Mission-Aligned Communications
You work as a training manager for a small restaurant, Pasta Amore. The restaurant is opening a new location in Suburbia, Somewhere; in addition, the company would like to draw attention to its expanding online presence. This location expansion may present an opportunity to do that as well. The restaurant owner, Laura Morelli, would like you to present a communication strategy with clearly defined communication goals for the next year. She emphasized the importance of ensuring that the presentation is aligned with the company style guide to ensure cohesiveness of various communications.
Company Overview
Pasta Amore serves authentic Italian cuisine in a warm, welcoming, family-friendly environment. The restaurant owners are from an Italian background, and they have a strong appreciation for Italian food and traditions that bring families together over a delicious homemade meal.
Pasta Amore Style Guide
Prior to beginning this project, Laura has asked you to review the company style guide, which includes the following information:
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- Mission statement
- Vision
- Logo and usage information
- Color palette information
- Primary typography information
- Image use guidelines
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Target Audience Information
New Restaurant Setting
The communications team has already created an audience segmentation table based on demographic information about the restaurant’s new location:
Delivery Approaches to Consider
Here are some tools to consider, but feel free to propose new ideas and tools to get the word out about the restaurant’s new location.
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- Social media
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- The company currently uses Facebook and has a business page where it regularly post specials and interact with the community.
- The company does not currently use other social media, but it is open to expanding its reach.
- Free local newspaper (Suburbia Weekly Buzz)
- Suburbia Weekly Buzz is a weekly local newspaper that covers news about city politics, entertainment, and community interests. The newspaper allows paid advertisements and features for businesses. It is available for free at local businesses, including restaurants and grocery stores. It is well-known and read by a diverse audience.
- Paid local newspaper (City Gazette)
- The daily newspaper is available in stores and offers digital subscriptions to its online edition.
- Readers are mostly middle-aged to older adults.
- Company website/blog
- The company has a simple website with its mission in the “About Us” section, as well as hours and a menu. Stakeholders are open to expanding resources on the website to better connect to the community and build brand awareness, if the website would be an appropriate communication platform.
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Economic Environment
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- Suburbia already has one Italian restaurant that markets itself as “fine Italian dining.” It is located on the outskirts of town and is very expensive. The restaurant appeals mostly to older, wealthy people in the community.
- The area is in a phase of significant economic and middle-class growth. The city is located in an area with many old textile mills that are being bought and converted to office space by technology companies. This is creating jobs and stimulating the local economy.
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Directions
Your task is to create a communications strategy presentation to internal stakeholders using the company style guide. The presentation should represent the company’s brand and mission, and will discuss ways that you apply those in the development of a communication strategy.
Adherence With Brand Mission and Style Guide: Pasta Amore considers its style guide a valuable company asset, and it is important to Laura that the style guide continues to inform communication on all levels of the company.
Develop presentation elements in alignment with the company style guide, including communicating information in a way that is appropriately aligned with the corporate voice and mission presented in the style guide.
Discuss the role of the mission statement and corporate voice for informing communication approaches. Provide specific details in speaker notes.
Communication Goals and Strategy: Laura has asked that you include communication goals that consider Pasta Amore’s mission, vision, and corporate voice. The communication goals should clearly reflect and align with those elements.
Introduce your communication strategy for executing communication goals and explaining alignment to the company mission and brand ideals. Provide specific details about the elements of the mission that will appeal most to specific target audiences.
Create communication goals that clearly connect to the company mission statement. In the speaker notes, explain the purpose of the communication goals for meeting the company’s strategic initiatives and alignment with company mission and vision.
Identify specific decision-making methods that will inform the company’s communication goals, considering how the company’s mission and vision appeal to the targeted audience.
Delivery Methods: Laura has asked that you identify communication channels and provide examples of how the company will maintain mission and brand consistency across the channels that you identify. Specifically, consider logo usage and verbiage that supports the company mission and corporate voice.
Determine communication delivery approaches and appropriate platforms, such as suggested media channels and advertising locations. For each delivery approach and platform, consider both the target audience and the mission and vision.
Describe approaches to engage with the target audience in a way that is aligned with the brand mission. For each platform indicated, identify the target audience. Provide specific details and rationale in speaker notes.
Describe examples of communications across various media channels in alignment with the company’s mission and brand. Consider timing, text, and images that should be included for advertisements and social media posts.
Discuss tactics used to frame corporate voice and mission strategically to the targeted audience. Consider specific themes should be used in communications to provide a consistent experience. Provide supporting details in speaker notes.
What to Submit
Communications Strategy Presentation
Your presentation should use the logo, color palette, and typography indicated in the style guide. It should communicate strategic communication goals, including examples of style guide-aligned communications that reflect the mission and brand of the organization. The presentation should be 8 to 10 slides in length. Use speaker notes to describe your ideas in more detail. Within the presentation, provide examples of how you would communicate information.
