Week 4 Assignment – Strategic Communications Plan Outline

Week 4 Assignment – Strategic Communications Plan Outline

Instructions

The outline below asks you a series of questions that will help you write your communication proposal due in Week 8. Answering these questions thoroughly will give you an outline to use to write your proposal.

Step 1

Select a topic for your informative or persuasive strategic communications plan from the options below:

• Internal Promotion
• New Job Opportunity Interview
• Pitching a Project Idea
• Mini TED Talk
• Topic of Your Choice Approved by Your Professor

Step 2

All options above must include the following in your plan, as detailed in the Outline Template [DOCX]:

1. Challenge or Opportunity (Focus):
   • What is your challenge or opportunity?
   • Why does your business/idea need to exist? What problem does it solve for your job, customers, or audience?
   • Why is this professionally important or relevant to you?
2. Goal (Focus):
   • What goals or outcomes do you want to achieve with this communication?
   • Explain why the goal is clear, concise, and actionable.
3. Audience Analysis:
   • Who is your target audience?
     • What demographic characteristics will the audience/customer comprise?
     • What is your relationship to the audience/customer?
     • What background knowledge and expertise does the audience/customer have?
     • What does the audience/customer know, feel about, and expect concerning this communication?
     • What preconceptions or biases do you possess that might prevent you from building rapport with your audience/customer?
     • Who are your competitors and who will your audience/customer also consider?
   • What information is available about your audience/customer?
     • What research or sources will you use to obtain information about the audience/customer?
     • What conclusions have you been able to draw about the audience/customer?
   • What tone will you use to convey your message?
     • Is the setting casual or formal?
     • Is the communication personal or impersonal?
4. Key Message:
   • What is the primary message you must convey to your audience?
     • Is the message compelling and memorable? Why?
     • Is the message clear and concise? Why?
     • Is the message aligned with your audience’s goals and needs? How?
5. Style and Channel Selection:
   • What communication style will you employ tell (inform), sell (persuade), consult (gather information or learn from your audience), or join (collaborate with members of the audience) and why?
   • What channels will you use to deliver your message, and why will they be the most effective?
   • What purpose is served by each style and channel you have selected?
6. Supporting Points and Sources:
   • What three or four points, reasons, or justifications support your message?
   • What stories, data, and visuals will you use to make your points?
     • What research or sources will you use to obtain facts and data about your message?
     • What five sources will you use to back up your ideas?
7. Action Request:
   • What actions are taken as part of the solution?
   • What positive outcomes are the result of the action?
   • Is the action request you are making to your audience clear, concise, and easily actionable? Why?

• will upload topic proposal for strategic communications plan;

Topic Proposal: Housing for the Homeless People

My Topic is:

Housing for the Homeless People

It is important because 

• Provide affordable needed shelter
• Provide meals
• Connect to outside resources
• Daily access to hygiene products
• Transition into employment

It solves the following problem(s)

• Prevent and end Homelessness
• Prevent crime
• Provide mental stability
• Develop training for employment
• Affordable housing

Its benefit(s) is (are)

• Keep families together
• Security
• Stability
• Employment and skills development
• Medical assistance

My audience is:

The community leaders, state and federal government, state department of corrections, and local businesses, individuals seeking a stable and affordable housing to live in.

Proposal Pitch for Housing for the Homeless

Homelessness is an ongoing problem in our country; approximately there were 580,466 homeless people are living in the United States and increasing daily. An individual is considered homeless if they stay in their cars, shelters, abandoned buildings, on the streets, or with family or friends. Homelessness can be caused by unemployment, mental illness, disabilities, foreclosure, housing, low-paying jobs, and criminal history. As a country, enough is not being done to end  Homelessness, but Homelessness seems to increase due to unaffordable housing. Homeless people need health care, shelter, clothes, and food but must be treated as human beings.

There are several circumstances in which an individual or family may become homeless. A portion of Homelessness is caused by individuals with physical and mental disabilities. (CCBC Library) Due to the lack of health insurance, the homeless may suffer from malnutrition, disease and illness, exposure to crime, and weather conditions can contribute to poor health for the homeless. States have refused to expand their medical program, which leaves the low-income and homeless uninsured. Substance abuse also contributes to Homelessness; the lack of affordable housing and no remaining space in shelters forces individuals to live on the streets. Some areas do not allow the homeless to sleep, eat, beg, or sit. They have put armrests in the middle of benches and made some benches backless to prevent the homeless from sleeping on them. Over 57,000 homeless veterans and nearly 5000 are females, and sixty percent of them were in shelters and the rest unsheltered. Almost five years of leaving the military, forty-four percent have experienced at least one day of Homelessness.

My goal is to contribute to the cause of preventing Homelessness within our country. Since most urban areas have the highest rate of Homelessness, there is a need for more facilities to house the homeless.

My communication plan will consist of emailing organizations in the community. They can help me aid in setting up programs to help individuals get back on their feet to fully support themselves or family financially. Assist with clothing, teach skills to gain employment, and medical assistance. Research a suitable location and building to house the homeless, assist with transportation and provide meals daily. Writing a proposal for grants to help finance my facilities, communicate verbally with individuals I can trust to develop a committee to oversee the facilities, and hire employees. I would organize a meeting with the community to gain their support and volunteers to assist the individuals living at the facilities.

Finally, using my notes, I would craft a presentation for businesses trying to convince and persuade them to participate and help finance my idea of opening facilities for the homeless. I would then revise and rehearse the presentation to understand it holistically and expound and clarify any point with compelling information. In this way, I would be confident enough to present the exhibition before the community leader and business owner. I would be better positioned to counter any debate or criticism they could make.

References

James G. Hodge, Jr., Barbara DiPietro, and Amy E. Horton-Newell. “Homelessness and the Public’s Health: Legal Responses” CCBC Library.

Meshad, Shad. “Why Are So Many Veterans Homeless?” Brain line.

https://nlchp.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Homeless_Stats_Fact_Sheet.pdf

https://www.samhsa.gov/homelessness-programs-resources

https://www.urban.org/features/homelessness-solvable-problem