Building a Coordinated Communications Publishing Matrix

Four Processes for High Impact Communications—Facilitated by Jessica

1. Audience Assessment: Determine what channels are best to reach different groups. Content will adapt to the medium.

2. Publishing Matrix: Coordinate the different channels that you have—press releases, emails, text messaging, etc—with the content you have. Identifying the best channel for the particular content

3. Message Calendar: Strategically build a story over time to create support for a particular purpose. This could be over a month or a year depending on your purpose, i.e. to get supporters to come out for an event, fundraising drive, etc. Telling a story over time.

4. Tracking & Metrics: Analyzing how well these approaches are working for your org so you can track effectiveness to inform future processes.

• Aspirations has built templates (simple spreadsheets in some cases) so that orgs can be more efficient about developing, implementing, and tracking these processes.

Publishing Matrix:

This is a spreadsheet that identifies a source of information (event announcement or press release) and all the sources where it can be blasted out. This is what creates a strategic plan for communications.

• Prior to creating a publishing matrix an org should have a sense of audience for a particular piece of news before figuring out how it fits in the matrix.

• Publishing matrix can be split into separate email lists. The categories should capture what is relevant to the org.

Each of these tools is a vehicle for communicating information, and it should fit the content that is being communicated. For example, a website is more formal and static than Facebook.

Tools Used to Connect:

• Website
• Text
• Phone calls
• Twitter
• FB
• E-newsletters
• Photos
• Panels
• Factsheets
• Attending Conferences/Networking
• Press Releases/Print media
• Radio spots
• Parties/events
• SWAG: Printed tee-shirts and promotional items
• Blog
• Music
• Videos

Tools Used to Collaborate:

• Google Docs
• Asana
• Dropbox
• Phone
• Email
• Skype
• Instant Messaging
• White Board
• Etherpad
• Media-Wiki
• Text

Tools Used to Listen: (tools to listen)

• Dashboard
• Twitter
• RSS
• News stories
• Radio
• Print news
• Blogs
• Surveys

Building a Publishing Matrix

Example:

1. Using a survey to capture information—this is contentment development.

2. Determine who you want to share that information with—this is identifying your audience.

3. Identify the best channels for communicating this information (looking at the different types of categories and thinking through how you can connect/collaborate/communicate)—blog, social media, email blast.

4. Complete your publishing matrix—check the boxes on the spreadsheet to develop an action plan for communicating content.