COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

All communication material will be developed in line with the overall CSF thematic branding. The CSF branding strategy will also create value for its sponsors. It will clearly mention the contributions of USAID and MoF in the development of CSF and its activities to address competitiveness issues in Pakistan . USAID will be mentioned in all communication materials as the principal sponsor and joint partner of the Government of Pakistan for the creation of the Fund. This includes official correspondences, business cards, the competitiveness portal, press releases and other communication collateral. This strategy will enable the CSF to create a top-of-the-mind position and brand recall for the USAID and MoF name and logo in the targeted groups.

As an ongoing process, CSF will further develop a screening process for the journalists in Pakistan who have been identified by the stakeholders as the key media professionals responsible for creating economic content for various media entities, including print, electronic and newswire services.

Print Media

CSF has been successful in utilizing the print media for cultivating the concept of Competitiveness in Pakistan. The CSF communication contained the USAID’s commitment to economic development in Pakistan. They also mention the aims and objectives of USAID and MoF, and the rationale behind establishing CSF. CSF has built the capacity of the media professionals to understand the competitiveness issues in the global perspective. CSF will be engaging the print media more to disseminate information about CSF’s activities, projects, mid- to long term vision and stakeholder’s participation.

CSF will be building the capacity of the following number of journalists in the print media to sensitize them on the competitiveness issues by assisting them in developing content on innovation and competitiveness:

As a benchmark to measure the success of the CSF communication strategy, CSF will be targeting the following minimum number of articles from the journalists to come up with articles, news item, editorial and etc. An Impact Analysis of the interaction with the print media professionals and their output is targeted to be as follows:

The CSF has received a very positive response from the English newspapers in its interaction from the English language newspapers, which has been very helpful in the overall strategy for the Competitiveness Support Fund to target the opinion leaders and decision makers in Pakistan.

The understanding of the English media professionals is clearly high as compared to the Urdu newspapers. As the majority of the population in Pakistan speaks and understands Urdu in their daily lives, CSF will be concentrating more on the Urdu papers to disseminate the competitiveness information to the SME sector in its future communication strategy.

Electronic Media (Radio & Television)

CSF activities have been very prominent in the electronic media last year; for the future CSF will have a pro-active communication in the electronic media. Electronic media will be used to carry out exclusive interviews and discussion programs on competitiveness issues. In these instances, CSF will ensure that the visual brandings of USAID and MoF are communicated. This will be achieved by strategically placing the USAID/ MoF logos as a part of the entire theme of the communication at different occasions. In order to communicate effectively on the competitiveness studies of the Fund, the media must also grasp the broader competitiveness concepts that inevitably overarch such examination. Therefore, CSF will also develop an interaction with the electronic media regarding its work on specific sectors, in addition to address more general competitiveness issues. CSF is currently working with 67 electronic media professionals to develop the electronic media content on innovation and competitiveness in Pakistan, this number will be increased to 100 as per the following breakup:

In addition to strengthening and building closer relationship with the media professionals in the metropolitan areas, CSF will be developing its networking with media in Balochistan and interior Punjab, especially the SME industrial triangle of the Sialkot, Gujrat and Gujranwala.

CSF will be developing the capacity of the media professionals with its partner organizations i.e. World Economic Forum, Stanford University and etc. through workshops, seminars and other interactive sessions.

CSF will also be disseminating information on its activities on projects under matching grants and other initiatives under the technical assistance windows. The business incubator and venture capital window will also create opportunities for CSF to aggressively engage the media for public awareness and value creating for CSF and its sponsors.

Internet and Website

The Competitiveness Support Fund portal is currently the only source on competitiveness issues in Pakistan. CSF will be engaging its stakeholders to actively participate in its activities through its web-portal. The current structure of the website is primarily static and information heavy. CSF will be introducing multi-media features on the website, including; discussion forms, newsletter, media coverage from the print and electronic media.

The website will also be used to engage the media professionals with higher frequency by providing them separate web-space for their research and accomplishments. This will be done through an interactive exercise through web, email and SMS interfaces etc.

Benchmark for the Year 2007-08

CSF has achieved a target of an average 50,000 visitors per month on its web portal last year. CSF will be targeting an average 100,000 visitors per month by March 2008. To achieve this CSF will be carrying out its various activities for web promotion, which includes the following:

1. Website search optimization
2. Meta tags
3. Banner exchange (with other MOF projects)
4. Additional Key words optimization
5. Blogs on CSF and Pakistan’s Competitiveness
6. Newsletter and media coverage dissemination
7. Traffic analysis
8. More interactivity

Below-the-Line Activities

To create awareness and value for its sponsors CSF will be communicating with its stakeholders through various communication activities. This will enable CSF create awareness of its activities, including conferences, seminars and other events.

CSF will be carrying out direct interaction with its various stakeholders in different cities. The events will provide opportunities for CSF to communicate its objectives and activities along with subtle branding opportunities for its sponsors USAID, MoF and other partner organizations.