Ms. Nezahat Sevim, Head of communications at Mercato Metropoltano addresses the GPODS Fellows
Ms. Nezahat Sevim, head of communications at Mercato Metropolitano delivered a talk on strategic communication plan and how an individual can excel in it. The first and foremost step towards implementing a strategic communication plan she shared was to develop a framework, a goal, and lay down the objectives of the discussion.
In certain cases where we have decided the above mentioned strategy, the next thing to ponder on is to target the audience that we want to pitch in the plan with. This is one of the most important parts considering if the pitch is not being portrayed and conveyed to the right audience, then it can yield nothing.
Accompanied by this thought, Ms. Sevim believed that being strategic means communicating the best message, through the right channels against well-considered organizational and communication-specific goals. She delineated the difference between “just doing” communication and “doing the right” communication, which holds a very minute yet a valuable difference. The grounds on which one’s communication plan message should be drafted with brevity, concise and to the point, and with clarity. While drafting the message one should weigh on the following attributes of the voice, tone, and style of the message.
The fourth component that Ms. Sevim emphasized on was the usage of platform and tools, which lay down that effective mapping of communication channels ensure that one’s messages are disseminated through multiple channels so that audiences receive the information, advice, and guidance several times from a range of sources. One such instrument she shared was digital advocacy. It was the use of technology to galvanize people towards a cause, whether it is a policy or a product. It was an organized endeavor to influence public perception. She called this a practice of turning one’s audience into lobbyists, and perhaps our brand advocates. Not only this, but this technology also renders us with the information regarding how much time an individual has spent on a specific platform, and so much more.
There are the various monitoring and measuring tools to keep a check on such mechanisms. One such exaple she shared was of Google Alerts which are employed to monitor the content on the web. Some other ones that she shared were Brandwatch, a social media listing tool, and Google Analytic that monitors usage of our website. She also presented an example of the UK’s government communications service model called OASIS which is their model to plan, combat and implement their strategic communication plan. OASIS stands for Objectives-Audience-Insight-Strategy-Implementation-Scoring/evaluation. She also briefly touched on the work of the organization called MSF and its marketing strategies. It is the strategic communication which is all about targeting the right audience with the right piece of information, and that in itself forms the central basis of strategising.
About the GPODS fellowship:
The Global Policy, Diplomacy and Sustainability (GPODS) is a program for public policy practitioners, business professionals, energy and climate change experts, entrepreneurs, academicians, scholars and strategic analysts to act as a launch pad for their careers. Currently we have fellows from five different countries namely USA, France, UK, Israel, Italy and 40+ world leaders as mentors from 15 different countries.
About the speaker:
Currently Ms. Nezahat Sevim is the head of communications at Mercato Metropolitano. With a substantial experience of delivering content from wide range of subjects, targeting and engaging multi-national audiences with a broad understanding of global trends , current and public affairs. She has worked as a the managing editor for Turkish service at Euronews. She is distinguished expert on reputation and though leadership management for brands and C-level executive.