What is Comms Planning: delivering the right message at the right time
Find out how to cut through the noise and talk to your consumers effectively.
O n any given day, the average person encounters up to 10,000 advertisements - roughly seven every minute. From billboards and street signs to digital banners and pre-roll videos, most of these messages are ignored or quickly forgotten.
From billboards and street signs to digital banners and pre-roll videos, most of these messages are ignored or quickly forgotten. But since your brand’s messaging must live within (and hopefully stand out from) all that noise, the challenge is clear:
How do you create and share relevant messages that engage consumers at the right time on their path to purchase?
Enter communications planning, hereafter referred to as comms planning. In this post, we discuss the strategic importance of comms planning, how it shapes the relationship between brands and customers, and how we approach comms planning here at Accord.
The fundamentals of Comms Planning
At its core, comms planning places the consumer front of mind. It’s not about creating ads that appeal only to your brand’s goals and sensibilities. Since we know consumers’ attention is limited, you must share resonant messages that inspire specific actions or emotional responses.
An effective comms plan unifies three key elements: audience, message, and channel. The process involves organising consumer-facing messages within a marketing strategy to ensure they resonate with target audiences and reach those audiences through the most effective channels.
When done right, comms planning contributes to developing a cohesive brand narrative that drives meaningful engagement. A great comms plan is key to turning unaware consumers into purchasing customers.
Meeting consumers where they are
A great comms plan takes the consumer journey into account. In essence, the consumer journey is the path individuals take from initial awareness of a product or service through to the final decision to purchase and beyond. Understanding and optimising this journey is crucial for companies to effectively connect with customers, deliver on value propositions, and drive successful business outcomes.
Here at Accord, we conceptualise the consumer journey in five stages: living, looking, booking (or buying), experiencing, and sharing.
Living
In our daily lives, we focus on fulfilling immediate needs rather than actively considering brands or products. This stage is an opportunity to develop brand awareness—to say hello and build rapport with consumers so that they are more likely to think of you as their journey progresses.
Looking
When consumers explore the marketplace with specific needs or desires in mind (such as booking a holiday), advertising that is carefully crafted to match their interests is more likely to capture their attention and pique their curiosity. This stage presents an opportunity for brands to provide information and options for consideration rather than pressuring consumers to make immediate decisions.
Booking/Buying
As consumers move from contemplation to action, it’s important to share timely messages that streamline the purchase path and foster consumer confidence in your offering.
Experiencing
Depending on the product or service, this stage of the consumer journey may last only a few minutes or, in the case of the holiday example, several days or weeks. By integrating a comprehensive comms plan with other aspects of the business, brands can better deliver on the promises made during previous stages, with integrity and transparency.
Sharing
It’s never been easier for customers to share feedback about brands and products. Embracing this dialogue empowers brands to refine marketing strategies and comms plans based on valuable insights from the customer's path to purchase.
Message, audience, channel
Let’s return to the idea of unifying audience, message, and channel. In building an effective comms plan, some key questions to consider include (in no particular order):
Audience
Who are your target customers, and what are they thinking about right now?
What are their needs and preferences?
What factors (including location) influence their purchasing decisions?
Message
Does your messaging align with your brand identity as well as your audience’s needs and values?
Is the message clear, concise, and based on a specific objective?
How will audiences perceive the message? (e.g. differing stages of the consumer journey; potential cultural sensitivities.)
Channel
Which communications channel(s) does your audience engage with the most?
What are your comms objectives, and which channels best support them?
How do the proposed channels complement each other in delivering a cohesive brand experience?
The importance of primary research
We know there are a number of questions we need to answer to build an effective comms plan. A foundational method of gaining these insights is through primary research.
Focus groups, customer surveys, interviews, and online analytics are just some of the strategies used to understand markets and consumer mindsets.
Primary research offers several benefits for comms plans, including:
Obtaining insights into audience preferences, behaviours, and needs.
Ensuring that plans are guided by information, not speculation.
Proactively identifying trends, opportunities, and potential challenges.
Tailoring messages to specific demographics, psychographics, or consumer behaviour.
Enhancing the measurement of comms effectiveness based on baseline metrics.
By taking the time to study trends and characteristics of markets and consumers, you can enhance campaign effectiveness by building consumer profiles, tailoring your messaging to engage those individuals, and directing resources towards channels that align with your brand’s goals and audience readiness.
The Accord approach
Here at Accord, our approach to comms planning is thorough, leaving no stone unturned.
We believe that the best comms plan puts the consumer first. At the same time, it’s important to consider the brand’s objectives, the current marketing landscape, competitors' behaviour, and datasets that may challenge hunches and assumptions.
You can see a high-level view of our process illustrated in the graphic below.
Towards better Comms Planning
Ultimately, a successful comms plan revolves around placing consumers at its core, ensuring messages align with mindsets, and choosing the delivery channels that are the most effective in communicating your brand narrative.
In essence, comms planning is about organising messages that resonate with audiences, facilitating meaningful engagements, and sparking specific, relevant conversations at varying touchpoints along the consumer journey.
Ready to amplify your marketing efforts with better comms planning? Contact our Strategy Team to learn how we can help.
Matt Price
With a wealth of experience in navigating consumer trends and industry landscapes, Matt crafts innovative, creative solutions that deliver tangible results for our clients.
