How do you change your communication plan to fit new feedback?

1 Assess the feedback

Before you make any changes to your communication plan, you need to assess the feedback you receive from your stakeholders. Feedback can come in various forms, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, social media comments, or analytics. You need to analyze the feedback and identify the main themes, issues, or opportunities that emerge. You also need to consider the source, validity, and relevance of the feedback. Is it representative of your target audience? Is it based on facts or opinions? Is it aligned with your communication goals and objectives?

2 Prioritize the changes

Once you have assessed the feedback, you need to prioritize the changes you need to make to your communication plan. As you may not be able to address all the feedback at once, it is important to focus on the most important or urgent changes. To do so, you can use a matrix or scoring system to rank the changes according to their impact and feasibility. For instance, consider the criteria of impact (how much will the change improve communication effectiveness or stakeholder satisfaction?) and feasibility (how easy or difficult will it be to implement the change in terms of resources, time, or budget?). Assign a score to each change and sort them from high to low priority.

3 Update your plan

After you have prioritized the changes, you need to update your communication plan accordingly. You may need to revise your goals, messages, channels, audiences, or evaluation methods based on the feedback. For instance, refine your goals to be more specific, achievable, relevant, and time-bound; adjust your messages to be clearer, consistent, and more compelling; choose different channels to reach your audience more effectively or efficiently; segment your audience more precisely or expand your reach to new segments; and use different evaluation methods to measure your communication outcomes or outputs. It is important to document the changes in your communication plan and communicate them to the team and other stakeholders involved in the execution.

4 Monitor and evaluate

Finally, you need to monitor and evaluate the results of your changes. You need to track the performance of your communication activities and collect feedback from your stakeholders regularly. You need to compare the results with your baseline and your goals and see if the changes have made a positive difference. You also need to identify any gaps, challenges, or risks that may arise and address them promptly. You should report the results and the lessons learned to your team and other stakeholders and celebrate your successes.

Changing your communication plan to fit new feedback is not a one-time event. It is an ongoing process that requires constant attention and improvement. By following these tips, you can make sure that your communication plan is always relevant, effective, and responsive to your stakeholders' needs and expectations.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?