Here's how you can effectively manage corporate communication projects through strategic thinking.

Managing corporate communication projects through strategic thinking requires a combination of foresight, planning, and adaptability: 1-Utilize Data and Insights: Leverage data and insights to inform your strategic decision-making process. Use analytics tools to track the performance of your communication efforts, measure audience engagement, and identify areas for improvemen 2-Allocate Resources Wisely including budget, time, and manpower, effectively to support your communication projects 3-Stay Agile and Adaptive: Remain agile and adaptive in your approach to corporate communication projects.

This is a very important stage for any communications activity. It is at this stage that you set SMART goals after your situation analysis has been done. Your goals will determine your audience, your channel, your message, tone, language etc. The goals also guides in the monitoring and evaluation method and processes.

“Begin with the end in mind” as Stephen Covey rightly said in his book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." This way, you can better align your actions and efforts to achieve the desired goals. Make sure you have defined your key objectives and that all your key stakeholders are aligned with the direction you wish to take.

Une carte ou une matrice des parties prenantes est un élément important de tout plan de communication. En faisant le travail en amont pour capturer les canaux disponibles et préférés de chaque groupe, ainsi que les forums existants, vous vous assurez de les rencontrer là où ils se trouvent. L'étude du style, du langage et du format des communications réussies dans ces espaces peut faire une grande différence dans votre réussite

Effectively managing corporate communication projects through strategic thinking involves a clear, methodical approach. Begin by defining the project's goals and aligning them with the organization’s broader objectives. Conduct a stakeholder analysis to understand the needs and expectations of all parties involved. Develop a comprehensive plan that outlines key messages, channels, timelines, and responsibilities. Utilize project management tools to track progress and ensure timely execution. Regularly evaluate the impact of your communications, adjusting strategies based on feedback and measurable results. Foster a culture of collaboration and openness, encouraging team members to contribute ideas and solutions.

Defining your personas, such an important, but often missed step. Knowing, defining their needs, identifying where to get in touch with them. I totally agree with this.

Now comes the hard part. Match your goal for a specific target audience with the goal of your target audience. Now connect your strategic goal and your audiences' goals. Will it work? Not yet.

You can know your audience by meeting them. Take 30 minutes with a few people in the organization to do a physical or virtual "ride along" where you under stand what does a day i the life look like for them. Once those are complete you should have enough information (even at a high level) to put your findings to paper for an audience analysis. Consider their: - Job level, Demographics - Goals/Needs - Challenges - Preferred sources/methods of communicating This information should help you build audience personas to inform your communications strategies.

To identify and understand your audience, begin by defining your target demographic based on things like age, gender, location, and interests. To do this you can use surveys, interviews, and even focus groups to get an understanding of what they prefer, what they need, and what turns them off. Check data from website analytics, social media metrics, and customer feedback to build a better overall picture. Group your audience based on common characteristics and behaviour to tailor your messaging, and use the right communication channels for each.

Get an understanding of where your target audience spends their time, whether it's social media, websites, or traditional media outlets. That will help you decide which channels, and which type of content, to use. Images are better for platforms like Instagram, while more detailed information is better suited to a blog or email newsletter. Don’t make the mistake of focusing only on social channels. Some of those you’re trying to reach will still be influenced by print, online or broadcast media. Other effective channels could be speaking platforms and events your audience attends.

For this link to work, you need to build a chain of your actions and benefits to your target audience that leads them to their goals, and therefore you to yours. Choosing channels is an action, defining the message is an action, etc. This line is never straight, there will be dead ends, forks and cross-connections.

For perfect timing, you need to understand your weight as a newsmaker. If you can do the news, your timing is determined by other newsmakers (but they are few). If you can't do the news, but act as an expert with commentary, your timing is determined by other newsmakers. But in both cases, you need to pay attention to two other parameters - coverage paradigm and coverage density. The coverage paradigm is the dominant angle and it's very hard to change. Coverage density is the number and frequency of publications on an issue. If an editor believes that there are enough publications on a topic, it is difficult to return to the topic.

There are two approaches to measuring impact - the first is statistical. The number of publications, mentions, coverage.... But influence isn't about numbers, it's about the choices your desired audience makes according to your strategic objective. And the most difficult (and consequently the most influential) is a paradigm shift in coverage and a series of articles that rethink the topic of strategic communications. For example, the WSJ series on Theranos.

It surprises me how frequently companies, regardless of size, overlook the importance of defining key messages regularly, whether quarterly or annually. While they may have a clear vision for the products and services they wish to promote and the campaigns they plan to run, many fail to establish essential corporate messages that should underpin every announcement and campaign. I advocate for clients to adopt a disciplined approach in defining and garnering agreement on key messages. A precisely crafted messaging architecture serves as a guiding principle when prioritizing content to align with corporate objectives.