How to create an internal communications strategy

Here is an 11-step approach to creating your Internal Communication Plan:

1. Understand Your Current Situation

Understanding your current situation is the first step in creating an effective internal communication plan. This involves analyzing your organization’s current communication landscape, including the channels, tools, and processes used to communicate with employees. It’s essential to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your current communication strategy and understand the needs and preferences of your employees.

Conduct a communication audit to gain a comprehensive understanding. This involves reviewing your organization’s communication policies, procedures, and practices. Additionally, gather feedback through employee surveys or focus groups to pinpoint areas for improvement.

Consider these key questions:

• What are the current communication channels used in our organization?
• How effective are these channels in reaching our employees?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of our current communication strategy?
• What are the communication preferences of our employees?
• What are the key challenges and opportunities facing our organization, and how can internal communication help address them?

By answering these questions, you can lay a solid foundation for your internal communication plan.

2. Measure your activity

Measurement is the key to a successful internal comms strategy and it’s what transforms internal comms from shooting in the dark to an effective management tool. In order to plan ahead it is necessary to measure your performance to date:

• What were the high value activities, what activities were of low value?
• How did you perform against your goals, KPIs and expectations?
• Be sure to get feedback from your senior leaders, peers and your audiences on the communications and campaigns they found most useful
• Don’t just look at your most successful campaigns and strategies, a lot can be learned from knowing where it went wrong – where are you losing your audience?

For more information on measuring your internal communication, check out our benchmark whitepaper: The Ultimate Guide to Measuring Internal Communications.

3. Assess your channels, campaigns, and tools

It can be easy to focus on the latest, shiniest, or newest communications channels in your internal communication arsenal. But what is the most effective and driving engagement?

Here are some of the questions you need to ask in order to find out what’s working and what needs to change:

• What channel delivers the most impact and prompts the most action?
• What tools are best for optimizing that channel?
• How do your audiences prefer to receive information?
• What tool or channel was best at driving traffic to important company messages?
• What campaigns performed best, what made them stand out?

In order to find out the answer to these questions it is necessary to complete a channel assessment.

Get more top tips on what to measure across your internal digital channels.

4. Identify your audiences – and how to reach them

Understanding your audience will help you to understand how to communicate more effectively. How can you segment your employees so your communications are more targeted and relevant?

• What are their likes/dislikes/preferences?
• What are their interests?
• How do they consume information (including which platform e.g. mobile)?
• Where are they located globally?
• Who are the thought leaders in your organization and leading contributors on your intranet?
• What groups are most active on your ESN?
• What types of messages get the most likes, comments, views, and shares?

Understanding your audience is crucial for boosting employee engagement, as it helps in creating communication strategies that enhance the connection between employees and the organization.

Using this information you can create a tailored communications plan that allows you to select the most appropriate channel and tailor your message for different audiences.

5. Brainstorm

Your plan will include specific ways that you can reach your audience throughout the year. Take time to step back with your team and brainstorm the tactics that will be used. The communications team plays a critical role in organizing sessions to brainstorm effective channels and tactics for conveying key messages. Here is where you set out the types of communication that will best convey your message to your target audience. This may include targeted weekly newsletters, blog posts, videos, social media, podcasts, video conferencing, posters – look at the tools available to you and see if there are new ways you and your team could use these tools differently to reach your audience.

6. SWOT it out

A SWOT analysis can be included in the brainstorming phase of your internal communication planning, it works best when you focus on key areas and have specific goals and objectives in mind. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. A SWOT analysis is quite simple in principle, and it should remain a simple process – avoid over-analysis. What is really important is focusing on how the items listed impact on achieving the goals.

Engaging with key stakeholders during the SWOT analysis is crucial to accurately assess the current business needs and develop an effective communication plan.

A number of templates are available online free of charge. One that is recommended by industry experts is the template created by Mind Tools; it includes a helpful video guide.

7. Set your smart goals

In order to set these goals it is important to ask why. Why are these specific goals and objectives being set? Why is it necessary to achieve them and why is it necessary to address them in this time period? Each goal should be S.M.A.R.T - that is Simple, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely. Get into the nitty-gritty of how you are going to achieve these goals.

Strategic communication plans play a crucial role in achieving these SMART goals by enabling organizations to engage teams, drive narratives, and align communication goals with broader organizational objectives.

The next step in setting goals and objectives is to identify how the strategic internal communication plan will close the gap between the current beliefs or actions and the desired outcome.

8. Craft Your Messages

Crafting your messages is a critical step in creating an effective internal communication plan. Your messages should be clear, concise, relevant to your employees, and aligned with your organization’s business objectives and values.

When crafting your messages, consider the following best practices:

• Keep your messages simple and easy to understand.
• Use a clear and concise tone.
• Focus on the key points you want to communicate.
• Use storytelling techniques to make your messages more engaging.
• Incorporate visual aids such as images, videos, and infographics to support your messages.

It’s also essential to consider the key messages you want to communicate to your employees. These messages should be aligned with your organization’s business objectives and values. Some examples of key messages include:

• Our organization’s mission and vision.
• Our business objectives and goals.
• Our values and culture.
• Our policies and procedures.
• Our expectations and responsibilities.

By following these best practices, you can ensure that your messages resonate with your employees and support your overall communication strategy.

9. Create your plan and your calendar

Now that you have completed the groundwork, it is time to write your internal communication plan.

An internal communication plan template can be highly beneficial in structuring your plan, ensuring that all necessary elements are included and organized effectively.

Your plan should include:

• Your executive summary
• An overview of the previous year’s achievements
• Details of your target audience
• Your goals and objectives
• Tactics and tools that will be used
• Metrics and KPIs that will be used to assess progress

In addition to these fundamental areas, a communications calendar for the year ahead can be included, containing a quarterly, monthly, and weekly plan. Outline who on the team will be responsible for the tasks and what new tools, skills, or education will be needed to achieve these goals.

10. Set out your budget

Once your plan is in place and you have set out the activities, tactics, tools, skills and headcount needed, the next step is to set out your budget.

The internal communications team plays a crucial role in justifying budget needs by demonstrating the strategic value of coordinated messaging and employee engagement.

For many Internal Communication functions, budget is awarded at a percentage of your previous years spend while others must apply on a project by project basis.

If you need to increase your budget to achieve your goals, a good place to start is to demonstrate to budget holders and senior leaders the ROI and achievements of the Internal Communications function in the current financial year.

Using your plan you can outline how and where the requested increase in budget will be used to improve on these figures. Also highlight any constraint in achieving these objectives should the additional budget not be granted.

11. Communicate your internal communication plan

Now that your plan has almost been finalized, there is just one final step. That is to inform senior leaders, team members, and other stakeholders of your internal communications strategy. A detailed brief on the plan should be presented to all department members, allowing plenty of time for questions and discussions.

For example, you can use an internal communications strategy example to illustrate the plan, highlighting tips and best practices for developing a successful internal communications program.

Create a high-level strategic brief for leaders, peers and other stakeholders. Ensure that KPIs and demonstrable results are central to this plan. Ask for input and feedback. Providing an opportunity for internal partners to input into the plan gives the Internal Communications function the opportunity to develop trust among senior leaders. It is also an opportunity for you to receive information on plans, strategies and projects that other departments in the organization are planning for the year ahead.

Outlining Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and connecting these goals to the organization’s objectives enables the department to clearly demonstrate ROI and potentially earn a seat at the decision-making table.