4 Steps to Create a Church Communication Strategy

In ministry, as in life, it can be tough to plan ahead. With all the concerns of day-to-day operations, it’s difficult to stop and look at the bigger picture. But in order for a church to communicate effectively, a strategic communications plan is essential. A communication plan enables you to save time and gain ground on initiatives, rather than jumping from project to project and hustling to stay ahead.
Here is a list of tips for creating a communications plan for your church:  
Define Communication Priorities –
Using your church’s vision and mission as a basis, identify the main messages you want to communicate throughout the year. Don’t make your final list too long. Select three to five key messages. Make them narrow and focused. This is what you want to consistently communicate about your church.
Identify Target Audiences –
Once you clearly define what you want to communicate, the next step is identifying who you want to say it to. Spend time researching demographics, interviewing audiences and conducting surveys. Figure out the social environments your audience interacts in and how they prefer to communicate with organizations.
Capture Communication Goals –
You know what you want to say and who you want to say it to. Now determine how you want to go about transferring your message to your audience. Devise projects and initiatives to execute throughout the year. Don’t be afraid to be creative and ambitious with your goals (while still making them attainable).
Create Plan Collectively –
Don’t go it alone when creating your communications plan. It should be a collective effort. Bring in key members of your church from different teams or departments. Include local experts and audience members. The more input you receive, the more weight your plan will hold moving forward.
Effective communications are based on strategy. As Basil S. Walsh once noted: “If you don’t know where you’re going, how can you expect to get there?”
Need help developing a communications strategy? JOANNA LA FLEUR will be speaking on how to create a communications strategy at Simply Communicate Conference on July 28, 2016. She will teach you how to manage competing and huge requests from every ministry area all wanting the same resources, stage time, social media, videos, etc.