• How to align your communications with your corporate strategy?
• Assessing your communications environment
• Ensuring that your communication matches strategic intent
• Horizon scanning, forecasting and scenario painting
• Measuring outcomes

By the end of this Strategic Communication: Thinking, Planning and Execution training course, you will be able to:

• Understand organisational strategy and strategic communications issues
• Define the aim, objectives and tactics of a strategic plan
• Identify research needs and ways to source information
• Categories audiences and design programmes to engage them
• Identify risks and plan to manage them
• Scope what can be evaluated and plan how to evaluate them

This RECTUS Strategic Communication: Thinking, Planning and Execution training course is suitable for a wide range of professionals but will significantly benefit:

• Communications professionals
• Directors with communications responsibility
• Corporate Communications Practitioners / Managers
• Public Relations Officers / Managers
• Public Affairs Practitioners
• Marketing Officers / Managers
• Anyone planning a career in PR

DAY 1

Why is Strategic Communication Important?

• Why is communication important – and what is ‘strategic’?
• It starts with the corporate strategy
• Exploring corporate strategy to define your role
• The place of business and communications plans
• Structures for Communications strategies and plans
• Applying these insights to your organisation

DAY 2

Researching Strategy

• The big picture – analysing trends
• Using SWOT, PEST and PESTLE
• Analysing Opportunities and Threats
• Over the horizon events – early warnings
• Research skills
• Research sources

DAY 3

Stakeholder Communications

• Mapping your regular stakeholders
• Identifying ‘situational stakeholders’ by project and issue
• Planning stakeholder communication activities
• Recognising the need for campaigns
• The skills of negotiation and persuasion
• Stakeholder narrative and messaging

DAY 4

Communications Strategy

• Vision, mission, values and strategy
• Account management and business communications strategies
• SMART objectives
• Creating KPIs and CSFs
• Developing your communications plans
• Consulting on your draft strategy

DAY 5

Evaluation 

• Communication – what can be measured
• Gathering and using data
• Making your data gathering plan
• Acquiring the tools – your ‘tech stack.’
• Making strategy happen
• Reporting to the C Suite

Rectus attendance certificate will be issued to all attendees completing minimum of 80% of the total course duration.