2.1 Guidelines for creating an external communications strategy

2.1    Guidelines for creating an external communications strategy

This section outlines the main elements and steps for developing a comprehensive external communications strategy, and provides suggestions for an implementation plan. Each statistical organization is unique, and the guidelines should be adapted to suit the needs of individual organizations.

This section will describe the following elements to consider to develop an effective communications strategy:

• values and principles
• environmental scan
• communications objectives
• audience segmentation
• communication channels
• content strategy.

2.1.1     Values and principles

The communications strategy should be aligned with the values and principles that underpin statistical organizations and that are defined by the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics. These will guide the development of the communications strategy and decisions related to implementation.

The following values should guide the development of a statistical organization’s communications strategy:

• ethical
• independent (without influence)
• honest
• trustworthy

The principles upon which a statistical organization should establish its communications activities include:

• impartial
• visible/vocal
• equal access
• relevant
• timely
• flexible
• confidential/secure
• innovative
• use of appropriate tone, content and channel for the identified audience.

2.1.2    Environmental scan

An environmental scan provides information that organizations can use to design new objectives and strategies, or modify existing ones. Environmental scanning is defined as the careful monitoring of an organization’s internal and external environments to detect early signs of opportunities and/or threats that may influence current and future plans.

The following elements should be considered in an environmental scan:

• SWOT analysis—What are your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats? Strengths and weaknesses relate to the internal environment. Opportunities and threats relate to the external environment. See Figure 5 for an example of a SWOT template that could be used to guide this process.
• Stakeholder scan—What are key stakeholders, influencers and commentators saying about your statistical organization? What issues are other statistical organizations facing that may be relevant to your organization?
• Past or similar activities—Have similar activities been undertaken before? What were the results or lessons learned? What changes were implemented as a result? What worked well, and what did not work?
• Market or opinion research—Externally, have you tested stakeholder or public views through surveys, focus groups or other market research? Internally, are there employee satisfaction surveys, focus groups or other feedback sources that could provide insight into the level of employee engagement and satisfaction? Summarize relevant findings; do not just point to a report. All research should be referenced and made available to all interested parties. 
• Existing metrics—Review metrics for important insights into the statistical organization. The review could include metrics from the organization’s website, social media and networking sites; contact centre metrics; and national and subnational survey response rates. Identify both negative and positive issues; these will help inform key messages and communications activities.

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Figure 5  Example of a SWOT analysis template

2.1.3     Communications objectives

The foundation for a communications strategy is an overarching objective established by the organization’s leadership. The objective should convey the need to align the strategy to the organization’s corporate objectives.

Objectives can differ from one institution to another depending on the country’s level of development, or its statistical system. Objectives should be designed to supplement each other and focus on what is to be achieved.

Communications objectives generally focus on one or more of the following:

• Informing—increasing awareness about the importance of statistics in everyday life; promoting official statistics and the work of the statistical organization.
• Understanding—exchanging meanings, learning, reducing misunderstandings and misinterpretation of statistical data.
• Changing attitudes—shifting perceptions
• Altering behaviour—persuading the audience to act differently and heeding a call to action.

Objectives should be clear, measurable and specific, but may also be qualitative. Their focus should be the target audience outcome. What do you want the audience to think, feel and do as a result of the communication? Defined objectives turn a general statement into a specific, quantifiable, time-sensitive statement of what is going to be achieved and when it will be achieved.

2.1.4     Audience segmentation

Statistical organizations engage with and provide information to a variety of audiences. They tend to engage with their audiences directly (through targeted releases) or indirectly (through the media).

Direct engagement is only effective if an audience is clearly defined, its characteristics are known and the message is directly tailored for their consumption. Distributing a general, undifferentiated message to several distinguished audiences will likely be less effective than separate, tailored messages. Therefore, segmenting the general public into different groups based on a set of characteristics is the first step to creating specifically tailored messages.

This section describes potential audiences and groups. Some people may be members of more than one group. The sum of all audiences is the general public, which can be addressed as a whole.

Policy makers

Policy makers work in organizations, governments and other authoritative bodies to develop and execute public policy. Their views of the statistical system are often anecdotal and occasionally critical. Policy makers may not be aware of the support that statistical organizations can offer, or they may not be interested in engaging with members of the statistical system.

Examples of policy makers could include

• ministers, special advisors and senior civil servants (current or former)
• mayors, local government cabinet members, political advisors and senior officials
• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, European Union and United Nations leaders and senior officials.

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Influencers

Influencers govern, control, oversee or question policy makers, and influence their behaviour and decisions. Their views are occasionally critical. Influencers are more likely to see statistical outputs, but they may not see the need for or the benefit of engaging with the statistical community. They also provide an essential channel to reach all citizens.

Examples of influencers could include

• politicians
• members of think tanks and interest groups
• academics (students and teachers)
• commentators and senior journalists
• business leaders
• civil service leaders
• leaders from non-profit organizations (the third sector).

Scrutinizers

Scrutinizers observe government, administration, policy makers and influencers in a critical manner, acting as watchdogs to increase accountability. They believe their work is for the public good. Scrutinizers can be supportive of statistical work, but they can also be critical. Their views are typically not collected systematically since they are generally vocal in making their problems or issues known.

For policy makers, influencers, and scrutinizers, a proactive and concerted communications effort is the best approach to maintain these relationships.

Examples of scrutinizers could include

• parliamentary committees and scrutiny committees
• other national statistical leaders
• international bodies (e.g., Eurostat, international statistical organizations)
• statistical and digital bloggers, journalists, commentators and social media influencers
• academics (students and teachers)
• information commissioners
• privacy commissioners and campaigners
• open data campaigners.

Partners

Partners are people or organizations that provide statistical organizations with services crucial to core statistical processes. Their satisfaction levels and views of data providers are often unknown.

Examples of partners could include

• funders
• survey respondents
• administrative data providers
• syndicators and aggregators
• academics and other innovators.

General public

The general public is comprised of a variety of audience groups with different interests and motivations. For a statistical organization, reaching the general public is not always a viable option since the audience is too diverse. It is more effective to send narrow, targeted messages to specific groups or target audiences.

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2.1.5     Channels

A channel is the medium through which a message is transmitted to its intended audience. The best channel for reaching a specific audience depends on many factors, particularly regional/local circumstances. There is also inherent risk associated with the use of various communication channels as these channels will change overtime with contexts and uses continuously evolving.  This section presents a list of communication channels. Each channel has a particular set of characteristics that supports different forms of content for different audiences. For example, Instagram is well suited to reach the younger population through short, visual messages. However, this would not be the recommended channel to reach senior citizens.

Using multiple channels to reach target audiences is essential. However, this does not imply that every channel must be used. The message must be consistent, and content should be specifically tailored to each channel.

Direct channels (owned)

Direct or owned channels are under the control of the statistical organization and can be used to send messages directly to the end user. Direct channels are an effective option for reaching target audience subgroups.

Offline channels include all means of communication in a non-digital format, mostly in the analogue (or brick and mortar / paper) world. Offline channels could include

• direct contact between people (e.g., events or press conferences)
• presentations by a statistical organization’s representatives (e.g., conferences, courses and seminars)
• printed media (brochures, reports created by the statistical organization and advertising campaigns [national or local]).

The value of offline channels should not be underestimated. They can reduce misunderstandings and can help build strong client relationships.

Online channels are digital communication channels that can be accessed by devices with an Internet connection, such as computers, smartphones and tablets. This type of channel includes websites with specific formats such as online video platforms, online courses and Internet search engines (e.g., Google and Bing) that index websites and online content.

Social media is another way to spread your message online. One way to tap into target audiences is to connect with people who have a large online following (e.g., creative influencers, opinion makers and bloggers) and to encourage them to share the statistical organization’s message with their community.

Social media channels specialize in offering direct contact between users and established user communities. Most social media can be accessed online through special applications installed on users’ devices. Applications include

• Facebook / Facebook Messenger
• Twitter
• Instagram
• YouTube
• LinkedIn / SlideShare
• Snapchat
• Google+
• Pinterest
• WhatsApp
• Flickr
• Facetime / Skype / Google Hangout
• Reddit

There are also online platforms like crowdsourcing, which invites the public to share data and information, and there are always new channels on the horizon. Future channels may use artificial intelligence (e.g., Alexa (Amazon), Siri (Apple), Cortana (Microsoft, and Google Assistant).

Indirect (non-owned)

Indirect or third-party channels can be used to reach groups beyond those identified in the direct channels. They are the best option for reaching the general public. Examples include

• press/media (print media, broadcasting media and online news media [often part of the mainstream media]), which distinguish between general media (nationwide news media, regional media), and targeted media (business and professional titles)
• online social media communities (organized around influencers such as YouTubers and bloggers).

Statistical organizations can nurture these channels by partnering with them to serve their information needs. These partnerships can allow for a greater level of control over external messages and can help ensure that stories include the statistical organization’s information.

Indirect or third-party channel groups are outside the direct control of the statistical organization. These channels can reach a large audience that would not normally be accessible to a statistical organization.

Crossovers

Extra exposure is gained when a message that is successfully launched in an earned audience on social media is picked up by a news medium (e.g., newspaper, radio and television) and redistributed to its audience. This is called a crossover. A statistical organization’s message can migrate from direct social media channels to indirect channels. A crossover is likely to happen when there is a lot of engagement or debate within the targeted social media community (e.g., when other influencers start to participate in the debate). A crossover can also work in the reverse when a message that starts in news media goes “viral” on social media.

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2.1.6     Content strategy

An effective content strategy maps out the right mix of channels to reach the identified audiences. The content (message) must also be tailored to the audience subsets. A successful campaign knows the audience and reaches them through a variety of channels. A cross-media approach leverages a variety of channels so the audience gets the optimal message. The following paragraphs outline the steps to develop a content strategy.

Identify the audience

It is important to identify the audience that the statistical organization wants to influence before starting to communicate. It is necessary to conduct demographic research, create audience profiles and analyze the impact that the issue has on the audience. This may involve examining the audience’s current position toward the product, service, program, organization or issue, and identifying any barriers to changing their awareness, attitudes or behaviour.

Choose channels

Based on the audience profile, the next step is to analyze the most effective communication channels to engage them. It is important to assess the characteristics of each channel and consider the awareness, knowledge, attitude and behaviour of their users.

Choose content type

The strategy should indicate the best content formats for each channel. Some suggestions include the following:

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Develop key messages

Key messages are the main points that you want the target audience to hear and remember. They are an important part of the communications strategy―they create meaning and headline the issues to discuss.

Key messages must address the communications objectives and align with communication values and principles. These messages can be incorporated into communication tools, such as media releases, fact sheets, webpages, social media posts or signage.

If the communication campaign relates to a specific issue, an environmental scan should be performed prior to creating the key messages. Changes in the environment may lead to changes in the messaging. Who is talking about the topic? What is their position? What is going on locally, regionally and internationally? Is the issue political or legislative? Have there been methodological changes or unexpected results?

There are two steps to construct key messages:

1. Clarify audience objectives―Identify the audiences and what to say to them. Is it important to increase their awareness, improve their understanding, or change their perceptions or behaviour? In other words, what does the organization want the audience to think, feel or do? Key messages should link back to overarching communication objectives.
2. Create messages―Key messages should be clear and succinct, and written with the target audience in mind. The communicator should write messages from the audience perspective. Focus on what the audience caresabout, and show what benefits them (not what benefits the statistical organization). Messages should be written in plain language, without jargon or bureaucratic prose.

The key messages should cover three key elements:

1. Describe what is happening using the five Ws (who?, what?, when?, where? and why?)

• Who should care? Why should they care? What’s in it for them? (benefits)
• What is happening?
• When is it happening?
• Where is it happening?
• Why is it happening? (context)

1. Call to action

• What should the audience do?

1. What is the one take-home message that the audience should remember?

The following questions may help to create the key messages:

• What information is currently being communicated? Does it need to change?
• What are the benefits to the audience?
• What is the one take-home message that you want the audience to remember if they forget everything else?
• What is the story? How can you make the message relatable?

Matching key messages to audiences

Once the overarching key messages have been identified, it may be necessary to further tailor the messages to specific audiences and/or channels.

Key messages need to be targeted to audiences and channels. This ensures that the communication reaches the right audience with the right message for the right channel.

Set the timing or periodicity of your campaign

A calendar can be useful for planning several products in combination. To engage indirect media (press/news media) and influence them to develop high-impact, prominent news products, the following techniques can be used:

• create an in-house release (press conference) with a short media lock-up; make spokespersons/specialists available to journalists
• release information by owned media with a longer embargo period (no lock-up, but controlled distribution to trusted media parties)
• set a release time for the convenience of news media (e.g., midnight, afternoon)
• develop social media posts, videos, email blasts
• provide technical backgrounders and reports

Evaluate the campaign impact for each channel

Evaluation is a key component of any communication activity.  It helps to understand what worked well and provides lessons learned for the planning of future activities.  For more information on how to evaluate communication activities, please refer to Chapter Evaluating external communications.

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