In today’s meme-driven world, you have less time and space than ever to reach and engage your target audience. What you say, how you say it, and how often you connect matters even more. You need a multi-faceted communications plan that includes various types of content. Read on to discover how to develop an effective communications strategy to help you reach and engage the Faith and Family audience. 

What is a Communications Strategy?

Rather than simply writing whatever you want, whenever you want, a Communications Strategy details a plan to communicate with your target audience effectively. It’s more than just the words you put on a social media post or email. A strategy goes in-depth to help you understand the following:

• Who you are talking to
• Why you are talking to them
• How you will talk to them
• When you will talk to them 
• What formats you will use to talk to them 

Once you know the above details, you can craft a Communications Strategy that helps you achieve your goals, whether that be sales, engagement, sign-ups, or getting the like. Here’s an example for a Christian non-profit organization seeking end-of-year donations:

• Who: Christian families who give during the holiday season
• Why: To inform them of the need, reassure them of your success or expertise, show the benefit of giving, and ask for donations
• How: Using emotion-provoking stories and calls to action 
• When: Through daily communications leading up to the end of the year
• What: Social media post and ads, landing page copy, email campaigns, and video testimonials on all platforms (video, social, email, print)

Many businesses and nonprofits chase their platforms by having a team member fill their need to post, send, or mail something out. These team members are not executing a unified plan. They are creating content independently to fill the communications platform assigned to them. They use information generally in line with the company’s mission instead of starting with specific goals and core content and then deciding how to carve that to utilize each distribution channel best. They post, send, or mail because they have to put out something rather than make a unified push to accomplish critical goals like selling more of the best-selling or best-triggering widget.

Think of this content as your communications product and decide your strategy for how to distribute it. Knowing the specifics of the information outlined above helps you understand your purpose in communicating with the audience rather than posting content for the sake of posting. Everything you say to your audience should be purposeful, helpful, or relevant in some way. 

What Should a Communications Strategy Include?

When building a Communications Strategy, it’s essential to be clear about four things: your purpose, goals, approach, and execution plan.

• Purpose: Why are you communicating with your audience?
• Goals: What are the specific goals you want to accomplish (i.e., a certain dollar amount of sales or donations, a certain number of sign-ups or downloads, etc.)?
• Approach: What methods of communication will you use (i.e., email, social media posts, social ads, blog posts, website content, mailers, etc.)?
• Execution Plan: Who is responsible for putting the plan into action, writing the content, managing the campaign, and analyzing the results?

Your strategy may include additional elements specific to your brand, organization, or goal. Either way, your plan should cover long-term communications, as well as short-term projects for specific campaigns or promotions. 

How to Implement a Communications Strategy?

Once you know who you want to reach and why you want to reach them, the next and most important step is to create content that helps you accomplish these goals. 

Copywriting for marketing and promotional materials is much different than writing for the sake of writing. Copywriting is strategic content designed to quickly and effectively engage readers and move them to action. How you talk to your audience varies depending on the audience, the platform, and your goal for a specific piece of content. 

As a Christian marketer, there are a few key ways you can talk to and engage the Faith and Family audience, from common marketing strategies like social media to more niche opportunities like YouVersion Bible App devotionals. The most effective Communications Strategy uses a variety of methods at different times to create multiple touchpoints, helping you achieve your overall goal and reach people wherever they spend time. 

For example, a YouVersion BibleApp devotional is evergreen content that helps increase brand awareness for a long time. On the other hand, a social media advertisement is a great way to make new and existing followers take action quickly for a specific result. Both are important elements that you should incorporate into your plan for reaching your ideal audience. 

We Can Help You Develop, Write, Execute, and Manage an Effective Communications Plan

At FrontGate Media, we have 20+ years of experience communicating with your ideal audience: the Faith and Family community. We know where to find the people who are most interested in what you have to offer. Plus, we know exactly what to say to encourage them to take action with your product or cause.

FrontGate Media’s copywriting services include the following:

• Social Posts: We help you create social content that increases brand awareness and engagement with your ideal audience.
• Ad Copy: We help you accomplish your goals with advertisements that drive action by writing strategic ad copy and designing creative elements. 
• Blog Posts: We help you increase website traffic with SEO-optimized blog posts that bring a steady flow of new and returning visitors to your site. 
• Email Newsletters: We help you engage your audience using one of the most valuable marketing tools available today: email marketing!
• Website Copy: We help you educate and move your audience to action with clear, direct, and exciting website copy.
• Devotionals: We help you reach the largest Christian audience today by writing and publishing your devotional content on YouVersion’s Bible App.
• And More: Anything you need to be written, we can write! 

Let us design, write, and execute your monthly communications strategy to keep your audience engaged and growing! Contact us today to get started.