[ORGANIZATION] Communications Plan[YEAR]
Purpose[P1]
We know from research and experience that communications and earned media plays a central role in our mission to maximize the number of Americans who enroll in and retain health coverage through the ACA. We will continue to play this role by building our brand with the media, reaching consumers through the news, and we will also expand our program this year to compensate for a more challenging news landscape.
What are we trying to achieve? [P2]
1.)Educate consumers who remain uninsured, and those who need to renew their coverage
- Continue raising awareness of special enrollment periods, year-round Medicaid enrollment, and the open enrollment period
- Continue promoting key messages in the media about financial help, in-person help, and the penalty
- Drive consumers to resources where they can get help enrolling (i.e. the Get Covered Connector, enrollment events)
2.)Protect and build on our brand as “enrollment experts”
- Continue to recap, analyze, and explain enrollment information and policy changes
- Continue to position ourselves as the thought/coalition leader in this effort
- Announce strategies for how we will address enrollment challenges and opportunities in state
3.)Expand our presence in the Spanish speaking community
- Engage Spanish language media outlets to drive up public knowledge and enrollment activities in the Latino community,
What’s going well? [P3]
We’re still focused on generating earned media.
We’re still the go-to source and expert voice on enrollment in our states.
We’re still building partnerships with local media and ultimately want them to deliver enrollment information without us.
What’s challenging?[P4]
It’s harder to get attention from reporters.
We probably have less field activity and fewer staff to base press pitches on.
We don’t have budget for paid sponsorships.
Open Enrollment Period Communications Tactics:[P5]
Proactively drive relationships with the local media
This will continue to be a major focus of our program, specifically for print, radio, and television news outlets. By advising ongoing enrollment events, flagging news of the day and developments for reporters, and engaging the media with consumer-friendly enrollment information, we will continue to reach out to local media outlets – not wait for them to come to us – to position ourselves as a trusted resource for the press.
Reaching new media contacts and outlets
We already have great relationships with most of the health care reporters in our city and they will continue to come to us as a source, but it’s sometimes hard to pitch new stories to them because they’ve heard from us so many times. For this reason, we’ll consider what other kinds of media contacts can help get the word out to key audiences and develop those relationships.
Phonathons/local media partnerships
The gold standard that we’re all driving for is a day when the news media will spread enrollment information as a public service without our prompting or urging them to do so.
Goals and Metrics[P6][P7]
Metric / Philadelphia / Pittsburgh[P8]Earned Media Clips / 15 / 10
Spokesperson Trainings Held / 3 / 2
Editorial Board Meetings / 1 / 1
Social Media Posts / 1/day / 1/day
Communications Schedule[P9]
November: Enrollment is Open![P10]
Date / TacticNovember 1 / Open Enrollment Launch events!
-One in Pittsburgh, One in Philly
-Venue: Mayors offices
-Other speakers include: Councilmen and our CEO
November 3-6 / Small city press tour
-Targeted cities: Reading, Scranton, and Allentown[P11]
November 7–10 / Coordinated Letters to the Editor
-Signed by consumers we helped enroll in coverage
-Targeted outlets: Philly Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
November 13 / Philadelphia Health Fair
-Advising to local TV, print, and radio outlets
November 14 / Pittsburgh Health Fair
-Advising to local TV, print, and radio outlets
November 18 / Press release focused on affordability
-To go out statewide and feature a consumer from both Pittsburgh and Philly
November 22 / CAC trainings in Pitt/Philly
-Advise to major media outlets, offering interviews with newly-trained CACs
November 25 / Turkey Give-a-way in Philly
-Advise to press in the days before
December: Give the Gift of Coverage![P12]
[P1]Use this section to lay out the long term goals and vision for your communications program. This is not a section to list out specific, individual goals. Rather, this where you can lay out your broad, top-level goals. An example is included in the body of the document.
Here are the kinds of questions you should be answering:
1. Who is your audience
2. What to tell them (key messages)
3. How to tell them (communication channels: earned media, paid media, social media, press events etc.)
4. Who is going to tell them (spokesperson, CEO, etc)
5. When they are going to be told (frequency)
[P2]This section is where you explicitly list the different things you want to accomplish to reach your broader goals. This section will be most helpful to you if you think this way:
1) Ask yourself ”Where do we want to be at the end of this plan’s timeframe? What does success LOOK like?”
2) Once you know what you want your program to look like, begin breaking that into different qualities. What does it mean to “Reach uninsured consumers through the news?” What does it mean to build relationships with the media?
3) Continue this process until you have identified the exact benchmarks that will let you know if you’ve accomplished your goal.
Several examples are included in the body.
[P3]A major component to building a fully developed communications plans is recognizing your strengths, weaknesses, and what resources you already have at your disposal. So this section is for self-examination.
What things are going to remain the same? What tactics are you going to keep using? Will your main goals remain the same? Etc.
[P4]This is the section for what’s going to be changing. Are you going to have less funding? Rolling out new programs? Changing your approach to outreach or enrollment? Etc.
[P5]So we know our broader goals, what success looks like, and what resources and challenges we’re working with. So let’s develop our ideas some more. This section should be the longest of the plan and really delve into HOW you’ll accomplish these goals. A few examples are included in the body.
Some questions to think about:
- Are there audiences we aren’t thinking about that we could possibly reach?
- Are we reaching out to the right people to reach out audience?
- Are there creative outlets we can be utilizing to reach our audience?
- Are we approaching the right contact at news outlets?
[P6]Your plan is only as good as the quantifiable goals you set for yourself. Anything you list in this plan that you want to accomplish should be given some kind of MEASURABLE goal. The reason for emphasizing the goal being measurable is that you’ll then be able to track your progress to goal, whereas setting a goal like “Expand media presence” is subjective.
[P7]Don’t hesitate to get creative with your goals! While we strongly suggest everyone set a minimum of an earned media goal, there are many other ways to measure your success. For instance: Spanish Language media clips, meetings held with reporters, etc.
[P8]If you have a presence in more than one city, you should break your goals up by city. That way, you can ensure you’re getting your message out in every city you work in
[P9]This is where you should get into the nitty gritty of how you’ll hit all your goals.
Things to think about: Do you have any big pushes coming up? Any annual or planned events you can build around?
Hint: If you can’t think of any big events in a given month – that’s a great opportunity to design one!
[P10]For each month, you should define your main message you want to get out through the media. This is called building a “messaging calendar,” and it’s an important step to fully building out your plan.
[P11]Get as specific as possible in this calendar – Who are you targeting? What partners will we work with? Any spokespeople we need to recruit? Etc.
[P12]And so on. Congratulations – the draft of your plan is done!