No organisation can thrive if it does not communicate with its stakeholders, not only the internal ones but those outside, and these include clients, suppliers, partners, opinionists, policy makers, the media and the public at large.

Many companies and organisations can have a lot to say. They all have their story to communicate and by ‘story’, it is not their history but their ongoing development and success and how their operations are working for the common good of their communities and society at large.

This is when it becomes critical for companies who want to communicate, to do it strategically. A strategy is a plan and having a plan means telling yourself what you want, where you are heading, what you want to achieve and being convinced about it.

Before you are convinced, you cannot convince others, just like before you convince a customer, you can never sell him your product or idea. Having a strategy also means knowing who you want to engage, which audiences you are targeting and for which reason, with whom to build a rapport and whose support you need to rope in.

Knowing all this is easy. Assuming a strategic approach to communications is, in fact, pretty straightforward. But developing a good plan that powerfully connects your objectives with a dynamic set of messages and vehicles is harder.

You need to work it out from the bottom up. Very much like writing this article. I had to start by asking myself how I want readers to react to this piece and how I would like them to respond.

Every time I had to draw up a communication plan, I always found myself going through five easily defined stages. First, I had to be clear about my objectives by knowing what results I wanted to achieve. The next step is to identify and know what audiences I want to target.

Once I establish with whom I want to communicate, I start drafting the key messages – since messages are crafted according to which audiences I would be addressing. Once I know what messages I want to put across, I have to determine how I am going to communicate them.

It is important to know which communication channels to use and what their limitations can be. Finally, it is important to have a mechanism in place with which to evaluate the whole exercise. Because learning from eventual failings will make you better.

Communicating effectively means communicating regularly and to do it regularly and with a certain degree of success, you need to have a clearly set out plan. This is why communicating strategically is much better than the ad hoc occasional press release that is perhaps read but easily forgotten.

A strategy is a plan and having a plan means telling yourself what you want, where you are heading, what you want to achieve and being convinced about it

A constant but varied presence across different media and through different methods ensures constant exposure with different audiences. Too much of the same is never idea. It wears off the novelty factor and becomes a boring exercise for all involved.

For the meticulous communicator, devising a strategic plan is possible. Its effectiveness, however, does not only depend on hard and fast rules and strict adherence but also on a healthy dose of creativity. Being creative means being capable of looking at the story from different angles and finding out how different audiences can be attracted to what you want to say.

Therefore, a launch of a new car is not only about a new vehicle on the roads or what mechanical innovations it brings to the market. It is also about the developing strategy of the company that is bringing this new model to the market or how this new model reflects the future the company wants.

To the more tech-savvy, the new car launch will be appealing if one highlights the new gadgets the car maker has invested in and developed; the environment-conscious readers will, on the other hand, be tickled by how much cleaner this model is compared with previous models and what the company is doing to be more environmentally responsible. To those for whom aesthetics are everything, one may wish to concentrate on the looks, style, materials and comfort attributes.

And it is not only about content but about the vehicles that will be publishing your content. Before reaching the respective audiences, you will need to reach, and manage to go past, the journalist or editor to whom you are sending the story.

As you put your communications plan into action and you constantly communicate one story after the other, your audience is gradually learning about you and understanding the messages behind the stories.

Making them see value in what you have to say does not happen overnight but is a constant challenge.

James Vella Clark is PR manager, media relations, at Corporate Identities.