When officials at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) wanted to
increase public awareness about CARICOM's single market and
economy, they recognized that communicating clearly and openly
about their motivations, effects and aspirations was essential to
engage the public and win support for long-term development
policies. So they decided to harness the power of strategic
communications.
Build support with target groups
A ten-nation print, radio and advertising campaign followed. The
results were clear. Post-campaign qualitative research showed
growing awareness and support for the single market.
In the same way, trade associations and export promotion
institutions can use strategic communications to reach important
groups. It can help them achieve organizational objectives -
whether that means increasing public support for a policy, breaking
into a new market or easing the path for exporters to reach a new
target group of consumers.
The recent ServiceExportNet meeting organized by ITC (Geneva,
October 2005) highlighted the importance of effective
communications strategies in export development. Participants from
Africa, Europe and Latin America were able to name occasions when
their organizations had appeared in local media. But many questions
remained. Would the coverage help achieve broader organizational
goals? Was their message right? Were they reaching the audience
they needed to? Was their message being delivered consistently and
innovatively beyond the confines and competitiveness of traditional
media sources?
Strategic communications addresses these questions. It demands
the effective integration of communications activities that go
beyond traditional media relations. It uses all the channels at an
organization's disposal, including paid advertising, online and
grass-roots activity, and organizational resources such as web
sites, magazines and films. Thinking more broadly than usual about
communications can help trade promotion organizations maximize the
effectiveness of their resources, identify a winning message and
amplify their voice in the media and beyond.
Integrate communications in your business plan
In the Caribbean, CARICOM officials embarked on a year-long
strategic communications eff ort as part of their business
plan.
As with the other parts of a business plan, getting strategic
communications right requires everybody in the organization to take
a step back and ask some fundamental questions. CARICOM offi cials
convened a two-day strategic planning session, bringing in economic
experts and Caribbean and international communications
professionals to identify the scope, objectives and target
audiences for the communications campaign to follow. After many
years of communicating with key stakeholder groups and
intra-governmental audiences, CARICOM now wanted to increase
awareness of the single market among the general public.
By setting clear goals and identifying the public that the
campaign had to reach, CARICOM planners were able to ensure scarce
resources of time and money would be used exactly where they would
have greatest impact.
With the parameters in place, CARICOM engaged a small team of
advisers from the Caribbean and abroad to conduct a series of
qualitative research discussions with the public and forums with
key stakeholders from business, labour and government. Th rough 12
sessions, the advisers were able to develop an analysis of the
public's understanding of the single market, what elements were
most important to them and how best to communicate the objectives
of the single market with the public and targeted subset groups -
young people, families and business leaders.
A campaign guide
The resulting CARICOM Single Market Message Manual
provided a guide for all communications moving forward - a way to
ensure consistency of a tested and eff ective message over time and
avoid the unfocused lack of clarity produced by messages made on
the basis of whims and hunches.
A series of workshops for "champions" followed, bringing
together representatives of labour, business, academia, the arts,
non-profit groups and government to engage them as partners in the
campaign. These people became spokespersons for the benefits of
closer economic, social and cultural ties within the CARICOM
region.
Champions were briefed on the single market message, given media
training and asked to help the CARICOM team to develop a
grass-roots campaign in each of the region's countries. The
delivery mechanisms included meetings in local town halls, school
and university activity, labour and business publications, and
local government resolutions - all integrated into a regionwide
campaign plan. Each activity was designed to generate local
newspaper coverage and, perhaps, television or radio interest, thus
amplifying the message of each event.
This grass-roots campaign also tapped into a long tradition of
personalized contact as a key source of information for Caribbean
people. Small discussions among friends and families on politics
and policy are a powerful, if informal, method of communication in
the region. It's also important that communications be sensitive to
local traditions. Where possible, in this "word-of-mouth"
tradition, the campaign needed to tap into an existing
infrastructure to allow communications to reach people using a
framework they are already comfortable with.
The final element of the CARICOM model was to supplement the
grass-roots activity with a print, radio and television advertising
campaign. Using the content from the manual, an innovative series
of messages was beamed across the entire region. Radio was
identified as the primary regional information source, so the
majority of communications resources were devoted to that medium.
But campaign planners recognized the power and reach of the cricket
season in most parts of the Caribbean and ran television
advertising during test matches. Highquality print advertising refl
ecting the diversity of the region was targeted at sub-group
populations in the outlets they used.
For example, a full-page business-focused ad was proposed for
newspaper business sections and for popular in-flight
magazines.
Reaching goals more effectively
The CARICOM model can, and should, be applied by trade
associations and export promotion organizations seeking to take
their work to a new level of eff ectiveness.
The model is relevant to all strategic communications: objective
and audience identifi cation; message research and development;
development of a campaign plan that integrates traditional news
media activity with advertising, grass-roots activity and, where
applicable, online capacity; spokesperson training and engagement;
and finally, effective implementation of an integrated
communications strategy.
There are many benefits to strategic communications. Effective
communications can enhance education and raise awareness. It can
generate support for trade association and export promotion
activities among key audiences. Communications can change ideas and
perceptions to create a supportive environment for trade promotion
activity. But only a comprehensive, integrated approach that sees
communications as a central element of the plan can achieve these
goals.
Paul Andrew (pandrew@18to35.org
) advises governments, corporations and non-profi t organizations
on strategic communications, message development and media
relations. He has worked at senior levels with governments in
Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North America to
help them communicateeconomic and trade
initiatives