Executing Your Communications Strategy: It’s Much Harder Than You Think

For many companies, there is a considerable gap between communications goals and communications results. The first reaction by many of these companies is to develop a new communications strategy. Is this the right choice? It may seem obvious, but if you really dig deep, it may not be the right choice.

Strategy vs. Execution

There is no doubt that if problems with your communications results exist, it's could easily be due to the existing communications strategy. It is possible that the strategy is poorly targeted and planned, which makes it incredibly difficult to achieve the communications goals. And, when these problems exist it would seem starting with the strategy makes perfect sense.

In addition, developing a new strategy is often much easier than creating the execution. That is, coming up with big ideas and roadmaps is easier than actually committing to a hard deliverable. Coming up with an adequate strategy is easy, but coming up with a good and effective strategy is exponentially harder. And, because so many companies are satisfied with just an adequate strategy, they prefer to start there.

Strategy Needs Execution

The main point that cannot be forgotten through this whole process is: strategy needs execution. No strategy can stand on its own. It must always include some idea of its eventual execution. This means that, at the very least, the execution must be considered when planning the strategy. If the execution is not considered and planned for, the strategy will never be executed. And, the execution is so difficult that it becomes the primary reason that communications strategies fail.

Lead With Execution

If you are on the execution end of the marketing spectrum, very often the existing marketing strategy has to either be tweaked or ignored to fit the reality of the situation. Strategy is always important, but sometimes it's best to consider the execution first. This creates a strong argument for leading with execution. It seems counter-intuitive, but when considered in this way, it seems more natural, and it leads to more success.