Building a Strategic Communications Plan

Matthew welcomed Chief Communications Officer, Christine Paik, of Poway Unified School District for the second time to Peachjar Extra Credit. They discussed what goes into creating a strong strategic communications plan, from a high-level definition to the nitty-gritty. Additionally, Christine covered what made her team create and implement their strategic communications plan. 

Christine mentioned her and her team were looking back at the work they accomplished and not only were they shocked by the volume, but they started to dig a little deeper and asked themselves, “how do we measure success?” From there, the mindset shifted to a more strategic, methodical approach to communications. Christine reiterated the 4 steps of a successful evaluation—Research, Planning, Implementation, Evaluation—and mentioned it is easy to get into the habit of doing those things day-to-day, based on your educated gut instinct. However, as many of us recognize, data is king and there are numerous benefits to creating and implementing a strategic communications plan. Additionally, both Christine and Matthew recommended starting to track your work now which can lend nicely to providing data at the end of the year, while simultaneously allowing you a real-time look at what you are producing. Like Christine, you may be shocked to see the volume of work your department is putting in. 

“Our fellow educators and our district offices—they love data. So, Communications [Professionals], if you’re able to provide data as to how you have impacted the district in measurable ways—that’s priceless.” —Christine Paik, APR

 “Just because you don’t have a comms plan does not mean you’re not doing your job well…By creating a comms plan for yourself or your department, it really is going to help your work smarter…” —Christine Paik, APR.

Christine emphasized that first and foremost, extend yourself some grace. Additionally, she encouraged viewers to approach the creation and implementation of a communications plan methodically, starting with a miniature audit. What are you doing on a day to day basis? What are you producing in a week or in a month? What channels are you currently using? Who are they reaching?

After writing down what you are doing, categorize them into buckets like “community engagement” or ones that align with objectives, strategies, and goals. Breaking it down like this allows you to take a step back and analyze what is working, what may need improvement, and what aligns with your bigger picture district mission and vision—ensuring you are serving that mission and vision with the things you are currently doing in your communications department.

What Are Some Elements in a Communications Plan?

 “...every person who makes a communications plan has to be guided by the larger District vision and mission…”

Christine recommended starting there, with the larger district mission and vision, and really seeing what and who you are serving. At this point in creation, you should be asking from a high level, “What is your communications plan trying to accomplish?” Additionally, you may be a part of a state that has additional funding sources that have their own goals. For example, Poway Unified is located in California where school districts have state funding linked directly to the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). Notably, one of the main goals of the LCAP is student and family engagement so naturally, the communications team falls under that larger goal. 
Once you have that bigger picture, you can get more granular. 

Christine detailed that, after understanding the bigger picture goals, her team’s strategic communications plan has 4 goals and each task her office completes fits within the following: 

• Elevate the brand and image of [y]our school district
• Provide Excellent Customer Service
• Create engagement and partnerships with [y]our students, staff, and community
• Provide excellence training and support in all things communications
  

Having a Strategic Communications Plan Allows You to Say “No.”

SMART Goals and Including Measurable Objectives into Your Strategic Communications Plan

Getting Over the Fear and Starting a Strategic Communications Plan

Starting this process may seem intimidating, especially if you have not done a strategic communications plan before. Here’s Christine’s advice if that sounds like you: 

Matthew offers some additional insight:
“Focus on your community’s need for communication and not just your need to communicate to your community.” 

Remember, you probably already have a bulk of the content and interfaces like Canva can take some of the stress out of the design process. If you have more questions, check out the Peachjar Extra Credit video above or reach out to your communications colleagues and see what has worked for their district! 

Additional Resources