Effective Planning of Media Campaigns

Sustained media campaigns can help drive strategic organizational change, build public perceptions and drive reputation with key stakeholders. Well planned and executed campaigns are a cost-effective means of changing perceptions and increasing stakeholder value for an organisation.

This powerful program takes a problem solving approach to the design of media campaigns. By closely fitting the campaign to core business priorities as well as project objectives, campaign design reinforces key messages and organizational strategy. Participants will develop the skills to design, plan, cost, deliver and evaluate campaigns using the full range of media and channels. Case study examples in print and video will be used throughout.

Action planning for the workplace to put ideas into action is a strong feature of the program.

Objective:

• To examine the range of media campaigns and the purposes that they can achieve.
• To develop a problem-solving approach to match media campaign strategy to business objectives.
• To plan media campaigns to meet need setting clear objectives with behavioral outcomes and measurable results.
• To examine a wide range of successful campaigns to judge the differing strategies and use of channels and media.
• To learn how to evaluate media campaigns to demonstrate success to the business and to develop campaign methodology.

The program emphasizes the following competencies:

• Problem solving methodology to match media campaigns to business objectives/priorities.
• Planning to cost, schedule, deliver and monitor campaign activities.
• Persuasive techniques to win support of top tier management for campaigns and convince other managers and staff to participate.
• Use of a wide range of channels and media to reach audiences in a way that will influence their behavior. This includes e-media.
• Effective evaluation techniques to measure the impact on audiences and to monitor changes in their behavior.
• Summarizing and reporting impact to the business to demonstrate contribution to achieving organizational objectives.

Course Outline

Day 1 – Effective Media Campaigns:

• Welcome and introduction.
• Media campaigns – their use and their risks.
• Case study examples – what works and what does not.
• Practical example – tackling a business challenge.
• An introduction to evaluation.

Day 2 – A Problem-Solving Approach to Campaigns:

• Business strategy and problem identification.
• Problem solving methods – choosing the right one.
• Problem analysis – desk research, stakeholder analysis, PEST and SWOT.
• Setting measurable objectives.
• Force field analysis and risk identification.

Day 3 – Planning and Costing Campaigns:

• Identifying the stages of the campaign and decision points.
• Preparing an effective schedule – critical path analysis.
• Costing the plan and preparing a budget.
• Practice case-studies.
• Co-ordinating campaign elements across stakeholder groups.

Day 4 – Channels, Delivery and Evaluation:

• From strategy to tactics.
• Principles of evaluation.
• Research tools and methods.
• Channel effectiveness and use of media.
• Using influencer strategies to multiply effectiveness.

Day 5 – Putting it all together – Effective Delivery in Your Organisation:

• A risk-management approach.
• Dealing with contingencies.
• Winning support – selling ideas to others in the business.
• Ensuring that results are seen and credited.
• Personal action planning.