What is a Communication Strategy and How Do You Create One

Every non-profit organization, regardless of its size or resources, can benefit immensely from a robust communication strategy. A well-thought-out communication plan can help build your non-profit's identity, establish its presence, and promote its mission effectively.

But what exactly is a communication strategy for non-profits, and how can you harness its potential? First let's delve into effective communication.  Communication is more than just disseminating information; ideally communication is a carefully devised course of action aimed at garnering support for your non-profit’s cause and the communities you serve. Here's what effective communication can do for your non-profit.

• Create visibility for the organization, its cause and the beneficiaries it serves among general public
• Promote Trust and Goodwill towards the organization and create positive perception
• Engage Prospective Donors and help acquire new donors
• Build Connections and partnerships with like-minded peer organizations
• Build a Strong Volunteer Community

This is why your non-profit communication cannot be left for chances and has to be planned and structured. A communication strategy can help you do that.

Now, let's take these steps to develop an efficient communication strategy:

• Outline Your Goals: Identify specific communication goals and objectives for your organization. Goals could be multifaceted. For example, promoting policy changes, raising funds, enlisting volunteers, raising public awareness etc. It is important to define your goals of communication clearly as part of developing communication strategy.
• Identify Your Target Audience: Effective communication would be tailoring your messages to suit the characteristics, needs, and requirements of your target audience. So it is important to identify comprehensively who are the target audience for your communication effort as part of strategy development. In this process it is important to consider all stakeholders, including the media, the general public, beneficiaries, volunteers, and donors.
• Keep Your Message Concise and Uniform: While developing communication strategy craft brief yet compelling message that clearly communicate your organization's goals, impact, and unique aspects. This is the message that should be underlined in all of your communication efforts. Ensure your messages align with your values, goals, and resonate with your audience.
• Choose Communication Channels: Select the most effective communication methods to reach your target audiences. Options include press releases, interviews, websites, social media platforms, newsletters, email campaigns, WhatsApp bulk messaging, and direct mail. It is important to identify solid plans as to how each channel will be engaged along with frequency and a schedule.
• Develop a Content Plan: Create a concise content plan that outlines the type of content to be shared. It should detail type and format of content and communication frequency for each of the communication channels to be used. Utilize various content formats, such as stories, images, videos, infographics, and testimonials, to engage your audiences effectively. Content plan can be visualized in a calendar format for better execution.
• Establish Branding Guidelines: Maintain consistent branding guidelines, including, but not limited to, logo usage, colors, fonts, elements and tone of language. Consistency reinforces your organization's identity across different communication channels.
• Find Specific Ways to Engage with Stakeholders: It is important to foster two-way communication with stakeholders. Communication strategy should include plans to respond to inquiries, provide updates, and encourage conversations across channels to build relationships and inclusivity.
• In-build Plans to Monitor and Evaluate: Regularly monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of your communication efforts is crucial. This can include tracking metrics such as website traffic, social media engagement, fundraising results, and stakeholder feedback.  Communication Strategy needs to incorporate monitoring plan and plan for collecting and using data to increase effectiveness of communication efforts.

In summary, an effective communication strategy serves as the foundation for clear, concise, and impactful communication. Setting clear objectives helps align your efforts toward conveying information, influencing opinions, and inspiring action. Clarity in messaging, mutual interaction, consistency, timing, authenticity, and transparency are essential elements that enhance your non-profit's capacity to engage and influence your target audience.

By incorporating these elements into your communication efforts, your non-profit can develop a clear and recognizable communication strategy that fosters mutual understanding, trust, and successful engagement. In a world where connections matter, let your non-profit's message shine bright, and watch your impact grow.