Start with the outcome, not the output

There’s a trap that’s very easy to fall into in communications, and I’m fairly sure we’re all guilty of falling into it at one point or another – I know I have.

We start talking about the thing we need to produce as the starting point: a press release, an event, a campaign, a LinkedIn post, a newsletter, a new website, a social media strategy. Before long, we are all very busy. But what are we really achieving?

There are so many reasons why we might want to communicate – getting more people to be aware of our organisation and the work we do, promoting a new product, getting more publicity for something that isn’t gaining much traction when it should be, or trying to change how an organisation is perceived.

The press release, campaign, event, website or social post is simply a potential tool to help get you where you need to be - it doesn’t always mean people will listen.

What’s the story?

I’ve worked with all kinds of people across all kinds of industries and one of the most interesting parts of that work is taking something that’s genuinely important to the people who created it and working out why it should matter to everyone else.

I love trying to find the hook – to me, it’s a puzzle that needs solving. Before doing anything, ask: who needs to hear this, why would they care, and what’s happening in the world that makes it relevant right now?

Finding the answer to that puzzle is what turns publicising something into creating real interest in it.

Communicating during the difficult moments

That puzzle doesn’t go away when things get hard. You might be working through organisational change, restructures or other sensitive issues - where communications can easily tip into an absolutely frantic exercise in producing more messages, more communications, answering all the questions - without anyone stopping to ask what’s actually working.

Despite the slightly manic sense of urgency we have all felt during those times, remember that the same questions still need to be asked: what do people need to know and how best can we get them to understand and remember what we need to tell them?

The ‘why’ and the ‘what’

I’ve led communications and brand teams, advised senior leaders and worked across complex international organisations and I’ve also spent plenty of time getting stuck into the practical work - writing, pitching, planning, briefing. That experience has taught me that the strategy behind what we do, the ‘why’, matters just as much as the ‘what’ - and always try and remember which one should come first in those early planning meetings.