“A Vision without a Plan is Just a Hallucination” – Atkinson PR’s Adage No.1
Diversity remains a cornerstone that defines the various manifestations of nature – and the natural processes that form the backdrop of life on earth. In the domain of flora & fauna, many millennia of evolution have allowed plants and animals to evolve into their current states. Each species communicates through specific methods; plants may communicate by transmitting chemical signals to their neighbors, while elephants choose to issue billowing calls that echo through forests. Similarly, the domain of modern commerce demands an effective communication plan when businesses seek to connect with a variety of stakeholders. Such communication must be modulated to help enterprises profess intent and plans of action. Some experts aver, “Developing a communication plan can help focus your message and reach your target audience. A plan can also influence the efficiency and simplicity of your communication methods.“
Flowcharts, or inter-linked expanses of schematic illustrations, help businesses to craft targeted communication campaigns. They form the bedrock of an effective communication plan that connects a business to various stakeholders. Business operators can imbue this effective communication plan with elements that promote efficient, effective, and lasting communication. For instance, an operator of commercial jetliner services can fashion flowcharts to advertise its business success through key numbers. The various stages of the flowchart can include the number of passengers that use the service during each calendar year, the number of on-time departures, turnaround times at each airport, the revenue earned from such passenger traffic, the volumes of freight flown each year, etc. In effect, the illustration emerges as an effective communication plan that details key performance metrics of the business. Consequently, stakeholders are able to gain a snapshot of the enterprise, thereby validating the efficacy of the communication plan.
Clarity is central to the construction of an effective communication plan. In line with this, analysts and business operators must invest significant levels of thought in constructing such plans. The wide expanse of a flowchart diagram can help businesses identify the purpose of communication, identify the various segments of the intended audience, design the message, and strategize on how to develop connections with mass media outlets. In doing so, a business operator is essentially boosting the proverbial sinews of an effective communication plan. These actions represent an ongoing enterprise that will allow the business to broadcast different messages via various channels. In addition, business operators may elect to invest effort in separate flowchart diagrams that fashion the negotiation of unforeseen obstacles and emergencies. Each stage of these flowcharts represents the proverbial stepping stone to higher levels of communication between a business and its many stakeholders.
The use of layered communication may amplify the end-result of an effective communication plan in modern times. Communication experts note such communication allows a business to maintain stability in intricate relationships with various categories of stakeholders. Flowcharts that depict layered communication may manifest in the form of multiple lines of inter-connected stages stretched horizontally across an open space. Hence, an effective communication plan must seek to establish and nurture connections between market regulators, key customers, the vendor community, groups of market competitors, suppliers, business employees, etc. In addition to forging such communication links, a business operator must strive to keep all stakeholders on the proverbial same page. This implies real-time communications with all stakeholders. The flowchart can serve as an admirable vehicle that allows the creation and sustenance of such an effective communication plan.
An audience is the key recipient that holds centerstage in an effective communication plan. This realization must drive the efforts of business operators when they embark on the voyage of creating an effective communication plan. Typically, communication experts recommend planners must bucket audiences in terms of various factors; these include demographics, geography, health, income, behavior, attitude, employment levels, etc. Each of these factors must find prominent placement inside a flowchart diagram. Groups of sub-stages may emerge from each of these stages. These sub-stages may detail the tiny moving parts that animate each stage. The illustration that emerges from these exertions may represent the prototype of an effective communication plan. However, every business operator must strive to refine the outlines of such a plan with a view to accommodate emerging factors that may cast implications on a communication campaign.
Further to the above, an effective communication plan emerges when planners craft their message with the audience in mind. These individuals must plan and implement the content of the message as the central plank in creating such a communication plan. For instance, modern adult literacy campaigns may choose to spotlight the euphoria that characterizes the behavior of successful adult learners. This strategy hinges on the valid assumption that such projections will empower adult literacy campaigns to attract new learners, thereby creating a virtuous cycle that helps sponsors to inch closer to the realization of civilizational goals such as universal adult literacy. The flowchart can (and must) be deployed in strategizing an effective communication plan that represents the beating heart of a modern campaign. This assertion stems from the inter-connected nature of the illustration and its efficacy in planning the moving parts of an effective communication plan.
The channels of communication serve a vital purpose in developing the outline of an effective communication plan. The creators of such a plan may sketch flowcharts emblazoned with various channels that allow the sponsor to reach stakeholders. The various stages inside such a flowchart may include promotional materials such as posters, caps, mugs, T-shirts, newsletters, press releases, Internet elements, community outreach, presentations, etc. The depiction of each of these stages inside the flowchart presents a plethora of communication channels; sponsors may select the channels best suited to their purpose. In addition, a business operator may choose to combine the different elements offered by each channel in a bid to amplify the impact of an effective communication plan. However, we note the selection of communication channels may merit revision in line with emerging market landscapes.
Crisis planning may mean different things and its definition may depend on the point of view of an individual stakeholder. An effective communication plan must include the outlines of stratagems designed to deal with a sudden crisis. In line with this, flowchart diagrams that describe such plans must contain specific sections that allow sponsors to negotiate sudden changes or disruptions. The outlines of such planning may include emergency telephone numbers, a special email address, contingency plans that must be activated in a crisis, mechanisms to deal with errors, frameworks to initiate immediate communications with mass media outlets, etc. These actions, when described inside a flowchart, may find expression in congested clusters of stages and sub-stages. Dense ganglia of inter-connections may emerge to cover said expanses inside a flowchart. However, these expressions must be viewed as an essential part of an effective communication plan.
The exposition is an attempt to raise appreciation of the idea of using flowcharts to fashion an effective communication plan. The core logic of deploying flowcharts in such ventures resides in the native ability of these diagrams to fashion a communication strategy from scratch. Further, business operators may deploy legacy blueprints of such illustrations to create a modern version of an effective communication plan. That said, we note revision and close re-examinations of the moving parts featured in these illustrations can point the way to the creation of original communication strategies.
