The results from the Communications Strategy Survey are in. And while they indicate many organizations are struggling to develop a communications strategy, they also indicate many people within those organizations see the value of a communications strategy and are motivated to improve or develop theirs.
No Strategy
The most notable finding is that only 25% of respondents indicated their organization has a written communications strategy.
That means 75% of organizations are sailing their communications ship without a map. No wonder so many communicators are feeling confused and overwhelmed by all the communications options now available!
Breaking It Down
As we delve into the specific aspects of communications strategy, respondents feel best about their understanding of their target audience(s), with 43% rating their org a 4 or 5 compared with 29% rating their org a 1 or 2.
In all other aspects of communications strategy, more people rated their organization negatively than positively.
- On defining & understanding their communications goals, 31% were positive and 38% negative
- On defining & understanding their communications tactics, 31% were positive and 36% negative
- Respondents felt least confident in their tracking of metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of their communications goals with only 17% rating their organization positively and 62% negatively.
Motivated to Improve
Overall it’s clear that the people who responded to the survey are not satisfied with their communications strategy. When asked “Overall, how would you rate your organization’s communications strategy?” only 16% rated it positively while 47% rated it negatively.
On a positive note, though, when asked, “How motivated are you to help your organization develop a better communications strategy?” 70% indicated they are highly or extremely motivated.
I’m encouraged by this because it shows many people see the value of a communications strategy and the potential impact a good communications strategy has to improve communications and dramatically impact the effectiveness of the organization.
Biggest Barriers?
When asked, “What is the biggest barrier to your organization developing a better communications strategy?” respondents were fairly evenly divided between busyness (29%), lack of understanding (25%), and lack of leadership (21%). 17% of respondents indicated “other” on this question, but a closer look at those other reasons revealed nearly all could be categorized as time, understanding or leadership issues.
Where do we go from here?
Based on the survey results, I see at least 3 things we can do.
1) Develop Resources. It’s clear that organizations need and want help developing better communications strategies. That presents an opportunity for the development of better communications strategy resources and guidance – books, webinars, tools, conferences and coaching.
2) Provide Examples. An additional type of resource that would be helpful is examples of communications strategies. Some survey respondents indicated they would like to share their communications strategy online either as an example or for the purpose of receiving feedback. We hope to post and discuss as many of these as possible.
3) Parse Data Demographically. More insight may be gained by parsing the results by demographic factors – type of organization, number of employees, role in the organization or years of experience. We’ll be looking into that ourselves. And if you’d like the raw data (excluding email address) to do your own parsing, just let us know.
For more on communications strategy, read What Is a Communications Strategy? and How to Develop a Communications Strategy – with 6 Words
Discussion
- What comments or questions do you have about the survey results?
- What could be done to help your organization or other organizations develop better communications strategies?
40 Comments
Paul, many organizations have not yet prioritized the need for a written communications strategy. Once it moves to the top of the to-do list, then more organizations will allocate the resources.
Thanks for the comment, Lanie. Without a written communications strategy to guide day-to-day operations, organizations waste a lot of time and resources and get off track. My hope is that leaders and communicators will see that if they don't have a communications strategy that should be at the top of their to-do list.
Hi Paul, forgive me, I've been ill, but I did comment under the name Lanie. I'm looking at it now: Paul, many organizations have not yet prioritized the need for a written communications strategy. Once it moves to the top of the to-do list, then more organizations will allocate the resources.
Agreed with Lanie. Not enough have prioritized this but once they do it will be better all the way around.
Amen Miriam!
You can't and won't prioritize something you don't understand or are overwhelmed by, you will continue to put it off and put it off and put it off and most organizations just don't have the funds to have someone come and enlighten them.
Thanks Valarie. That's why I'm writing blog posts like…
How to Develop a Communications Strategy – with 6 Words https://www.ourchurch.com/blog/how-to-develop-a-communications-strategy-with-6-words/
…and posting the survey results publicly. Hopefully with resources like these understanding will increase, anxiety will decrease, and even those orgs who can't afford a consultant will be able to develop a good communications strategy.
i think Valarie is on to something here! Great to see that you are educating and bringing your vast experience to the table Paul.
sweet post
Breaking it down, and then improving it…I love these kinds of simple, yet insightful posts.
For a lot of smaller businesses the rate of change in communications is a challenge – as, by the time they get their communications strategy put together – their own business strategy has changed and they then need to rethink the communications strategy.
Yeah, things are continuing to change rapidly in business and communication. That's why an important part of an organization's communication's strategy is having a plan for how often it will be evaluated and tweaked.
Did N =138? If so, frequency distributions are probably more useful than percentages but setting aside that pickiness, I'd love to look at the cross-tabs for "don't understand" and "lack of leadership." I suspect that embedded in that is this truth: leadership doesn't understand strategy development and therefore cannot lead it. Feel free to ignore me getting all social science-y!
Focusing on what needs "to be done," I believe that providing a clear, easy-to-understand information about what constitutes strategy, why it's important, and how to develop one is a good place to start. And oodles of prayer that communications efforts be viewed as an essential ministry!
Hi Meredith, yes, it looks like there were 138 total responses. It would also be interested to see how "don't understand" and "lack of leadership" correlate with the role the person has at the organization. My guess is that senior leaders are more likely to say the biggest barriers are too busy and don't understand, while people further down the org chart are more likely to say lack of leadership.
I gave you access to a copy of the data so you can slice, dice, filter and parse it to your heart's content. 🙂
The most striking thing about the results of the survey is that organizations havent made it a priority. Lack of leadership, lack of understanding, and being too busy all add up to 75% of the reason it's not getting done. and in my view these are unacceptable excuses. After all, it should be a one time deal to pull everyone together, come up w/ a strategy, and lay it out in writing .
This is exactly what was done during my time as a labor organizer. We would plan, test, and tweek until we came up with a written plan in regard to communications, and overall campaign strategy. Due to this we had a good rate of success. However, my first job out of undergrad, was with a company that didn't commit anything to writing. There were no written procedures or decent communication strategy to speak of and the amount of things that slipped through the cracks were abundant.
Paul, I'm curious about whether there was any difference depending on the type of organization? (Public, Private, etc.)
Also, thanks for sharing the survey results!
Troy Mickjns
Thanks for the comment, Troy. I agree… "Too busy" is usually an excuse for not making something a high enough priority. "Lack of leadership" tends to mean "I can't do this on my own and the people above me are not doing their part." I wrote about these and a couple other barriers to creating a communications strategy in this post a couple weeks ago:
https://www.ourchurch.com/blog/4-common-barriers-to-developing-a-good-communications-strategy-and-how-to-overcome-them/
I'm also curious as to whether there are any differences depending on org type. I'm going to take a look and if there are some interesting differences I'll do a post on it.
Intersting results. I wonder, if so many People are Aware of the importance of communication why it is still so bad in some companies.
Cheers from Germany
Hansjörg Leichsenring
___
Have you seen my latest blog post?
Mobile Wallet, Kundenanalyse und Markenbildung
Lesenswertes über Banking KW 24-2013 http://www.der-bank-blog.de/?p=9990
shows – once again – how important strategy is. also and especially on internal and external communication. yes, there is a difference.