The communication plan – in chapters:
Table of contents
1 DESCRIPTION OF THE SITUATION.......................................................................................................................................... 2
2 TARGET GROUP(S)................................................................................................................................................................ 2
3 COMMUNICATION GOAL(S).................................................................................................................................................. 2
4 THE KEY MESSAGE(S)............................................................................................................................................................ 3
5 COMMUNICATION TOOLS..................................................................................................................................................... 3
5.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE COMMUNICATION TOOLS..................................................................................................................................3
5.1.1 Advertising..........................................................................................................................................................................4
5.1.2 Flyers, leaflets, brochures...................................................................................................................................................5
5.1.3 Sales promotions................................................................................................................................................................5
5.1.4 PR: Public Relations............................................................................................................................................................6
5.1.5 Sponsoring..........................................................................................................................................................................9
5.1.6 Event website.....................................................................................................................................................................9
5.1.7 Event social media..............................................................................................................................................................9
5.1.8 Direct marketing...............................................................................................................................................................10
5.1.9 Event marketing...............................................................................................................................................................12
5.1.10 Personal selling/ face-to-face.........................................................................................................................................12
5.2 COMMUNICATION MATRIX...........................................................................................................................................................13
5.2.1 Example matrix................................................................................................................................................................13
5.3 SOCIAL MEDIA PLANNING.............................................................................................................................................................13
6 RETRO PLANNING............................................................................................................................................................... 14
7 COMMUNICATION BUDGET................................................................................................................................................ 14
,1 Description of the situation
In this part, you describe where you start from.
1. The event
2. The communication assignment: what is the challenge?
3. Previous experiences
4. Choices and decisions already made: Date? Place? Total communication budget?
5. Overview of the competitors (direct and indirect)
6. Existing event related plans (sum up)
7. SWOT + SWOT-analysis about your past event communication (if any)
2 Target group(s)
In this part, describe your communication target group(s) and a persona for each group.
- Bring people with common characteristics together in a target group
- Bring people with other common characteristic together in a different target group, if they need to be
reached differently
Most events only have one target group
Example of target group, for a hard rock party:
Possible types of ‘common characteristics’
- Geographical elements “Mainly male people in the region of Ghent who are a
- Demographical elements student, in the age between 18 and 25, from social
- Interest classes B and C who like hard rock music and like to
- Topic related behaviour dance and drink.”
- …
Events with more than 1 target group? E.g., a fair like Batibouw.
(exposers)
Visitors: professional visitors (target group1)
Visitors: private visitors (target group2)
Write for each target group: The groups come for different reasons.
1) a general description in 1 sentence (3-7 lines)
2) a description of a ‘persona’ = ‘buyer persona’:
An invented ‘flesh and blood’ person who is most typical for the chosen target group: > first name, sex, age,
job, marital status, relation to the topic, attitude regarding topic, use of media … Make it coherent target
group (7-15 lines)
Buyer persona makes it easier for you to see if the communication is good or bad.
e.g. “David lives in Ghent, is 22 y/o and …”
Why would you make a persona?
Because it helps you in judging and deciding about your own communication tools: website, slogan, colours, visuals,
etc. when you have your typical visitor (persona) before your eyes.
3 Communication goal(s)
In this part, write down your communication goal: what do you exactly expect as a result of
communication towards possible visitors?
- Number of people attending the event ! These goals are about attracting visitors to the event,
- Attracting how many former visitors? but about what you would like to tell at the event.
Make sure your goals is SMART*!
- Attracting how many new visitors?
- Attracting how many visitors from aboard? *Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realistic, Timely
“We want a lot of people attending our event.” No, instead:
“At our event in 2022, compared to 2021, we want an increase of 5% in the number of attended, this means a
total of 3400 guests.”
2
, A goal is 1 sentence and must indicate a change: where do we come from and where do we want to go?
4 The key message(s)
In this part, formulate which key message you want to bring across, to reach your communication goal.
The “key message” is the description of WHAT should come across to the target group. (not yet ‘how’ you will tell it),
formulated in 1 short sentence:
“The people should know that we organise an information day on February 3 2020 in Ghent about the jobmarket and that
attending the event will give them more chances to find a new job.”
After having written the plan (!), you’ll take the next step: you’ll translate the key message into a ‘marketing
communication message’. 2 main elements of 1. The copy: headline + plain text + CTA Done by yourself of by a copywriter.
marketing communications ----------------------------------------------------
message: 2. The visualisation: picture, colour(s), typeface, design Done by yourself of by a graphic designer.
5 Communication tools
5.1 Description of the communication tools
In this part, describe in words which tools, you’ve chosen: your communication mix (+ why + details about
each tool)
Impersonal
Advertising
Flyers, leaflets, brochures
Sales promotions
PR: Public Relations
Sponsoring
Event website
Event social media
Personalised Direct marketing
Event marketing
Personal Personal selling/
face-to-face
LEVEL 1
These apples are the people you know. These are the people you can reach out to. “Impersonal” approach:
Personal communication (face-to-face) General message to all
LEVEL 2
You need a tool to reach them (a ladder = a database) “Personalised” approach:
Personally adapted
These tools might represent an e-mail or a letter.
messages, but on a distance
These are the people you know things from (from the database)
General message and adapt certain things in text (Dear Mary) ( more personalised) “Personal” approach:
Use the data that you have to contact the people Face-to-face
(“You were at this event, would you be interested in this event?”)
There will be more apples at this level because of your database.
You will be able to contact more people here than in level 1.
How did these people get into my database?
- Giving your e-mail for a reduction code
- Newsletter registration
How can you fill your database? (other ways)
- A contest were you have to registrate with your e-mail
- Data you get of people that bought tickets last year
o Valuable people for this years event
LEVEL 3
You’ll need a tool to reach people (tool = (advertise in) the media)
Many many many more people in this level. You hope to reach these people (with helicopter = you hope that people
will see your helicopter (= ad) and reach (=interest) them).
Many people will see it but there is lower impact. (not everyone will be interested/convinced)
LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3
Impact is high Impact is not as strong as level 1, but still high. Attract new people to event
3
Table of contents
1 DESCRIPTION OF THE SITUATION.......................................................................................................................................... 2
2 TARGET GROUP(S)................................................................................................................................................................ 2
3 COMMUNICATION GOAL(S).................................................................................................................................................. 2
4 THE KEY MESSAGE(S)............................................................................................................................................................ 3
5 COMMUNICATION TOOLS..................................................................................................................................................... 3
5.1 DESCRIPTION OF THE COMMUNICATION TOOLS..................................................................................................................................3
5.1.1 Advertising..........................................................................................................................................................................4
5.1.2 Flyers, leaflets, brochures...................................................................................................................................................5
5.1.3 Sales promotions................................................................................................................................................................5
5.1.4 PR: Public Relations............................................................................................................................................................6
5.1.5 Sponsoring..........................................................................................................................................................................9
5.1.6 Event website.....................................................................................................................................................................9
5.1.7 Event social media..............................................................................................................................................................9
5.1.8 Direct marketing...............................................................................................................................................................10
5.1.9 Event marketing...............................................................................................................................................................12
5.1.10 Personal selling/ face-to-face.........................................................................................................................................12
5.2 COMMUNICATION MATRIX...........................................................................................................................................................13
5.2.1 Example matrix................................................................................................................................................................13
5.3 SOCIAL MEDIA PLANNING.............................................................................................................................................................13
6 RETRO PLANNING............................................................................................................................................................... 14
7 COMMUNICATION BUDGET................................................................................................................................................ 14
,1 Description of the situation
In this part, you describe where you start from.
1. The event
2. The communication assignment: what is the challenge?
3. Previous experiences
4. Choices and decisions already made: Date? Place? Total communication budget?
5. Overview of the competitors (direct and indirect)
6. Existing event related plans (sum up)
7. SWOT + SWOT-analysis about your past event communication (if any)
2 Target group(s)
In this part, describe your communication target group(s) and a persona for each group.
- Bring people with common characteristics together in a target group
- Bring people with other common characteristic together in a different target group, if they need to be
reached differently
Most events only have one target group
Example of target group, for a hard rock party:
Possible types of ‘common characteristics’
- Geographical elements “Mainly male people in the region of Ghent who are a
- Demographical elements student, in the age between 18 and 25, from social
- Interest classes B and C who like hard rock music and like to
- Topic related behaviour dance and drink.”
- …
Events with more than 1 target group? E.g., a fair like Batibouw.
(exposers)
Visitors: professional visitors (target group1)
Visitors: private visitors (target group2)
Write for each target group: The groups come for different reasons.
1) a general description in 1 sentence (3-7 lines)
2) a description of a ‘persona’ = ‘buyer persona’:
An invented ‘flesh and blood’ person who is most typical for the chosen target group: > first name, sex, age,
job, marital status, relation to the topic, attitude regarding topic, use of media … Make it coherent target
group (7-15 lines)
Buyer persona makes it easier for you to see if the communication is good or bad.
e.g. “David lives in Ghent, is 22 y/o and …”
Why would you make a persona?
Because it helps you in judging and deciding about your own communication tools: website, slogan, colours, visuals,
etc. when you have your typical visitor (persona) before your eyes.
3 Communication goal(s)
In this part, write down your communication goal: what do you exactly expect as a result of
communication towards possible visitors?
- Number of people attending the event ! These goals are about attracting visitors to the event,
- Attracting how many former visitors? but about what you would like to tell at the event.
Make sure your goals is SMART*!
- Attracting how many new visitors?
- Attracting how many visitors from aboard? *Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realistic, Timely
“We want a lot of people attending our event.” No, instead:
“At our event in 2022, compared to 2021, we want an increase of 5% in the number of attended, this means a
total of 3400 guests.”
2
, A goal is 1 sentence and must indicate a change: where do we come from and where do we want to go?
4 The key message(s)
In this part, formulate which key message you want to bring across, to reach your communication goal.
The “key message” is the description of WHAT should come across to the target group. (not yet ‘how’ you will tell it),
formulated in 1 short sentence:
“The people should know that we organise an information day on February 3 2020 in Ghent about the jobmarket and that
attending the event will give them more chances to find a new job.”
After having written the plan (!), you’ll take the next step: you’ll translate the key message into a ‘marketing
communication message’. 2 main elements of 1. The copy: headline + plain text + CTA Done by yourself of by a copywriter.
marketing communications ----------------------------------------------------
message: 2. The visualisation: picture, colour(s), typeface, design Done by yourself of by a graphic designer.
5 Communication tools
5.1 Description of the communication tools
In this part, describe in words which tools, you’ve chosen: your communication mix (+ why + details about
each tool)
Impersonal
Advertising
Flyers, leaflets, brochures
Sales promotions
PR: Public Relations
Sponsoring
Event website
Event social media
Personalised Direct marketing
Event marketing
Personal Personal selling/
face-to-face
LEVEL 1
These apples are the people you know. These are the people you can reach out to. “Impersonal” approach:
Personal communication (face-to-face) General message to all
LEVEL 2
You need a tool to reach them (a ladder = a database) “Personalised” approach:
Personally adapted
These tools might represent an e-mail or a letter.
messages, but on a distance
These are the people you know things from (from the database)
General message and adapt certain things in text (Dear Mary) ( more personalised) “Personal” approach:
Use the data that you have to contact the people Face-to-face
(“You were at this event, would you be interested in this event?”)
There will be more apples at this level because of your database.
You will be able to contact more people here than in level 1.
How did these people get into my database?
- Giving your e-mail for a reduction code
- Newsletter registration
How can you fill your database? (other ways)
- A contest were you have to registrate with your e-mail
- Data you get of people that bought tickets last year
o Valuable people for this years event
LEVEL 3
You’ll need a tool to reach people (tool = (advertise in) the media)
Many many many more people in this level. You hope to reach these people (with helicopter = you hope that people
will see your helicopter (= ad) and reach (=interest) them).
Many people will see it but there is lower impact. (not everyone will be interested/convinced)
LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3
Impact is high Impact is not as strong as level 1, but still high. Attract new people to event
3
