Your business is growing.
The new service has hit key targets.
You have hired for some new key roles.
Most leaders understand that communications plays a role in their business’s success. For growing businesses, however, the question of when to communicate can be unclear.
“We wait until there is something to announce, right?”
By then, some of the most valuable communication work has already been missed. Why? Communications becomes executional and reactive at that stage, when its role could have been strategic.
Once, while I was working at a mid-sized Canadian company, the communications team was brought in late, only after a new service launch was ready to announce. A longtime partner — not directly affected, but with a decade of history with the business — learned the news from the media instead of from the company directly. What should have been all-around good news put a dent in the relationship.
The Insight
Let’s take a step back to better understand the importance of timing.
Consider your teams.
Every functional leader has likely fed into building your business strategy based on their
area of expertise.
Finance evaluates viability.
Sales considers customers.
Operations thinks about delivery.
Communications, however, contributes perspective. Communications considers how the
whole thing will be understood, experienced and received. It looks across the business,
holistically, asking a different set of questions:
Is the story we’re telling aligning with our goals?
Does everyone describe our business in a way that reflects who we are today and our
aspirations for the future?
What are internal and external risks and opportunities of that new service?
Strategic communications asks whether the story being told aligns with business goals,
and whether everyone — employees, vendors, investors, media, customers — understands
it the same way.
And then there is the evaluation — my favourite part — understanding how the
communication was received, what resonated, what didn’t, and what needs to change.
Those aren’t messaging questions.
Those are strategic questions — providing an aerial point of view of the business —
connecting decisions, stakeholders and reputation into one picture to support business
growth and culture.
That’s the function of strategic communications.
Leadership Takeaway
If you lead a growing business, I recommend asking yourself these main three questions around clarity, consistency and strategy each quarter .
Clarity: Has my business outgrown the story I’m telling?
Have our services evolved?
Are we serving different clients?
Has our value proposition changed?
Consistency: Is everyone telling the same story?
Would my employees describe the business the same way I would? Would my partners?
Would my website, LinkedIn profile, proposals and presentations tell the same story?
Do customers receive a consistent experience?
Strategy: Are today’s business decisions creating tomorrow’s communication challenges — or opportunities?
Are we entering a new market, changing direction, launching a new service?
Are we planning to hire rapidly or planning restructuring?
Will we soon be bringing in investors or forming partnerships?
Final Thought
If you involve communications only after your strategy is complete, you may be missing one of the best opportunities to improve the strategy itself.
The earlier communications becomes part of your thinking, the less it becomes about announcements — and the more it becomes about building a successful business that is aligned, credible, and prepared for growth.