6 steps to a communication strategy that reaches your target audience

How do you define a communications strategy for your company? We don't always know where to start, or how to go about it.

Yet it's an essential marketing tool for finding new customers, in an age of digital communication where consumers have never been so much in demand. A communications strategy brings together all the communication decisions you've made for your company, and the action plan to achieve your objectives.

So, how do you draw up a communications strategy? Follow the 6 steps step-by-step, get inspired by our example and download our communication strategy template to build a successful strategy. Finally, we offer you a selection of tools to help you manage all your communication actions successfully.

See all software Communications

How do you draw up a communication strategy? 6 steps to follow

Step 1: define your corporate identity and positioning

Your company's identity is characterized by its why- its reason for existing.

Here are three simple questions to help you define it:

• what is your added value, your positioning in relation to your competitors?
• What values does your company hold dear?
• do you have a story to tell?

💡Why is it so important to know your raison d'être? The answers to these questions make up your identity, and your brand image. These are the characteristics that make your company unique, and give it a good reason to exist.

Step 2: Know your target

Ideal customer and marketing communications strategy

Because you don't address an expectant mother in the same way as a gardening enthusiast, you need to know your target customer well, ideally better than they know themselves.

Beyond the demographic characteristics of your ideal customer (buyer persona or persona marketing in Inbound Marketing), you need to understand what drives them, the problems they think about before going to sleep, the emotions they go through and how they express themselves.

This in-depth work will enable you to gather valuable information, which will simplify all your future communication and even marketing, sales and customer relations actions. You'll know how best to meet their needs, and be more accurate in defining and delivering your message.

Here's a non-exhaustive list of the information you can gather:

• profile (age, gender, profession, salary),
• interests, passions, what he does in his spare time,
• his problems, obstacles and frustrations,
• what his life will be like once the problem has been solved,
• his deepest motivations,
• the emotions he's going through,
• the vocabulary, words and expressions they use.

How do you get to know your ideal customer?

Where can you find this information?

• By consulting existing marketing studies,
• by gathering feedback from discussions with your customers,
• using tools such as Google or Facebook ads,
• reading forums, comments and reviews.

Step 3: Set your objectives

The different types of communication objectives

There are four main types of communication objectives:

🗣Develop your brand awareness. Be visible, make your brand, product or new feature known;

😍Work on your brand image. Even if not everyone will be a customer of yours, you still want people to like your products, and for your brand to be associated with something positive. In the long run, a good brand image can positively influence the act of buying ;

💰Make your ideal customer take action, whether it's prompting them to leave their details on your website, go to a physical or virtual point of sale to buy, ask for documentation, go to a point of sale, buy, repurchase ;

🤝Fidelize your customers. By retaining your best customers, you can expect a 25% to 55% increase in sales (source: Cabinet Bain & Company). What's more, a happy customer can become an ambassador for your brand, and thus contribute to the above objectives.

How do you set achievable goals?

The SMART method states that for an objective to be fair, it must be :

• specific,
• measurable,
• achievable,
• realistic,
• temporally defined.

© Reinventing your work

💡Have you just set up your business? The first objective of your communications strategy will be your brand awareness, to make your company known to as many people as possible. You can then divide your efforts between the other objectives.

Step 4: Choose the right message

Now that you've explored the different facets of your company and your ideal customer in depth, you need to make sure they understand your company and how it can help them solve their problems.

What makes a good message?

• short and clear,
• appropriate vocabulary,
• focused on benefits (not features),
• subtly mentioning the differentiating factor.

Step 5: communication actions

Choose the right communication channels for your message

Now that you know your customer better, you know which channels to use to convey your message.

Questions to ask yourself :

• Which social networks do they spend most time on?
• Which physical locations do they frequent?
• Do they like to receive e-mail?
• Do they watch TV? If so, in which time slots?
• which trade shows does he attend?

💡 Tip: opting for a multi-channel strategy maximizes your chances of reaching your target.

Concrete communication actions

Here's a non-exhaustive list of the different communication actions you can take, depending on the channels you use.

For a digital communication strategy:

• Social networks: publications (photos, product videos), sponsored publications, partnerships with influencers, interaction in comments, organization of live events ;
• Emailing: promotional emails, content sharing;
• Blogging, content marketing: writing articles, publishing infographics.

For a conventional communication strategy:

• Events: participation in trade shows, organization of conferences ;
• Media: commercials, radio advertising, press articles, etc.

Your company is unique, and so should your strategy!

Build a tailor-made communications strategy for your ideal customer, with your personal touch so you're recognizable at first glance.

💡Think about the cost of the actions you want to implement, so you can allocate a sufficient budget to them.

Step 6: draw up a communication plan

The communication plan is a document that acts as an action plan. It communicates the strategy to the teams concerned, so that everyone is moving in the right direction: it sets the course.

In it, you can set out your communications strategy, based on the various considerations you've made in advance (communications objectives, target, budget).

Next, list the actions to be taken. Describe them in detail, estimate the budget allocated to their realization, as well as the recurrence of the actions (for example, writing a blog article every week).

Ideally, plan the actions in a retro-planning schedule, so you can see at a glance what's planned for the coming weeks or even months.

To facilitate the creation of your communication plan and the management of your project, we recommend the use of project management software. This will give you a better overview (budget, expenses, stakeholders, deadlines, etc.) and enable you to coordinate all the players involved.

Example of a corporate communications strategy

Context

After the birth of her first child, and faced with the difficulties of decorating her baby's room, a young mother launched her business selling objects dedicated to decorating children's rooms, on her Baby Déco e-commerce site.

▶ The company's raison d'être

To offer young parents objects that are modern, cute and made in France to decorate their child's bedroom.

▶ Its values

• Made in France,
• quality products,
• aesthetic objects.

Objective and target

Develop Baby déco's notoriety by reaching 1,000 followers on Instagram, 400 likes on the Facebook page and 100 newsletter subscribers.

👤Ideal target profile

• Future or young parents,
• Between 25 and 35 years old,
• Ideally for a first child,
• Professionally active, comfortable standard of living,
• Very active on social networks,
• Modern, they like to follow trends,
• Sensitive to the aesthetics of beautiful objects in general.

🤯Problems encountered

• We don't know where to start or what to buy?
• How can we have a safe room for baby?
• We're not homeowners: how do we decorate without painting, making holes or major work?
• We're keeping the baby's sex a surprise: how can we decorate the room accordingly?
• We live in a studio: how can we create a cosy corner for him?
• We have lots of ideas for themes to decorate the room, how do we decide?

💭Description of their ideal daily routine

Baby is calm and soothed when he's in his room. It's a safe, secure environment in which nothing bad can happen to him. This cozy, warm cocoon allows him to wake up, and play alone or with his parents. Those around him find the room pretty and well-decorated.

💪Motivations of young parents

• To offer the best to their child, to be good parents and to be seen as such,
• The desire for a trendy, original bedroom that's different from the classic decor they may have known as children,
• Decorating is a pleasure, allowing you to project yourself and wait for the long-awaited arrival of your baby,
• Spend quality time together as a family in the bedroom,
• Having a room that's unlike any other around them (desire to stand out, to be unique).

✨Emotions felt

• Hesitation between practicality and aesthetics,
• Disappointment (with current decor),
• Lack of inspiration,
• An idea, but already seen around,
• Excitement,
• Joy,
• Impatience.

🗣Vocabulary used

• List words and adjectives to describe the room
• List words and adjectives for their child.

💌The message

Baby déco is an online boutique specializing in items to fully decorate baby's room. When you buy from this site, you can be sure that the room will be both trendy and cute, and that the products are made in France.

Communication channels to reach the ideal customer

• Social networks (Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest),
• Blog,
• Email.

Communication plan: action plan and budget

Social networks

• post product photos,
• post tutorials on trendy topics (how to wear baby in a sling, positive parenting, etc.),
• partner with like-minded mommy influencers,
• do liveshows to answer questions,
• sponsored posts through advertising.

Estimated monthly budget :

• 200 € for advertising,
• 100 € of items to send to influencers.

Blog

• writing articles on parenting, decoration, childhood,
• create infographics,
• make selections of objects from the site for a complete bedroom decoration.

Estimated monthly budget :

• 300 € graphic designer budget for infographics

Emailing:

• newsletter with news sharing, new products and new blog posts,
• email sequences triggered by the harvesting of an email thanks to marketing automation,
• promotional emails with exclusive discounts.

Estimated monthly budget :

• 19 € emailing software subscription

Communication strategy template [PDF example to download]

Now it's your turn! We've provided a template for you to fill in to draw up your communication strategy:

The toolbox for your communication strategy

Here is our selection of the different types of software that can help you throughout your communications strategy.

• To plan your communications strategy: project management software;

• To monitor your e-reputation: reputation management software;
• To manage your social networks and plan your publications: social network management software;
• To launch your blog: CMS software;
• For your email campaigns: emailing software;
• To create and retouch your images: image editing and retouching software.

See all software Communications

Opt for a communication strategy that suits you

Communicating is essential for your business, whether it's to raise awareness, enhance your brand image or encourage your target audience to make a purchase.

Ultimately, your communication activities are the only thing the outside world sees about you, and it's vital that they reflect your identity and values.

So be careful not to "sell the dream" through your communications: the quality of your service or products must be at least equal to the value perceived by your future customers, or you risk disappointment.

If your communication is honest, sincere and true to yourself, then it will be successful.

So, are you ready to start planning your communication strategy?