Marketing Communication Plan

Tutorial #6

Closing: 27.10.15

Problem : Marketing Communication Plan 

Learning objectives:

1. How to select the proper communication plan
1. types of communication 
2. elements of a communication plan 
2. Implementation of a communication plan 
3. Measuring and monitoring 
1. How to tell if the communication is working 
4. Case studies

How to select the proper communication plan

From the founders of Guerilla marketing, Jay levinson and Jeanne Levinson, propose how to make a simple yet effective marketing communications plan. They believe a marketing strategy only need to be seven sentences which include the following elements: 

1. What do you want to motivate your audience to do?
2. What do you offer?
3. who is your audience
4. what marketing weapons do you plan on using 
5. Define your niche/what do you stand for?
6. What's the personality of your company?
7. What's your budget? be realistic 

Although this strategy may not work for all companies due to whatever reason: size, etc. But, it is a great starting point and a simple strategy for small companies with no plan like IVANA Hki. it incorporates important elements of which a company should be looking at when marketing their products. 

JAY LEVINSON AND JEANNIE LEVINSON. 2.10.2013. How to design a marketing strategy

In HBR, Freeman & Speener also talks about how keeping it simple is the best way in attracting potential customers. They talk about how in today's media world it can difficult for consumers to make decisions based on the overwhelming amount of ads being thrown at them. They use "decision simplicity index" : how easy the customer understands the information they're given, how much they can trust the information and how readily they can decide. 

Freeman,K. Speener,P. To keep you customers keep it simple. HBR. 2012.

Marketing plan example

6 step marketing plan

Implementation of a communication plan

AL LAUTENSLAGER. 2005.

Lorette defines the elements engaged when implementing marketing communication plan. They include: Finalizing the plan, budgeting plans, everyone needs a copy of the plan, have a monitoring plan ready, performance management and reward system in place, present to org, have annual department meetings. 

Downfalls may include: lack of communication, inconsistent marketing, no reviews, etc.  

Lorette, K. Implementation Phase of the Strategic Marketing Process

Measuring & monitoring 

There are various tools to help measure the effectiveness of online social media campaigns. Which, can be very helpful to small companies because most of their marketing may be online. Facebook and twitter have analysis tools that allow users to measure when certain posts have acquired a lot of likes. Along with the use of promo codes, you can measure how many people are using certain codes from which platforms are they getting them and from this eliminate any platforms that just aren't getting as much attention. 

Rouhinen, L. Social media course. 2015. 

In the case of Ivana Hki they use a lot of social platforms to sell products, fairs, etc. There way of monitoring success is keeping track of who they are talking to what media platforms have they talked on, etc. Based on this information they can see which events have been more successful than others. 

EU sharepoint

A strategic communication plan - Informative PR standpoint on communication plan

Crisis Communication and Reputation Management

Tutorial #5

Closing: 6.10.15

Problem : Crisis Communication and Reputation Management 

Learning objectives:

1. Pre: How to prepare for a crisis
1. Is it possible to be prepared for a crisis?
2. Recognizing the signs 
2. During: Crisis communication 
1. Define the scale of the crisis
2. How to manage the communication during a crisis? what to consider (external/internal)
3. Post: Effects of a crisis
1. How to recover 
2. How to hold up the reputation post crisis. external/ internal -> social media
4. Case studies

Keywords

Crisis Management, external/internal, crisis communication, SPOF (single point of failure), Reputation management

Pre: How to prepare for a crisis

Marshell Goldsmiths article in HBR, He talks about Crisis management and Spirituality. He mentions how organizations have great business continuity but don't believe therefore don't prepare for crises. "Every crisis is simultaneously an ethical, PR, legal, communications, and/or operations crisis." So on all fronts companies have to be able to connect the dots throughout the system. There are ways to prepare that benefit your company. When he talks about spirituality, it's referring to the employees and the way they feel within the organization, people generally want to feel like they are doing good ( for themselves, in their work, for others, etc.) "Every crisis is a spiritual crisis" When things go wrong, people start to ask deep questions about the situation around them.

Goldsmiths, M. 2008. HBR

Ask us how had extensive lists of how to prepare, how to enforce, etc. Gray, C. 2012. How to prepare your business for a crisis.

1. Implementing a crisis team

2. training spokespeople

3. monitoring systems 

4. who are your important internal/external stakeholders.

Recognizing the signs

Reading the warning signs and crisis prevention varies based on the type of crisis may arise. For example, good practices and reviews can prevent product crises from arising. If the company is ethical and reviewing their products for faulty parts they can stop problems from arising. Second part of this is being vigilant and honest. If something does arise be honest with your consumer, they will most likely be accommodating and forgiving. 

Monitoring internal and external factors help understand the state the company is in at all times. Sometimes warning signs don't arise or they go unnoticed.

Ray,S. Strategic communication and Crisis management.

During: Crisis Communication

Scale

Weiner, D. 2006.

How to manage communication during a crisis

Bernstein, J. 2013. Ten Steps.

External communication: stealing the thunder. Taken from law practices. Is the concept of stating weaknesses before others have the chance. It's proven that companies that are able to report crisis, etc. to the public first face less reputation damages.

Coombs, T. 2014.crisis management and communication

Post:Effects of a crisis -How to recover

Media will be a large controlling factor of how your company communicates their side of the situation to the public. These are some of the tips that should be used when handling media attention. coombs, T. crisis management.

Kass, K. Toyota crisis management.

How to hold up reputation post crisis

Crisis managers assess responsibility attached to a crisis in order to evaluate the way stakeholders will hold responsibility against the company: victim clusters, accidental cluster and intentional cluster. Factors that intensify the threat of reputation disaster is past history and and their relationship reputation. 

A: If stakeholders see the company being majorly responsible for crises it affects reputation

B1 & B2: Prior history can affect newers crises if something similar has happened in the past/ need to take more responsibility

B3 & B4: Prior relationship with stakeholders affects the way recent crises is perceived

C: the more stakeholders feel the org. is responsible the more intense emotions become and negative word of mouth. 

D: the more negative a reputation the less likely stakeholders are to support

E: The more emotional they are to a situation the more likely stakeholders will report and retaliate verbally against the org.

F1, F2, F3: Response strategy 1) shape the attributions of crises 2)change perceptions 3) reduce the negative associations 

 Coombs, T. Situational Crisis communication theory.

10 tips for reputation and crisis management in digital world Walter, E. 2013.

1. listen and be present 
2. Set the right expectations
3. be transparent 
4. respond thoughtfully 
5. don't lose your cool 
6. have a crisis management team 
7. manage access to social media accounts carefully 
8. post moderation guidelines 
9. hire experienced communication managers 
10. not everyone will be pleased 

Employees are a company's best asset and should be empowered throughout a crisis. If the employees feel like the brand name is tarnished they will no longer feel a sense of pride in where they work or maintain the same level of work they did prior. utilize internal communication, empower your team. 

Lesley, H. 2014

Case studies 

People were convinced this teapot looked like Hitler... However unusual this connection is, it could have affected the sales of JCpenny, but the way they took to social media in order to calm the storm even helped their sales. The media attention plus their openness to respond to the situation helped make the teapots sell like crazy. 

Fisher, S. Examples of social media helping crisis

Fairchild, C. 2014. Corporate reputation crisis: a timeline

Dermier, D. More examples of company crisis