How to Create a Powerful Communication Plan (+ 5 Templates)

Do you have a new project that’s overwhelmed you so much that you don’t even know where to start or who to talk to? 

OK, breathe in, breathe out. All you need to carry out your next team effort effectively is a well-structured communication plan.

This article will help you break down your situation into an actionable step-by-step process, so you can plan communication at any scale and develop a practical strategy.

Communication planning is essential when dealing with any type of situation — whether it’s a project, a marketing campaign, or a crisis situation. A good communication plan will prepare you for unpredictable factors and help you get your message across — in the exact way you intend to.

We will define and explain different communication plans, and show you exactly how you can benefit from them.

We’ve also prepared 5 different communication plan templates that you can freely edit and adapt to your specific situation to ace your communication goals.

Ready? Let’s go!

What is a communication plan?

A communication plan is a detailed action plan used to organize exactly how you deliver information to all the relevant people.

An action plan defines:

• What information needs to be communicated,
• Who receives the information,
• The channels used to distribute information,
• The people in charge of delivering information and their roles, and
• How the information is communicated.

A communication plan is useful when:

• You’re dealing with sensitive information.
• You’re delivering bad news.
• There are different stakeholders involved.
• It is necessary to keep track of the progress of evolving communication divided into different phases (such as in marketing strategies or product launches).

When you use a good communication plan, you are effectively taking control of the circumstances and predicting as many variables as possible, acknowledging them, and remaining one step ahead.

This ensures that your communication and its intended results happen as smoothly as possible, regardless of any potential setbacks.

Creating and following a communication plan will help you keep the entire communication process and all the ins and outs of communication with relevant people, groups, or organizations in one place.

If you can see the communication process getting out of hand — you can always refer to your communication plan to keep people organized and remind them of what, when, why, and how they need to communicate.

Later in the article, we will give examples of different communication plans for various use cases.

What isn’t a communication plan?

Although it’s vital to define what a communication plan is, it’s also important to know what it isn’t. 

A communication plan is not a general idea of how to communicate internally or externally.

A good communication plan is intended for a specific purpose — it is a blueprint for how to take action. It isn’t a vague statement or a high-level perspective similar to a communication strategy.

Whereas a communication strategy deals with developing a general plan on how to go from the place where you currently are to the place you want to be, a communication plan is far more focused.

It helps you precisely define how, when, and why you and your team will act to solve a problem or complete a task. 

Creating a communication plan: The basics

Communication plans can come in the form of presentations, memos, digital documents, mood boards, or anything in between.

The format you pick depends on your business and workplace — or, better said, the purpose of the plan. 

For example, it’ll likely be different if you are leading a team of mechanics versus a team of designers or developers.

So, when thinking of a form for your communication plan, the most important thing is to adapt it to your team and all the relevant people in the communication process.

Although communication plans may come in many shapes and sizes, the most useful ones are always structured in a way that’s easy to understand for you and your team.

That means that it’s best to create a communication plan that’s specific to your use case.

You will communicate differently to your audience than you would to your stakeholders, as you would communicate differently internally to your team than you would to external collaborators.

However, keep in mind that, although the use cases can vary between teams, the way you approach the analysis of your specific situation will be almost universal.

With this said, let’s see how you can analyze your situation and which basic components you should include in your communication plan. 

What does a communication plan consist of? What shouldn’t be included?

If you find there are things relevant to be included, then they should probably be included.

Since our communication plan is moldable and adjustable to each specific situation, there really aren’t any right or wrong answers. When thinking of your plan, try to analyze each part of the document.

Define the purpose of each page, table, and team member — basically, everything communication-related you can think of.

If anything seems unnecessary, exclude it from your plan, as it will only contribute to information overload, scattered attention, and reduced focus.

Now, let’s break down the process into simple steps that you can follow in order to create a communication plan.

How to write a communication plan in 6 steps

These 6 steps will help you break down what you need to do into phases and take concrete action gradually. 

Step #1: Identify your goal

First, you need to explain as precisely as possible what the main intent behind your communication plan is. 

Ask yourself the following questions:

• What’s the general idea?
• What is the main objective you are trying to accomplish with your communication plan?
• What are you trying to change or influence?

Getting a clear answer to these questions is one of the prerequisites to a successful communication plan. This will serve as a guide for all of the following phases.

All the following steps will be directly related to the main purpose of the plan.

Example: Let’s say Joan is organizing a team-building event with the help of 2 other people on her team: Milo and Nicole. She decides to create a communication plan with the idea of focusing her communication efforts and making sure that as many employees as possible attend the event.

She asks herself: How is the plan going to make things easier? What should I avoid?

Joan knows that Nicole is a great communicator, but is sometimes forgetful — so Joan needs to create a plan on how to help Nicole with this.

She also concludes that Milo is organized but can’t work well under pressure. For this reason, she will keep in mind to appoint Milo with tasks that have a later due date than others, because that’s when Milo is at his best.

Step #2: Identify your audience

You need to be aware of who you are talking to. Every communication plan has a relevant audience and every audience will respond differently to various communication styles.

Of course, the precise tone, communication channels, response time, and type of engagement with your audience will vary based on your specific situation.

When thinking about your audience, the most important questions to answer are: 

• What communication channel and style is your audience used to?
• How interested will they be?
• Do you need to grab their attention, reduce points of conflict, or do something completely different?

Conduct market research if necessary — do psychological, demographic, and other relevant kinds of analyses, and include them in your communication plan. This will help you identify your audience accurately and make your communication more successful.

Example: In our team building example, let’s say that, because of the PTOs and late planning, the only sensible dates for the team building fall on a Saturday. Joan knows that many employees might not be eager to attend because of this. 

The employees are Joan’s audience, especially the employees who are less likely to attend on a Saturday.

Joan asks herself: Is there a way to communicate the benefits of the team-building event to employees so that they feel inspired to come despite it not being on a workday? 

Similar to Joan, you should also try to figure out how your audience will probably respond. Use the most effective communication channel and adapt your communication style to the situation.

Step #3: Define your message

What is the key message that you’re distributing through your communication channels?

This step of the process requires you to define the main point you need to drive home. Think along the lines of: 

• What am I trying to say?
• How do I want the message to be received?
• How do I expect people to react?
• Do I need to anticipate and influence the reaction and is it feasible?

Answer these questions as precisely as possible and get feedback from different stakeholders if possible, so you can define your message clearly.

Example: Continuing from our previous team-building example, let’s say Joan decided to emphasize the fun part of the team-building event.

Joan decides to create hype about the event by making a teaser email campaign for employees, consisting of a blurred picture of a closed space with branded t-shirts, mugs, and a sound system with a super-imposed text stating: “It’s almost here…” 

As she expected, the office was buzzing about the meaning of the picture in a matter of minutes. Success!

To also add connection as one of the main points of the team-building event, Joan’s next idea is to create a video campaign with short clips of the office environment, video-meet recordings, office presentations, breaks, and funny behind-the-scenes style moments captured on video — showcasing the overall work atmosphere in the office to employees.

Everything is going great so far.

Step #4: Create a strategy

The next step is to define what each person involved in the process needs to do. 

To create a successful strategy, you’ll want to:

• Break down the communication into phases,
• Define primary and secondary communication channels,
• Try to anticipate questions and reactions, and
• Take your time to prepare for overcoming potential problems on the go.

To get started, try to answer these questions: 

• Are you creating a communication strategy for your entire team or a specific sub-team? 
• Are you trying to communicate bad news or good news? 
• What’s the best way to communicate your message? 
• What channels should you use? 
• Are there any potential drawbacks to how you choose to handle your communication? 
• Can your communication be more effective?

Focus on consistency, regardless of how long your communication is going to take. If necessary, create one general communication plan and then create multiple sub-plans for different communication stages.

Example: Joan’s team building video is looking amazing and it’s almost done. She is now thinking of a way to persuade people to come on a Saturday.

Based on her assessment of the audience and circumstances, she chose her tone and defined: 

• The core message, 
• The information that needed to be included, and 
• The appropriate communication channel.

Joan is now facing the hardest part — persuading people to come on a weekend. She strategically chose the campaign video to end with a superimposed text stating “January, 2025.”, without the exact date.

Joan decides to share this info later, through a different channel of communication.

Channels of communication

One important thing to keep in mind is that the channels of communication can influence the way your message is received. Analyze particular advantages of your communication channels, as they might help you achieve your goals more easily.

A team communication app is the perfect way to communicate with multiple people simultaneously. Here’s what Joan’s message might look like in Pumble.

Pumble gives you the opportunity to create your digital HQ and share your communication across dedicated channels with the recipients of your choice.

Step #5: Create an action plan

Segment your main objective into smaller, feasible steps.

Define the role of each member included in the process while keeping in mind their responsibilities and the scope of their roles. Consult others, revise, and try to predict as many variables as possible.

Once you’ve created your action plan, you will need to carry it out.

Keep referencing your communication plan. Be consistent, but feel free to change things along the way if you find a better solution or realize something groundbreaking that changes your perspective. 

Make sure to keep everyone updated on any changes. 

Apply any changes to the communication plan as soon as you make them, as this will be your reference for moving forward.

Example: Joan informed everyone about the team-building event through Pumble. The reactions were not as extreme because of her smart strategy, though some disapproval was noticeable, as expected.

With the main issue out of the way, Joan was finally ready to implement the tasks she wrote down in her team’s plan. 

Milo was assigned more general tasks, which included making arrangements with external contacts, such as designers, decorators, and delivery services for the entertainment system.

Nicole was assigned day-to-day communication with everyone included in the process, and handling last-minute changes on the go.

Joan kept a high-level view of the situation and made necessary decisions in critical situations.

The process went far better than anyone could have predicted, but some things could have been handled differently. It was time for evaluation.

Step #6: Evaluate the plan

Once the communication plan is carried out — either when you’ve met your goals or you’ve caught a break during the long-term plan you’re implementing — take some time to assess and evaluate.

Revise your existing strategy, repeat certain processes (if applicable), and write down what you’ve learned and what you could have done better so you can apply it next time, or move forward.

Regardless of your results, this stage is equally important as all the previous ones, as it offers you a chance to apply your first-hand experience to further improve your communication.

Example: In the end, Joan’s team-building organization process went as smoothly as possible, though there was some room for improvement. Joan analyzed the situations in which the team could have communicated differently and in a more focused way. She also wrote down how many internal meetings could have been just simple Pumble messages.

The number of people who showed up was way higher than expected, though the attendance numbers certainly could have been higher.

Most importantly, Joan decided to plan next year’s team-building event multiple months in advance and to prioritize making the event happen on a workday.

5 Communication plan examples and templates

Let’s take a look at various scenarios where a communication plan would be helpful. 

We’ve created 5 templates for various use cases. Feel free to make a copy of any one of our sample communication plans and edit and customize them to suit your situation better.

Internal communication plan

An internal communication plan presents a business’ goals, as well as the practices that drive the communication that achieves them.

This type of communication plan clearly states an organization’s: 

• Vision, 
• Key messages, 
• Channels of communication used, 
• Staff roles and responsibilities, and 
• Similar organization-specific communication details.

You can use this type of plan to define exactly how individuals, teams, and managers need to communicate amongst themselves, to support and advance your business objectives, and refer to it to track how well it’s implemented.

It should also be noted that a dedicated secure communication app is the best option for internal team communication, such as Pumble.

This team communication app is designed to make work and business easier through communication and collaboration features such as instant messaging, channels, video conferencing, file sharing, and many others.

⏬ Download our Internal communication guideline plan template 

Marketing communication plan

A marketing communication plan involves a detailed plan for communicating to your target market and communicating with the sales prospects, media partners, and stakeholders.

A good communication plan for marketing will help you plan your communication strategies for different people involved.

In this plan, you need to specify the communication channels and roles and responsibilities for all relevant people you communicate with.

⏬ Download our Marketing communication plan template 

Product launch communication plan

This type of communication plan outlines how you will communicate information about a new product to your audience — or different audiences.

This plan helps you coordinate within your team and across teams, and keeps your communication consistent and in line with your defined product launch campaign goals.

It lists out: 

• Communication objectives and goals, 
• Target audience(s), 
• People responsible, 
• Communication channels, 
• Deliverables, and 
• The timeframe.

Having a product launch communication plan keeps everyone on the same page regarding brand messaging, the intended effects of the campaign, and progress throughout the launch.

⏬ Download our Product launch communication plan template

Crisis communication plan

In a crisis, representatives of organizations will be required to communicate regardless of whether they are prepared or not.

A crisis communication plan is a set of guidelines that includes information and resources that allow for a fast and effective response during a crisis. 

This type of communication plan includes everything from identifying the issue to post-crisis assessment. It has all relevant information in one place and can help organizations formulate and communicate a consistent set of messages to help overcome a crisis — or at least get through it as smoothly as possible.

⏬ Download our General crisis communication plan template

Project communication plan

A project communication plan is used to enable smooth team communication for the duration of a specific project.

The key components of this plan are: 

• Communication goals, 
• Schedules, and 
• Communication formats. 

These plans can also include stakeholders, preferred communication channels, and additional information.

A project communication plan is useful for enabling quick communication among large or distributed teams — different departments, groups, committees, and similar.

⏬ Download our Project communication plan template 

What are the benefits of an effective communication plan?

There are numerous benefits of an effective communication plan — depending on your purpose of creating one. Improved communication is universally beneficial to everybody involved in the process, regardless of the intention.

Let’s take a look at some of the major benefits of effective communication plans.

Benefit #1: Clarifying the roles of everyone involved

Simply put, whether it’s a staff member, a stakeholder, your audience, or anyone else involved in your communication process, transparently communicating their role will help you: 

• Divide responsibilities,
• Prepare and organize the workload, and 
• Anticipate potential problems and crisis situations.

Benefit #2: Finding new and creative solutions

When creating an internal communication plan, you can incentivize team members to provide new and fresh perspectives. When motivated properly, people will think of and suggest new points of view that are beneficial to everyone, and well-thought-out communication plans can drastically improve your work environment.

Benefit #3: Identifying areas that need improvement

Good communication is one of the prerequisites for a productive team. According to Pumble’s Communication in the Workplace Statistics, 72% of business leaders believe that effective communication increases the productivity of their teams — and 52% of knowledge workers agree.

Therefore, looking back on the success of your communication plan and its overall performance can help you determine:

• Your team’s strengths, 
• Their weaknesses, 
• Areas of improvement, and 
• Potential threats.

It can also give you ideas on how to communicate better — both with external stakeholders and internally.

Plan your communication with Pumble

A clear and well-structured communication plan can drastically improve your internal and external communication processes.

Good communication in an organization is key to: 

• Meeting your goals, 
• Staying on track, 
• Dealing with unforeseen situations, and 
• Keeping everyone at their most efficient and enthusiastic selves.

Although digital and automatically updated documents are a good way to go about this, a modern and more effective solution for smooth communication and collaboration is a dedicated communication app.

Meet Pumble — a single hub for managing and discussing tasks, planning projects, and moving work forward.

Some of Pumble’s features that can transform the way you handle communication include:

• Direct messages — for important 1 on 1 conversations,
• Channels — group spaces for team discussions, 
• Video conferencing — to collaborate and brainstorm in real time, 
• File sharing — for keeping all important documents in one place,
• Reminders — to receive a personal notification on an important topic at a future time you set, and
• Message scheduling — for distributing information exactly when you want to.

These features are also not necessarily exclusive to your core team. With Pumble, you can also:

• Invite guests — and include temporary collaborators in your workspace, and
• Assign permissions — to allow different clearance levels to your guests, depending on which role they have in your workspace. You control what they can see and do.

Simplify and improve your communication processes — try Pumble for free today!