Your business posts on social media, updates its website and occasionally attends an event. Yet it remains hard to tell whether these activities help it grow. A communication plan connects an objective, an audience, a message, channels and a schedule. It lets you decide what to do, what resources to use and how to assess the results.
For an SME, the best plan is not the one with the most formats. It is one the team can execute consistently and that helps the right people understand the offer, trust it and take the next step.
At a glance
- Strategy sets the direction; the plan defines actions, owners and deadlines.
- Select channels according to your audience and production capacity.
- Measure the intended effects and relevant enquiries, not just views.
Distinguish communication strategy from the plan
Strategy sets the choices: who to address, what effect to achieve, how to position the business and what messages to use. The plan turns those choices into actions: content, channel, date, owner, budget and indicator.
Without strategy, a calendar can become a list of posts unrelated to business needs. Without a plan, good intentions are hard to execute. Both can fit in a short document if the decisions are explicit.
Define communication’s role
Communication can raise awareness, explain an offer, reassure buyers, support recruitment or maintain relationships. One activity will not necessarily fulfil every objective.
It does not replace sales work. An article can help prospects understand a problem; you still need to qualify their enquiry, prepare a proposal and follow up the decision. Our article on customer acquisition and retention explains those next steps.
Set an objective and choose a priority audience
“Become better known” provides direction but is insufficient for choosing activities. Specify among whom, for which service and with what observable result. For example: introduce a new service to regional property managers and generate relevant meeting requests.
Measurement should match the project stage. A business launching an offer may first test whether people understand the message. An established offer may seek more qualified enquiries. National visibility may have little value for a service limited to a few municipalities.
Understand what your audience needs to know
Collect questions from meetings, objections, incoming enquiries and searches that bring visitors to your website. These provide a stronger editorial basis than topics selected solely because they interest you.
For each audience, identify the user, decision-maker and potential recommender. A message to a business owner may focus on time saved and reduced risk; a user may want to understand day-to-day operation.
Define an accessible next step too: read an explanation, request a quote, book a conversation or view an example. Readers should know where to go after seeing the message.
Create clear, credible messages
Your main message should answer three questions: what do you do, for whom and why choose you? It should be easy to understand quickly but precise enough to stand apart from competitors.
Prepare supporting evidence: your working method, an example deliverable, verifiable experience, a process explanation or a testimonial used with the necessary permission. “Exceptional service” is not a substitute for observable evidence.
Corporate communication and offer communication
Corporate communication presents your identity: the team, values put into practice, working arrangements and commitments. Offer communication explains a service, its benefits, scope and how to buy it.
The two complement each other. Prospects may like a service and then investigate the people behind it. Equally, an attractive team presentation is insufficient if the services remain unclear.
Use storytelling without inventing a story
A real situation helps people understand. Describe the starting problem, decisions, difficulties and results you can demonstrate. Label anonymised cases accordingly; present fictional examples as fictional.
You can explain why an offer was created, how a process improved or what a project taught you. Avoid invented testimonials, extrapolated results and success stories that omit essential conditions.
Choose your communication channels
Your choice depends on where the audience looks for information and the message itself. You do not need to be everywhere. Consider production and response time: opening a channel creates an expectation of follow-up.
| Channel | Possible role | Requirement for success |
|---|---|---|
| Website | Explain the offer and convert an enquiry | Clear navigation, reliable information, easy contact |
| Organic search | Answer searches connected with customer needs | Useful content and pages with distinct purposes |
| Social media | Maintain visibility and conversations | Relevant audience and sustainable schedule |
| Newsletter | Maintain a relationship with an authorised audience | Useful content, appropriate consent and unsubscribe option |
| Advertising | Distribute a targeted message quickly | Controlled budget, suitable landing page and measurement |
| Press and media | Provide information with editorial interest | A real story, relevant angle and suitable contact |
| Events and partners | Build conversations and trust | Clear objective and follow-up after the meeting |
Make your website the base for important information
Your website should answer pre-purchase questions: what you do, who it is for, the arrangements, limitations and how to contact you. Update these pages before investing heavily in promotion.
A blog is useful when it answers distinct questions and supports your services. Publishing very similar articles without clear roles spreads information thinly. Prefer one comprehensive reference article and complementary content addressing different needs.
Choose a social network for how people use it
Do not select a network simply because it is popular. Check whether your customers are reachable there, what content they consume and what effort you can sustain. A visual local business and a specialist adviser to company owners may need different choices.
Consistency matters more than an impossible schedule. Prepare substantial content, then adapt elements for each channel: a short example, question, useful image or explanation. Adaptation is preferable to identical copies everywhere.
For events, demonstrations, partnerships and other targeted activities, use the examples and budget method in our article on below-the-line marketing.
Prepare press relations and collaborations
Media outlets are not a free advertising channel at a business’s disposal. Journalists choose stories for their audience. A local opening, rigorous study, demonstrable innovation or economic change may provide an angle; wanting to talk about yourself is insufficient.
Identify outlets and journalists that actually cover your topic. Send a short pitch explaining the news, why it matters, available facts and a reachable contact. A press release should make clear who is doing what, where, when and why, without burying the information under promotional language.
Work with an influencer or content creator
Examine audience fit, interaction quality and the credibility of the format. Follower counts alone cannot predict sales.
Document deliverables, dates, payment, approval arrangements and reuse rights. Require the commercial nature of a collaboration to be clearly identifiable. Do not promise reach or sales results beyond your control.
Obtain the necessary permissions before reproducing press articles or third-party content on your website or in advertising. Linking to a publication and copying it in full are different uses.
Build a realistic schedule and budget
The schedule states what will be produced, for which audience and for what purpose. Each action needs an owner and a date. Include preparation, approval and follow-up time: publication is only one task.
The budget covers external spending and internal time. A supposedly free activity can take several hours each week. Conversely, a paid service can make sense if it frees up time and produces content with lasting value.
A fictional 90-day plan
Consider a small IT maintenance business launching a service for local professional organisations. It wants qualified conversations without opening five new channels at once.
| Period | Action | Owner | Useful indicator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1–2 | Interview a few customers and clarify the offer | Management | Documented questions and objections |
| Weeks 3–4 | Update the service page and contact form | Management and web provider | Page published and enquiries received correctly |
| Month 2 | Publish an explanatory article and two practical examples | Subject specialist | Relevant visits and enquiries |
| Month 2 | Present the offer to selected partners | Management | Conversations and introductions obtained |
| Month 3 | Test a limited paid campaign | Communications lead | Cost per qualified enquiry |
| End of month 3 | Connect enquiries with sales follow-up | Management | Meetings, proposals, sales and lessons |
Assume a fictional external budget of CHF 3,000: CHF 1,200 for the page and supporting material, CHF 800 for content and CHF 1,000 for the campaign test. The business also allocates 24 internal hours for interviews, approval and follow-up. These figures illustrate an allocation; they are not market rates or a recommended budget for every SME.
Before spending the advertising budget, check the form, enquiry tracking and response capacity. A campaign sending prospects to a confusing page mainly measures weaknesses in the customer journey.
Measure results beyond views
Choose indicators that match the objective. Reach describes exposure, visits show arrivals on a channel, enquiries show a response and sales show a commercial result. These stages are connected but not interchangeable.
A widely viewed post may reach people who will never become customers. A less-read article may help several important prospects decide. Combine quantitative data with feedback from conversations.
Use a simple dashboard
Track spending, published content, enquiries, their quality and known sales outcomes. Use identifiable links where appropriate and ask prospects how they found you. Attribution will sometimes remain incomplete: several interactions can contribute to a decision.
For organic search, distinguish impressions, clicks and enquiries. An impression means a page appeared in search results, not that it was read. More impressions for searches unrelated to your offer may have little commercial value.
Review monthly. Keep useful activities, improve obstacles and stop efforts that no longer serve the objective. Do not judge content intended to deliver lasting results after only a few days.
Protect trust in your communications
Consistency matters: a website promise must match what your team can deliver. Check figures, dates, offer conditions and rights to images and testimonials. Assign responsibility for updates.
For newsletters and email campaigns, follow Swiss rules on consent, existing customers and unsubscribing. Configure analytics and advertising tools with data protection in mind, and explain their use clearly.
When criticism appears publicly, respond with facts without exposing confidential customer information. Offer an appropriate private conversation if resolving the issue requires personal details. Communication should not turn a service problem into a public dispute.
Start with a plan your team can execute
A useful plan makes clear choices: a priority audience, a few messages, evidence, channels and a sustainable schedule. Three coordinated actions completed and followed up are better than twelve half-finished formats.
Start by collecting customer questions, choosing an objective for the next three months and filling a table with actions, owners, costs and indicators. Schedule the first review now.
Then connect the plan to your sales organisation and business plan. Communication spending belongs in the budget; the enquiries it generates need follow-up through to a decision.
Frequently asked questions
How does communication strategy differ from a communication plan?
Strategy defines the audience, objective, positioning and messages. The plan organises execution: actions, channels, schedule, owners, budget and measurement.
What budget should a small business allocate?
It depends on the offer, objectives, internal resources and chosen channels. Price specific activities instead of automatically applying a percentage of revenue. Include working time.
Do you need to post on social media every day?
No. Choose a frequency that allows useful content and responses to conversations. High frequency without relevance or follow-up is not an objective in itself.
How can you tell whether communication works?
Compare results with the initial objective: understanding of the offer, relevant enquiries, meetings or other intended effects. Views and followers provide context but do not alone prove a contribution to sales.
Does an SME need press relations?
Only if it has information of interest to an identifiable audience. Media can provide visibility, but coverage and publication are not guaranteed.
Sources and references
The schedule and budget are fictional examples to adapt to your business.
Romain Prieur is a Swiss certified public accountant and the founder of Entreprendre.ch. With more than ten years of experience in auditing and supporting businesses in Switzerland, he advises entrepreneurs on company formation, accounting and taxation.
