Communications strategies and plans

I'm accustomed to managing several communications campaigns simultaneously. That includes liaising with stakeholders to understand communications and marketing goals, their audiences, brainstorming ideas on various topics, what formats and channels to use, and how to measure impact.

For a media platform publishing content on international development issues, I was the editorial lead for digital content series. I was tasked with producing all content – branded and editorially independent – liaising with up to 20 partners at a time and their associated partners and teams, while working with a small in-house team and freelancers (video editors, translators, journalists).

Duty of Care (advocacy campaign for healthworkers for WHO's Year of the Nurse and Midwife) and Future of Food Systems (aligned with the launch of the inaugural Food Systems Summit 2021) were two of the most successful and largest content series' the company had produced to date. I also led two other series on cities and disaster risk reduction led by UNDRR, and women leaders in politics for the National Democratic Institute (NDI).

Duty of Care involved producing three multimedia stories in Nigeria, Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo during the pandemic. Despite challenges, we succeeded because of how well our team worked together.

Several pieces in the series were recognized for their reporting and design. This infographic explainer was promoted on the frontpage of the design platform Readymag and a reporter's piece was featured in the prestigious Johns Hopkins health newsletter the week it published.

General process

Doing a content audit to check what is working and what isn't, can be a good way to reset and ensure a communications strategy is actually strategic rather than trying to cover everything blindly. Setting some criteria and basic parameters can help guide decisions and ensure the best value for money.

To use time and resources effectively, content can be repurposed rather than created from scratch. Video clips can be edited for all kinds of social media, embedded in digital news pieces, and linked in emails and newsletters. The same graphics for a campaign should just be resized and used across all formats and channels to ensure brand awareness and consistency. Partners and clients often have a wealth of material that can be used and a bit of creativity can make it shine.

To define the scope, allocate resources and plan deliverables, I create an editorial brief or scope of work, content calendars and project management workflows (Kanban board or similar) using cloud-based programs like Trello, Asana, Notion, Monday, etc. I can update metrics against set KPIs here (engagement, impressions, no. of visitors, CTRs, new sign-ups, comments, etc) and adapt as needed.

For email marketing, I use Mailchimp to create templates, schedule mailouts and track metrics. And I create, schedule and publish content in the relevant channels but can also use platforms like Later that make it easier.

A regularly updated workflow helps teams to understand who is doing what and identify bottlenecks so they can be addressed quickly. It also helps me to prioritize tasks and identify when I need to delegate, get directly involved, or just leave things running as they are. Plus, it's a good way to keep me accountable to whichever team I'm working with. I've also found this cuts down the time required for meetings, and the number of emails and chat threads.