The big picture
Your communication plan is not about crafting and delivering message—it's about the business you support. When you put the business goals front and center, it reminds you to align your activities.

A situation analysis
A focused situation analysis builds a strong foundation for your plan. It helps you make a case for the objectives, strategies and tactics that follow. It typically addresses the contributing factors for creating a communication plan like recent organizational changes and rollout of new corporate goals/objectives.

Strong objectives
Objectives describe the results you want to achieve; they are the best opportunity to focus your efforts. Remember you may only need two-to-three objectives, which need to be, SMART: Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic and Timebound. And make sure what you do every day is included, so you create a complete picture of communication.

Strategies and tactics
Strategies are the "hows" you use to achieve your objectives; tactics are the specific tasks you will execute. When you create strategies and develop tactics to support them, it will create a natural organization for your plan. Most plans we create include seven or eight strategies, with several tactics to support each strategy.

Measurement
When you measure communication, you demonstrate value. If an internal communications survey is not an option, use other metrics—such as web trends and spot surveys—to demonstrate your success. By featuring metrics and keeping them top of mind, you'll check your progress on a regular basis.