Corporate Communications Plan

Sample City Planning Department Communications Plan

Executive Summary

In 20XX, the Sample City Planning Department is drafting a Comprehensive Communications Plan is to better serve the Sample community at large. The goal of the comprehensive plan is to: a) evaluate and document current communications tactics; b) define targets of outreach efforts and public engagement strategies; c) train staff on select tools that maximize outreach potential; and d) outline short-term and long-term recommendations that will drive Planning Department communications forward.

Align brand expression.

The Planning Department seeks to present ourselves as a unified organization with unique departments that relate to all facets of Sample City. We need to move forward and build on consistent visual elements, such as brand colors and logo, already associated with the Planning Department’s identity in the public’s eye.

Define what outreach and engagement mean in the context of the Planning Department’s work.

1. What actions are we currently taking to engage with the public?
   1. Key initiatives: INSPIRE, Green Network, Sustainability Plan
2. What is the value of public participation?
3. How are we defining successful outreach, and how will those results be measured? (For example: reaching a certain amount of likes/followers on social media.)

Recommendations

This section will lay out key recommendations to be expanded upon later in the report.

Goals

1. Increase public knowledge and understanding of the Department’s mission and work.
2. Achieve more effective and broader engagement of the City’s residents and businesses.
3. Develop more collaborative and positive working relationships with the public.
4. Ensure the Department is an adaptive organization that uses the latest methods for outreach and engagement.

Mission Statement

To build Sample City as a diverse, sustainable and thriving city of neighborhoods and as the economic and cultural driver for the region.

Audience

1. Planning department employees
2. City employees
   1. City Council
   2. Other city agencies
   3. Mayor’s office
3. Sample citizens
   1. Neighborhood associations
   2. Local businesses
   3. Non-profits and CDCs
4. Sample institutional partners
   1. Universities
   2. Foundations
      1. Anne E. Casey
5. Other audiences
   1. State government
   2. Federal government
   3. Media

Types of Outreach Efforts

Crafted messages targeting all demographics. Include an inventory of how these methods are currently used, response rate, and best practices. (What is the department doing now and how can it improve on those methods)

• Mailed postcards/letters/notices
  1. Events where public outreach is paramount to attendance, flyers with Planning department branding
• Website announcement
  1. Planning news via blog posts/RSS feed
• Presentations/announcements at community organizations or neighborhood meetings
  1. To facilitate public participation and feedback through open houses, workshops, forums, focus groups
• Posted notices or posters
  1. For city agency employees, printed and digital materials
• Newsletters
  1. The Compass – packed with information about city projects, activities, calendar events, resources, city contacts, links to past issues
• Social Media
  1. Facebook – staff in editor roles create drafts of posts, respond to feedback and manage visitor stats. Cross-posting content across platforms would be ideal.
  2. Instagram – one or two staff who are already active on Instagram can maintain uploading images from city projects and activities. Cross-posting content across platforms would be ideal.
  3. Twitter – one or two staff who are familiar with Twitter can update the planning department account at least twice daily. Cross-posting content across platforms would be ideal.
  4. Others – Youtube, for example. Staff can upload videos, moderate comments and facilitate feedback from users

Civic Engagement and Citizen Participation

These opportunities can be used to push brand identity of the department, such as inviting feedback through social media, encouraging public to read the website for latest updates.

1. Focus group – participants of a focus group should be
2. Community Survey
3. Workshop
4. Opportunities for public to submit feedback
5. Meetings held by Planning Dept. staff (project review or pre-application)
6. Open houses/town hall meetings

For each of these, we should:

• Describe briefly

• How to improve timing/location to maximize participation
• How to involve groups that are less likely to attend (ie: Speakers of languages other than English)
• Best practices for actually running the meeting

Internal Communication Tactics

Short-term

1. Password manager, such as LastPass or KeePass, shared among staff that can be downloaded to a computer or flash drive. Useful for social media accounts where more than one person would need access.
2. Addition of a ‘Communications’ folder on Z drive with the following subfolders:
   1. Official logos
   2. Templates (stationery, memos, flyers)
   3. Resource Guides (Email formatting, GIS/IT, Image archive)

Long-term

1. Intranet – this site would be an internal communications hub for all Planning department staff. My recommendation is to use Drupal since the CMS is also used to power the Sample City website. The blogging feature can be used to make announcements and start in-house discussions. With enough server space, the intranet can house important documents and images, contact information, house a department calendar updated by staff, etc. The expectation is that the site will grow with the needs of the department.
2. Style and Social Media Guides – documented set of standards to establish and enforce guidelines for how the department wishes to communicate going forward. Some of the items on the short-term list can be folded into these guides, in addition to addressing logo usage and department branding, abbreviations and acronyms, messaging on social media, and many more.

Miscellaneous

1. Key principles for communication:
   1. Inclusiveness
   2. Respect
   3. Relevance
   4. Clear purpose and scope
   5. Knowledge
   6. Relationships
   7. Trust
   8. Sustained engagement
   9. Results