Three Reasons You and Your Business Need a Communications Strategy

Every business needs a communications strategy. Period. Account Executive Tom Horn explains why.

When you’re running a small business, your to do list is never short. Whether you’re curating a marketing campaign, dealing with an HR issue or undertaking product development, there’s never time to take a moment to breathe.

But sometimes, it’s important to stop and think.

Building a communications strategy can seem like a pointless exercise. I can already hear the cries of exasperation from people reading this: What’s the point? Isn’t it a waste of time? I’ll never look at it!

Whatever the size of your business, there is value in taking stock and establishing short, medium and long-term plans for growth. It’s also personally beneficial. A strategy can improve focus and help your team to understand and buy into what you’re doing, increasing productivity and satisfaction.

In the first episode of our new podcast, Turning Up the Volume, we discuss what a strategy is and why it’s important. If you want to find out more about what you should put in a strategy, you can listen here, and find out more about our strategy behind starting the show here.

So, here are three reasons why a strategy is a must-have for any business.

For Your Sanity

Yes, building a strategy is time consuming. However, in the long term you will thank yourself for carving out time to make one. By establishing what you want to achieve and how you want to achieve it, you reduce time spent thinking about this later down the line, when you’re likely to be running an even bigger operation.

You also mitigate time wasted on ill thought out and ineffective projects. If you have no strategy, it’s not always clear what you’re trying to achieve through your communications. This can lead to a trial-and-error approach, meaning poor, sporadic ideas get implemented and fail as soon as they make contact with reality.

Having a strategy prevents this type of damaging approach, as it provides direction for your communications and outlines what form your campaign tactics should take.  

So, while building a strategy takes a substantial amount of thinking, time and energy, it will save you time in the long term.

For Focus

A strategy should set out short, medium and long-term objectives which are realistic and measurable.

If you set these and stick to them, it becomes harder to get distracted by other ideas.

This isn’t just beneficial for you, it will help your team to understand what you want to achieve and how they can help to deliver it. This clarity is great for motivation and productivity, as everybody knows what they’re working towards and why.

There’s also greater coherence within teams, as everybody is clear what their role is in relation to others in the group.

A motivated and productive workforce will only save you time and make your life easier, so providing clear roles, goals and accountability through a strategy is a no-brainer from this perspective. 

For Credibility

Whether you want to generate new leads or raise investment, presenting yourself as a credible organisation is non-negotiable.

Having a communications strategy automatically professionalises you and proves to stakeholders that you’re a trustworthy partner who knows what you want to achieve, and what you need to communicate to achieve it.

This importance of credibility when trying to secure new clients or investment cannot be underestimated. Without it, you will not be taken seriously, and you will not convince stakeholders to work with you. This will reduce the opportunities available to your business and stunt your growth.

Don’t risk your growth by looking unprofessional, build a strategy and prove to people why you’re worth investing in.