The document discusses the fundamentals of creating a successful communications plan, including setting goals and objectives, developing a strategy using appropriate tactics, measuring outcomes, and using research to inform the plan. It provides examples from the National Portrait Gallery, which doubled its entry goal for a portrait competition, and the ASPCA, which exceeded goals for media coverage, website traffic, and new registered users from a campaign. The key lessons are that objectives must support business goals, measurement is essential, and research and measurement should inform strategy.

1. Burke’s Anatomy
The Skinny on Creating & Implementing a
Successful & Strategic Communications Plan

2. Remember When… Success =
Media Impressions

3. The Early Years

4. The Missing Link
PR/Communications Business Value

5. Fundamentals of Planning
Goals
Objectives
Strategy
& Tactics

6. Smithsonian’s
National Portrait Gallery
First-ever Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition (2005-2006)
Courtesy: National Portrait Gallery

7. What was the problem?
• NPG perceived as outdated
• Lack of connection with today’s artists
• Portraiture not perceived as “cool” or “hip”
• Aimed to reach emerging & mid-career
artists
• Needed to secure 2,000 entries for the
contest to be viable
Courtesy: National Portrait Gallery

8. Research
Courtesy: National Portrait Gallery

9. What We Did
• Media outreach
• Media buy
• Direct mail
• “Portrait of an Artist”

10. Results
• Changed creative
• Impacted tactics &
collateral
• Influenced media buy
• Influenced media
outreach
• Net-net: 4,000+
entries (double goal)
Courtesy: National Portrait Gallery

11. Campbell’s Soup
Inviting customers to
connect with the brand…
And personalizing the
relationship.
Courtesy: LiveWorld

12. Campbell’s Soup Courtesy: LiveWorld
Focus on
people, brand
culture, and
conversation.
A social venue: Introductions and
conversation starters.

13. Conscious hosting: storytelling
and user recognition
Campbell’s Soup Courtesy: LiveWorld

14. Campbell’s Soup
Storytelling: Allow
topical drift to
engage to purpose
Courtesy: LiveWorld

15. In a Soup Can…
• Campbell’s emailed 40,000 cooking moms (mostly
on AOL)
• 4,000 or 10% came to recipe message forum site
and registered
• 2,000 or 5% of the 40K = 50% of the
4,000 participated for the next several weeks
• Over the next year a total of 20% or 8,000 of the
40,000 came by the site
Courtesy: LiveWorld

16. Connecting Communications To
Business Objectives
 Communications objectives MUST support business
objectives, i.e. the bottom line
 Define your “communications universe”
 Integrate tactics
 Measure your messages: prominence & dominance
 Measure the market: “share of voice,”
positioning, exposure
 How are your “key performance indicators” (KPIs)
doing?
 What’s your “cost per impression” (CPI)?

17. The Process
• Where do you want to be?
• “Big picture” language
Goals
• Quantifiable
• Time-bound
Objectives • Correlate to organizational KPIs
• Research-based
• How you’ll achieve these measurable objectives
Strategy • Right tactics for the right audiences

18. Launch of the ASPCA’s “Mobile
Animal CSI Unit”
Courtesy: ASPCA

19. Tactics
• Micro-site featuring a “pledge to fight animal
cruelty”, www.fightcruelty.org
• Aggressive media outreach
• Integrated social media & internal
communications
• Postings on ASPCA’s online community, MySpace
and Facebook pages
• Pre- and post-surveys to gauge post-launch and
campaign awareness

20. Results
• Secured earned media coverage in all top 50 DMAs (goal):
o Print: 2.3 million+ impressions
o Radio: 7.5 million listeners
o TV: 16,000,000+ viewers
• Raised Web traffic by >22% over November (more than
double goal of 10%)
• Secured 4,700 new registered users via signing of Anti-
Cruelty pledge: 56% > goal (3,000)
• Pre- to post-survey awareness 28%
• Expense budget: $130,000
• CPI: $.10

21. KPIs Business Objectives
350,000,000 700,000
300,000,000 600,000
250,000,000 500,000
Web site visitors
Exposure
200,000,000 400,000
150,000,000 300,000
100,000,000 200,000
50,000,000 100,000
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Overall exposure Web traffic
Courtesy: KD Paine & Partners

22. KPIs Business Objectives
350,000,000 $1,800,000
$1,600,000
300,000,000
$1,400,000
250,000,000
$1,200,000
Donations
Exposure
200,000,000 $1,000,000
Overall exposure
Online donations
$800,000
150,000,000
$600,000
100,000,000
$400,000
50,000,000
$200,000
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Courtesy: KD Paine & Partners

23. The Seven Basic Steps*
• Identify your audiences/publics
• Define objectives for each audience
• Define your measurement criteria
• Define your benchmark
• Select a measurement tool
• Analyze data, draw actionable conclusions,
make recommendations
• Make changes, measure again
*Measuring Public Relationships, Katie Delahaye Paine

24. Getting Started
Objectives
Measurement
Strategy
• Are they • Have you • Outputs
measurable? identified all • Outtakes
your
• Are they • Outcomes
audiences?
quantifiable? • ALWAYS
• What research
• Do they relate connect to KPIs
will you base
to your
your strategy
organization’s
on?
KPIs?
• What tactics
will you use to
reach each
audience?

25. The Point Is…
#1: You cannot have “successful” or
“strategic” communications without
measurement.

26. The Point Is…
#2: Research and measurement go hand
in hand.

27. The Point Is…
#3: Data is your best friend.

28. The Point Is…
#4: Integrate communications for
best results.

29. Questions?
You can find me at:
Email: info@shonaliburke.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/shonali
Blog: www.WaxingUnLyrical.com
Web: www.shonaliburke.com
Skype: sburke15
Thank you!