Pathways student programs to supplement your communications office staffing to achieve requirements. The diverse mix of professional and student resources can result in a positive, creative environment for your program. 

Phase 4:

Continue to communicate and coordinate with your agency leadership through the entire process of accessing and acquiring additional resources. Then activate your plan. Once you assemble your new communications team, make sure to share details regarding everyone’s roles, responsibilities and the overall goals. 

Encourage everyone on the team to feel empowered to share ideas and solve problem along the way to ensure your communications projects launch successfully.  

View the original blog on the Federal Communicators Network. 

Top 7 Social Media Calendar Planning Tips

By Tracey Batacan

Some government organizations are beginning to tap into the potential of leveraging social media channels to amplify their brand, foster two-way communications with stakeholders as well as keep target audiences informed about organizational news. While these new media tools are a great resource, it does require some prep work in advance before publishing your first tweet, post, or image. 

Yet some people may hesitate at the thought of planning things out so far in advance. There is a way to jump into the foray of developing a social media calendar that is dynamic and flexible. Check out the quick tips. 

Top 7 Social Media Calendar Planning Tips

1. Research and document annual industry events that correlate to your agency’s mission.
2. Focus on expanding your stakeholder network to increase situational awareness about emerging trends that may influence messaging. 
3. Collaborate with a diverse team representing internal organizations to ensure that you have a more global view of your agency’s specific social media messaging goals. This will also prevent “group think” from happening. 
4. Map it out. Take the time to outline your 1-year social media messages calendar with primary and secondary messaging goals. 
5. Allow your social media calendar to incorporate the flexibility to add breaking news messages at the last-minute to show that you are keeping your finger on the pulse of news and information. 
6. Work with your branding team in advance to make sure that all of your social media channels have the same look and feel to promote the brand effectively. 
7. Lastly, measure your results. Check your social media analytics after each post to learn what works, how your messaging is viewed by target audiences and identify the need to make changes to your strategy based on verifiable results.

View the original blog on the Federal Communicators Network. 

Newsletter Design Elements 101

By Tracey Batacan

Some organizations use newsletters as a communications tool to inform and engage target audiences, promote the organizational brand, and highlight success stories. The newsletter has evolved from an analog, paper-driven document to an e-publication that often includes video clips, images, graphics and more. So how does one create an engaging organizational newsletter? Check out the top 7 Newsletter Design Tips below to start your journey.

1. Newsletter Branding

Creating the look and feel of a newsletter is the first step in developing your organization’s newsletter brand design. Start by partnering with diverse, creative minds to generate ideas on how to use and place the organization’s logo and develop the publication masthead. The goal is to create a simple yet powerful design that will promote the brand while providing timely news and information. Contact your internal branding team to obtain insights into the current organizational style guide requirements as part of your planning and development.

2. Selecting Newsletter Topics

Leverage resources such as historical data, mini focus groups or short surveys to obtain insight into the content that interests your readers. For example, review past publications to identify article trends such as what works and what did not work. Create your newsletter strategy around this data which will help you avoid a myopic view of news story submissions.

3. Draw the Reader’s Eye In

Think about ways to visually engage the reader by using more impactful images and new page layouts instead of just lines and rows of unending text.  One way to get started includes conducting online research to view other organizations’ magazines, newsletters or e-publications and develop ways to duplicate their designs.

4. Generate Fresh Content

Creating and sustaining a newsletter/e-publication requires some strategic planning on the editor’s part to avoid the potential gaps in the production cycle. Some newsletter editors design and implement an editorial calendar that creates a 30/60/90 supply of news stories. Using this process will require collaborating with people in different organizations, teams, and locations regularly to create content. Also, create a tangible news story guideline document to share with your contributors so you can set them up for success. Take the time to review and revise your story guidelines at least twice a year as a way of keeping being open to new topics.

5. Approval Process

Work with your communications leadership team to make the news article approval process streamlined and simple. Review your approval process and make sure there are only 2 to 3 levels of approval to make it easy to get content published promptly. Also, you can reduce your newsletter production cycle time by a few days by ensuring articles approved in advance.

6. News Story Submission Feedback Loop

Have you ever submitted a news story or Op-Ed to a publication only to never hear from the organization about your submission? It is frustrating for contributors to send stories in regularly and they never obtain information about the approval status. Newsletter editors need to develop and adhere to a feedback loop that provides writers with concrete details about their work. Editors can enhance this process by creating “boilerplate” language regarding the approval status of content submissions. Editors can tactfully share the feedback and tangible examples with the writers, so they can learn how to develop content and revise and resubmit their stories.

7. Design a Publication Production Wall

Ok, a show of hands…how many of you think of yourself as designers or the “creative type”? Everyone should have their hand in the air. For those looking for an opportunity to channel their inner newsletter editor, remind yourself that creativity often starts with inspiration. Encourage your team to share their ideas and inspiration regarding the look and feel of the new publication. And don’t shy away from using different color palettes and page layouts. Once the editorial team finalizes the content, create a Newsletter/E-publication Production Wall to view the hard copy layouts. The Newsletter/E-publication Production Wall creates a visual review of all content and fosters an open forum for sharing ideas. Then encourage your editorial team to add suggestions or comments by placing sticky notes on the stories posted to the production wall.

Designing an innovative newsletter is hard work, but it can also be fun. It simply requires taking a risk and changing your approach to the process.

View the original on the Federal Communicators Network. 

7 Things I Learned from My First Promotion

     A few years ago I was fortunate enough to identify the organization's needs and develop a tactical approach to implementing change. My reward was a promotion that allowed me to strategic and creative in different ways that help to support the mission. Some people approach promotions differently. They are either highly engaged in their next adventure, so caught up in the hype they forget to share with others, skeptical of leaving what they've already known or have issues adjusting to a new role that leverages their abilities. A promotion is a great journey when you are willing to see the big picture. What are you looking to get out of your next promotion? Check out the tips below. 

7 Things I Learned from My First Promotion 

1. Be fearless and creative: Take time to check your organization's strategic plan to generate new ideas. Then be like Nike and just do it. 

2. Leverage good project management: Be willing to work with others to create a realistic project timeline that everyone on the team can support and takes into account that the team may have other work priorities. 

3. Do not use an "auto pilot" approach to your work: Sometimes we just do the work to "get it done" and miss an opportunity to check for quality and conciseness. Take the time to use a fresh perspective and approach your work by leveraging clarity. You may learn something new along the way. 

4. Meet new people inside and outside of the organization: Redefine your definition of the word team by getting away from your desk and introduce yourself to people outside of your immediate team structure.  

5. Learn new skills: The goal is to try new skills that will force you to exercise your brain and creativity more often.

6. Do not listen to what others say about your peers. Avoid getting caught up in the "gossip-loop."

7. Take your leadership role seriously: Be a strategic, task-oriented leader who appreciates the hard work and dedication of the staff. 

Career Singular Sensation written by Tracey Batacan

Once upon a time, employees received encouragement to become the singular best at their craft by focusing their energies on becoming experts in their fields. This was part of a business culture that celebrated subject matter experts who maintained the status quo by enrolling in annual training that reinforces the they very skills they’ve known all of their professional lives. Consequently, some employees received recognition for being solely dedicated to one’s industry and business acumen.

During my parents’ generation, people often stayed within the same career field with a singular focus on their craft. As a result a lot of people retired from work after 20 or 30 years in the same field with a great sense of accomplishment. Now, there is nothing wrong with this type of career focus. However, a “career singular sensation paradox” can occur when an employee becomes complacent and no longer focuses on learning new things at work. Which begs the question: what happens when you reach the pinnacle of your career field?

Overtime, the emergence of the global market place sparked a newer, nimble type of employee who continues to evolve as the marketplace continues to change. According to a Harvard Business Review article titled It’s the Company’s Job to Help Employees Learn, “people’s employability is not based on what they already know, it’s their ability to learn.”  It helps to know that there are more opportunities for continuous learning through one’s career. The goal is for employees to explore a variety of educational opportunities outside of their current level of ability. In addition, access to learning opportunities at work may generate a feeling of empowerment among employees because they can see that their work efforts are not running on “auto-pilot”.

Moreover, according to an Entrepreuner.com article, when employees feel empowered at work they focus on becoming “organizational innovators.” These innovators will generate new ideas, share knowledge and bring others along for the journey. Part of the process includes encouraging employees to take on new roles in the organization where they enhance their problem-solving skills, applying newly learned skill sets and network with others outside of their usual work groups.

Every Day Heroes

According to a 2016 Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM.org) article, people seek jobs they are passionate about doing and organizations that recognize its staff. Employee recognition programs are a great way to incentivize creative staff and encourage friendly competition among peers as a way to invest in the organization’s future. While there are some great opportunities with various recognition programs, sometimes some of our greatest assets- everyday heroes may never get a proverbial “shout out” about their contributions because their efforts often go unnoticed. Or, all too often the same people get recognized year in and year out which may generate a “in group/out group” type of culture.

What is an “Every Day Hero?”  Every Day Heroes are employees or other staff who go to great lengths to innovate programs, reduce financial challenges in their organizations’ budgets, serve as office admin and support staff, manage contracts with exemplary fiscal responsibility in mind, make sure you have the technology and tools to get the job done or simply step up to the plate to volunteer to take on a new project at work despite having a full load of priorities.

These people are also known as “individual contributors” who rally the team to exceed expectations and may never ask for a thank you in return because of an altruistic approach to their work.  Moreover, they never brag about their contributions because that is not their style. Every Day Heroes often jump into the fray, give it their all to support the team and move on. And yes, they sometimes fall under the radar when it comes to awards programs because they are selfless and fearless.

How do you make the effort to acknowledge the majority of every day heroes? The book “First, Break All of the Rules” by Markus Buckingham and Curt Coffman suggests that good leaders create an environment that recognizes and rewards them. Consider using the tips below to get started.

5 tips to Recognize Everyday Heroes:

1. Create a work culture that takes the time to say thank you to Every Day Heroes in creative, social and public ways.
2. Encourage leaders to walk and talk with staff across the agency to learn more about individuals’ contributions to the organization’s success.
3. Recognize every day heroes in public forums such as town hall meetings, on social networks and in executive messages.
4. Remember to say thank you to staff that do extraordinary work daily.
5. Personalize the recognition. One of my favorite bosses in the federal sphere held staff meetings once a quarter and gave his team “everyday hero” awards based on their interests. He gave things like gift cards based on staff's specific interests, movie tickets and wrote personal letters of commendation.

Who are the Every Day Heroes in your organization? Give them a GovLoop "Shout Out" for their accomplishments.