We’ve been discussing how we find success following this crisis through the RADD approach, which is Recognize, Adapt, Develop, and Deploy. Today we’re digging in to deploying your communications plan, but check out our previous posts:
– Get RADD And Plan For Success Following Coronavirus Crisis
– Prepare for Success and Get RADD, Part 1: Recognize
– Finding Success By Getting RADD, Part 2: Adapt
– Get RADD, Part 3: Develop Plans For Success
The Coronavirus crisis is likely the biggest crisis many of us have faced in our careers, to say nothing of the personal impacts on our lives. As with the financial crisis in 2008, there will be business success stories that come from this crisis, and you can be one of them.
Now that you’ve Recognized the situation, Adapted for stability, and Developed your plan, it’s time to Deploy and succeed!
Time to Deploy
The work you’ve put into the RADD program this point has set you up for success in deploying your strategic communications plan.
Like with any communications plan launch, there are pitfalls that you need to watch for, and we have five tips to keep you on target:
1. Define Your Moment
Launching a communications plan can, and should, be a big moment. It doesn’t have to be with fanfare, a press conference or some other extravaganza.
But it does need to be a moment – for you and for your team. If you’ve done the work in the RADD program to produce a strategic communications plan, that’s likely a lot of time and effort.
So, it’s important to create this moment in time to launch your campaign:
– It gives you a time to start measuring success. This is your start line and an opportunity to clearly define when you’ll begin to look at your established KPIs and measure success.
– It helps bring your team together to ensure alignment. Every team needs a rally point, and as a leader, it gives you a chance to provide that boost to motivate and energize your team.
– “Out with the old and in with the new” isn’t always a great approach, but in this case, it can be. If you’re launching a new campaign, you don’t want your team or your leadership focusing on how things “used to be”. Use this moment to usher in the new effort and generate awareness for and support of the strategic efforts you’re launching.
2. Left Hand vs. Right Hand
We’ve all been there. You think you’re on a role and then someone on the team is misaligned, you get thrown a curveball and you wonder what went wrong.
I’ve seen it happen time and time again – there’s a great plan in place but a lack of clarity around who is doing what. The end result, at best, is a duplication of efforts and wasted resources.
This doesn’t have to be you!
You need clearly defined roles and responsibilities so the left hand knows what the right hand is doing. These should have been outlined in your strategic communications plan, but use this launch to realign your team and bring added clarity for a smooth launch and execution.
3. Stick To The Plan
It can be tempting to go after the shiny object, and we’ve seen it happen before.
You’re executing your plan and you get a note from leadership asking about the new shiny object, or the “have you thought about…” recommendation.
Don’t fall into this trap. Simply put, stick with your plan.
While you should always be willing to adjust your plans strategically for opportunities that make sense, stay on track with core of the plan you’ve created.
Make adjustments as you need to, but make those adjustments part of the plan.
Another pitfall is it’s easy to put the plan aside in three months or six months because things are going well, and you think you have it down.
Don’t do that! Use your strategic plan as your north star, check in with it often and keep pushing to execute your plan and drive toward success.
4. Checklists
Rolling out a new communications plan can be very extensive, with a lot of nuts and bolts to worry about. It’s easy to forget about that one thing that you “were going to do” or have the “OMG” moment driving home because you didn’t send that email.
This is the time to get basic and use checklists to ensure you didn’t forget something. Create different checklists in advance with the vital actions and to-do items. Separate them in to groups of tasks as needed, including:
– Internal touchpoints and reports/updates.
– External communications touchpoints.
– Digital & social media tasks.
– Media/social media inquiries.
The list can go on and on, but get as granular as possible and don’t rely on your memory to complete the task.
Write it down now and check it off later!
5. Check-Ins
Check in with your team, your leadership, and yourself frequently, especially at the beginning of the campaign launch.
You should know what your KPIs are if you’ve gone through the RADD planning process, so keep them in mind and keep a close eye on them throughout the campaign.
For your team, make sure you’re checking in on them, their progress and their needs. There WILL be unexpected developments, so make yourself available to make the adjustments and provide the direction that’s needed to keep the train moving.
Your check-ins can be less frequent as you move along, but find ways to ensure there’s a constant flow of information and real-time communication so you can provide updates and adjustments as needed.
As we’ve said, this crisis will end at some point and you need to be ready for the growth and success that is waiting on the other end. The RADD approach will help get you there!
Here are some additional resources for your crisis planning efforts as you adapt to your new worlds:
– There’s Still Time To Communicate During the Coronavirus Crisis
– Isolation Is Actually Connecting Us In Meaningful Ways
– Is Pitching Media A Good Idea During COVID-19?
– Internal Communications During A Crisis
– The Art & Science Of Making A Public Apology
– A Meaningful Message, Or Pandering Without Purpose
– Tips For Working From Home As Your New Normal
And here are some additional blogs to help with your strategic communications planning:
– Pitching Media Like The Pros
– 7 Tips for Successful Media Interviews
– Don’t Let Perfect Be The Enemy Of Effective
– Wake Up. Kick Ass. Repeat.
– How to Create Content That Engages Audiences and Builds Brand Trust Quickly
– 7 Tips to Measure Your Strategic Communications Campaigns
Be sure to follow us @TCStrategic on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
