Strategic 
Communications Plan 
_______________  
 
Clare Leonard - Hannah Giese - Mallory Hicks - Morgan King 
Trea Kates - Hanna Crane - Marley Vawter 
 
 
 
 
  

Table of Contents   
 
Executive Summary………………………………………………………………….3 
 
Situation Analysis…………………………………………………………………….4  
 
SWOT Analysis……………………………………………………………………..5-6 
 
Goals & Objectives………………………………………………………………..7-11 
 
Evaluation………………………………………………………………………………12 
 
Budget…………………………………………………………………………………….13 
 
Timeline………………………………………………………………………………...14 
 

 
Executive Summary 
 
Motivate Our Minds ​is a nonprofit academic support organization working with students
after-school and in the summer. The organization is more than just education; they offer
experiences, exposure and enrichment opportunities. Motivate Our Minds aims to
increase the reading and math skills of the students, bolster self-esteem in an effort to
motivate the students to improve their school grades, and provide a safe haven for
after-school learning experiences.

The goal of this Motivate Our Minds strategic plan is to ​increase awareness throughout
the Muncie community and promote meaningful stories that come from this
organization. ​Cardinal Communications will help Motivate Our Minds create this
strategic communications plan, a social media campaign and assist with planning their
30th anniversary event.

Through this plan, the community will know that ​they are more than an after school
program, but rather, an asset to the community. By achieving the goals that Cardinal
Communications and Motivate Our Minds have set in place, the organization will be well
known throughout the Muncie community and will have successful events.
 
 

 
 
 
Situation Analysis
Motivate Our Minds aims to reach underprivileged families and youth in the
Muncie/Delaware County area. MOM works to create a better community in which
everyone can be impacted. The children of today are the future. Motivate Our Minds
includes a dedicated group of educators and mentors who cater to students and
families. MOMs relies on volunteers, sponsors, donors and community members for
support and assistance with operations. Motivate Our Minds encourages and guides
first to eighth grade to improve their grades and educational skills. By providing the
youth within the community the tools needed to succeed, MOMs can work to create a
better world for all generations.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
❖ MOMs can flourish on a limited budget
❖ Thrive on diversity and inclusiveness
❖ Various programing provides educational life skills
❖ Strong community involvement within MOMs executive board, Ball State
University and Muncie community
❖ Volunteers, donors, and educators live out the brand
❖ Reliable transportation to MOMs for students
❖ Credible reputation within local community
❖ Real-life success stories from past students provide a strong sense of hope
among current students
❖ Provide students with challenges and responsibility
❖ Individualized relationships with mentor/mentee program
❖ Security at MOMs ensures students safety

Weaknesses  
❖ MOMs building is crowded, which provides limited space for storage
➢ Unable to accommodate more students
➢ Short staffed
➢ Not handicapped accessible
❖ Objectives are too broad
 
Opportunities  
❖ Relationships with various community enrichment programs
❖ Capitalize on previous and current success stories of members
❖ Ability to increase awareness
 ➢ Social media campaign
➢ Social media brand awareness
➢ Analytics within social media platforms and website

Threats  
❖ Limited and uncertain funding
❖ Overpopulated location
❖ Organization requires on food from outside vendors
❖ Competing programs
➢ Apple Tree Child Development​ - conjoined with YMCA
➢ Muncie KinderCare
➢ A Better Way After School Program
➢ Boys & Girls Club of Muncie
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Goals and Objectives 
Goal: To establish a cohesive, recognizable and 
values-driven brand in 2017. 

Objective One: Research and identify audience perception of the brand by

March 2017 to better understand who to target in the Muncie community.

Objective Two: Increase awareness of MOM through 30th anniversary

promotional material during late March and April.

Objective Three: Create a cohesive and recognizable social media

presence by late March and April 2017.

Objective Four: Increase knowledge of membership to current and potential

members through quarterly email communication.

 
 
Objective One
Research and identify the audiences perception of the brand by March 2017 to better
understand who to target in the Muncie community.

Strategy One:​ Conduct research about past and current MOM success stories.

❖ Tactic 1: Create a list of potential survey subjects with MOMs address book

❖ Tactic 2: Create a survey for current employees, volunteers and former students
on their relationship with MOMs.

❖ Tactic 3: Survey via email invitation using Qualtrics.

 
 
 
 
 
Objective Two 
Promote MOM brand through 30th anniversary campaign during late March and April.

Strategy One:​ Develop promotional material to increase brand awareness, prominently

displaying logo and maintaining brand consistency (color scheme, fonts, letterhead).

❖ Tactic 1: Create one historical slideshow from past to present to showcase at the
30th anniversary event.

❖ Tactic 2: Promote member testimonials as a way to share the brand to new

members.

❖ Tactic 3: Highlight current and previous MOM students with a membership

spotlight.

Strategy Two:​ Handle event logistics for 30th anniversary celebration.

❖ Tactic 1: Cardinal communications team will assist in event support.

 
 
Objective Three  
Create a cohesive and recognizable social media presence by late March and April
2017.

Strategy One:​ Unify social media through three social media brand campaigns by May
2017.

❖ Tactic 1: One to three Facebook posts per week, increasing to three to four in
April.

❖ Tactic 2: Embody brand identity with 30-day social media campaign by utilizing
#30DaysofMOMs on all platforms.

❖ Tactic 3: MOMs will provide professional photos and videos on 30 individuals to

create #30daysofmoms testimonials which will be promoted on all social media
platforms and events.

❖ Tactic 4: Maintain a raw and real environment for social media interviews by
including simple graphics and a plain background.

❖ Tactic 5: Develop content for a week in the life of a MOM student.

❖ Tactic 6: Create infographics to inform and educate parents of MOM.

 
 
Objective Four  
Increase knowledge of membership to current and potential members through quarterly
email communication.

Strategy One:​ Increase community involvement with local community enrichment

centers.

❖ Tactic 1: Network and connect on social media with community organizations

that correlate with MOM values.

❖ Tactic 2: Create branded materials that can easily be distributed through print
and online methods.

❖ Tactic 3: Share brand materials with community enrichment centers within a 20

mile radius.

Strategy Two:​ Increase recognition of membership through earned media.

❖ Tactic 1: Create media pitches.

❖ Tactic 2: Create media list catering to MOM audience and network.

❖ Tactic 3:Leverage media coverage across MOM communications platforms and

social media.

Strategy Three:​ Collaborate and plan an open house to generate brand awareness.
❖ Tactic 1: Plan Pie Day event on Tuesday, March 14 2017.

❖ Tactic 2: Publicized the event on all social media platforms and quarterly email
communications.

 
Evaluation 
Motivate Our Minds can track all future communications events, presentations or
reports. This can be accomplished by surveying the audience after a main event to
maintain feedback and suggestions for future events. Surveys will track any solicited
and/or unsolicited feedback coming from audiences. Track the development of interest
from potentially new audiences or donors that were not previously considered​. Analytics
and data evaluation through social media platforms can enhance engagement among
audiences. Tracking click rates, boosting posts to reach a larger audience and
interacting with followers will allow Motivate Our Minds brand to flourish.

These tools will help measure the success of each social media platform. Tracking will
show how MOMs is interacting with its audiences and how its audiences are interacting
back. Tracking will also help measure the progress made with all social media accounts.

❖ Hootsuite
❖ Google Analytics - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
❖ Facebook Insights
❖ Twitter Analytics  
 

 
 
 
 
Budget  
All expenses are based on Cardinal Communications’ rate of $30 per hour of work.

VIDEO PRODUCTION
8 hours for 2 videos $960

INFOGRAPHIC CREATIVE WORK

10 hours for brochures, posters, etc $300

TOTAL: $1,260

 
 
Timeline 
December 2016: Strategic Communications plan
January 2017: Social media content
February 2017: Social media content
March 2017: Social media campaign leading up to the anniversary event
April/May 2017: Anniversary Event