need to prepare a strategic communications plan that could be successfully implemented in the Australian business and legal context. and must identify a corporation or organisation that will be their ‘client’ (i.e. a case study) for this assessment. The goal of this assessment is to develop a strategic communications plan applicable to one of the following scenarios:
1. Assist a multinational corporation or industry lobby group influence the creation of legislation through an effective internal and public lobbying campaign.
Once an organisation and scenario have been chosen, need to conduct research into the background, brands, products, publics, and issues relevant to their case study. For instance, the database Factiva can be used to locate all news stories on a particular corporation and is, therefore, a great source of independent information. Likewise, Annual Reports are an excellent source of information on a corporation’s values, operations and finances. Primary research in the form of a small-scale survey or focus groups in order to test messaging strategies or understand public perceptions of a particular product, company or issue. This communication plan should be written in report format and include the following sections:
1. Introductory Information
• Executive summary (introduce the organisation, the scenario and the aims)
2. Research and analysis
• Background to the problem, issue, scenario or brand
• Situation analysis
• Research findings (primary and secondary findings)
3. Strategy development
• Goals and Objectives (the latter needs to be measurable)
• Publics and Stakeholders
• Key messages and tactics
• Third-party actions (that you might depend on in order to make your communication effective)
• Risk management
• Ethical considerations
• Budgeting (be realistic by sourcing current industry prices)
4. Implementation
• Project management
• Timing
5. Evaluation and adjustment