Communication planning

By thinking ahead we can develop our communications and help us tell Scouting stories that make a difference. By planning ahead with our communications we can ensure we generate the right photos, text, audio or video for use across a number of channels, to members and to the public.

What’s happening?

Your existing Scout calendar is a great starting point for forward planning your communications. Take a look at existing events or themes during the year and add those to a planning chart, then fill your gaps with stories that will support your key messages.

Sharing content

A good story can be used within a number of outlets or channels, and across a wide timeframe. Most stories have a ‘moment in time’ and you can generate content that works before, during and after this fixed point. If you think in advance about your story it will help you to choose the type of content you need. The table below shows the range of platforms, and what could be achieved with each at different moments in time.

	before	during	after
Printed newsletter	Article, photo and action		Review articles and photos
Email newsletter	Article, photo and hyperlink
Website news
Facebook	Photo, question and hyperlink	Live photo gallery	Photo gallery and Storify
Twitter		Live photo updates	Storify
YouTube		30 second video update	3 minute video
Vine		Live video updates
Newspaper	Pre-event press release Pitch to journalists	Live interviews	Post event press release, photo, quote
Radio
Regional TV
EXAMPLE	Highlight the impact that members will make during Scout Community Week	Show the live activity and impact made during Scout Community Week	Demonstrate the results and outcomes of Scout Community Week