That’s where an internal communications plan template comes in. With an effective plan, there’s no more stumbling around in the dark—instead you have a clear roadmap guiding you towards success.
In this guide, we’ll cover:
Let’s take a closer look at communications plans and how having a template can make the whole process easier.
Your communications plan is a guide that sets out what your goals are and how to achieve them. It’s a roadmap for how to lead communications and deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time.
A communications plan might sound like a communication strategy, but the two are different. A strategy gives you the top-level on why something should happen, and the plan is the action plan beneath it. It’s a practical document that guides your team members on exactly what to do.
There are lots of different types of communications plans, including:
In this guide we’ll focus on how you can connect with your internal audience using a communications plan template, but the tips and strategies translate well to other types of plans too.
Having a strategic communications plan makes it easier to:
An action plan for how you’ll deliver internal comms shouldn’t be a “nice to have” but an essential if you want to rally your team behind your mission, communicate clearly, and foster a thriving culture.
It’s almost impossible to lead communications in an environment where you have no plan. But coming up with a strategic plan takes time and effort. A good communications plan can help you get closer to your goals more quickly.
Fast track your way to success with these steps, and then use the templates in the next section to make your comms plan even better.
Before you jump into coming up with an exciting action plan, first review where you’re currently at. Examine all of your current internal communications and evaluate what works, what doesn’t, and what you can improve.
Use survey results and insights to understand which channels work for your audience, how often they’re likely to engage, and which types of content and messages resonate with them the most. At the same time, get to know what they don’t like, and which channels never get engagement—so you can avoid making the same mistakes in the future.
For your internal communications plan, your audience is going to be your employees. For other types of plans, this might be project stakeholders, members of the public, or potential investors.
Within your audience, think about their demographics, contact preferences, and personalities. Not everyone is alike, and your plan needs to consider that you’ll need to use different channels and communication styles to reach everyone.
An effective communications plan needs a goal to steer you in the right direction. A relevant SMART goal gives you a target to aim for, a guide to follow, and metrics you can use to measure your progress.
When trying to figure out what your communication objectives are, look at your business objectives and mission statement first. Next, consider your current challenges and what deliverables can help you improve them. You might decide to set a specific goal to increase employee morale by X% if you notice a lack of engagement, or to combat low morale and increase your eNPS score by X points. You can add in wider supporting goals too, like to make everyone feel like they’re being seen and heard or to make your internal communications more inclusive.
The channels you choose will depend on the purpose of your plan and your target audience. While you might lean heavily on social media, email marketing, and press releases for a new product launch or marketing campaign, your internal communications strategy and action plan calls for a different approach. Instead, focus on channels like internal email newsletters, team building games, team chat apps, employee recognition software, and team meetings.
Internal communications can often feel like they’re generic and lack personality, warmth, or connection. Take some time to review your brand voice and key messages so your team members feel aligned with what you’re trying to say.
Consider your brand and company culture, and what it means to be part of your team. Think about the type of language you use, your brand’s personality, and how you can bring this out in the words, phrases, and imagery you use. Use your style guide as a reference point, and develop a series of key messages and talking points that share relevant information in a way that feels authentic.
Sharing messages with your team members infrequently means team members can’t feel connected to your message, and might resist engaging. Communicating too often can make people feel overwhelmed and can lower engagement too. Getting the communication frequency right is a careful balancing act, but one worth investing energy in.
Review past feedback and survey results to get a feel for how often your team members want to hear from you. Apply this information to different channels, and come up with a plan that feels realistic and reasonable. This could include a monthly email newsletter, weekly pulse check-ins, and instant updates in Slack channels for anything urgent.
For your communications plan to work, you need the right resources in place. Before you deliver your plan, take a moment to assemble a project team of talented people whose job it is to help deliver the best internal comms possible.
Think about who you have on your communications team currently and what they excel at. Use their strengths and skill set wisely, and give them the communications materials and budget they need to make great things happen. Consider whether you need to outsource or grow your team, or if you can offer opportunities for other employees to get involved in the process.
If you want to streamline internal comms and make the whole experience more engaging, invest in Polly. Our collection of internal comms and employee engagement features helps you check in with team members, gather feedback, and use this data to create even better employee experiences.
Connect with your team members in real-time or async in the tools they already use, like Slack or Microsoft Teams. Raise your response rates with easy-to-use and engaging polls and surveys, capture anonymous feedback with a Suggestion Box, and use Workflows to scale up your entire feedback process.
Even the best plans need to be reviewed over time. Aim to sit down and thoroughly review your action plan at regular milestones to make sure it’s still relevant and engaging.
Review your progress so far, and measure which channels, messages, and moments made the biggest impact. Think about whether you need to lean more heavily on one communication method, or if you should explore adding others—like a podcast or video series. Use employee surveys to get feedback from your audience, and use this to help you improve your strategy and action plan further.
Polly isn’t just the best employee engagement app. It’s also home to lots of expertly crafted templates that help you get closer to your internal communications goals. Each of these features or templates gives you the foundation for better internal comms—whether you’re sending a weekly check-in or a quarterly employee engagement survey.
Increase consistency, engagement, and results with our favorite features and communications plan templates.
Increasing employee engagement isn’t an easy task, but there are ways you can make it easier. With a strategic internal communications plan template and the right tools, you have a great place to start from.
If you want to make a big impact with your internal comms, bring Polly aboard as your co-pilot. Our employee engagement app helps you build connections, gather insights, and create a more rewarding employee experience—all from within the digital spaces your team calls home every day.