April 10, 2023

Checklist to evaluate your current communication strategy

As a communications strategist, I have to face the fact that most communication strategies fail, which means they are never used. Even so, my experience shows that a good communications strategy, especially one that is made through a lot of collaboration, has the potential to make a huge difference in how an organization does.

Because of this tension, I’ve been trying to come up with concrete ways to make sure that a strategy can work in real-world situations. My suggested checklist for your communications strategy is based on the very popular Checklist Manifesto, which is said to have helped orthopedic surgeons, pilots, and astronauts improve the efficiency of their operations. It includes the following items:

communication strategy checklist
  • Make sure you have the evidence to support your suggestions. Look for both quantitative and qualitative data, such as that which can be found by analyzing metrics that have already been collected, comparing your company to others in the same industry, or interviewing key informants.
  • Make sure that your plan can really be put into action. Because the strategy is a promise to the organization, it is very important to make sure that you can keep that promise. If the goal of the strategy is to build a business case for more resources so that you can reach your goals, it is very important that the executives know what that means.
  • Create an internal engagement and alignment process based on your plan, and then use it. You should think about getting support for the strategy by involving important partners and stakeholders on an internal level. The goal is not just to come up with a great plan, but also to get everyone to agree with it and then put it into action.
  • Make a system that will let you regularly check in on your progress with the strategy and report on what you’ve done. You shouldn’t wait until the end of the year to start reviewing. Instead, make it a part of what you do every day so you can act on the results and change your strategic planning in real-time.
  • Include the organization’s communications strategy in its day-to-day work and in its regular meetings. It should become a habit to connect ad hoc requests or problems to the strategy (for example, how can we handle this media problem in a way that helps us reach our strategic goals?).

Henry Mintzberg says this about how strategies are made: “All strategy-making walks on two feet, one deliberate and the other emergent.”

It is healthy and normal for the way you carry out your plan to change and adapt to what is going on around you. When these bookends are strong, everything else will fall into place. The trick is to stay as laser-like as possible in your focus on your stated goals and the performance measures that go with them.

Benefits

 Evaluating your current communication strategy is important in ensuring that it is effective and aligned with your overall business goals. By regularly assessing your communication strategy checklist, you can identify areas needing improvement and make necessary changes to reach and engage your target audience.

One of the key benefits of evaluating your communication strategy is that it allows you to identify and address any gaps in your communication efforts. For example, if you find that your current strategy is not reaching certain segments of your target audience, you can take steps to improve communication channels or tailor your messaging to better connect with those segments.

Another benefit of evaluating your communication strategy checklist is that it enables you to measure the effectiveness of your communication efforts. By setting specific goals and objectives for your communication strategy and tracking progress, you can determine which tactics are working well and which ones need to be adjusted. This can help you optimize your communication efforts and improve overall ROI.

Evaluating your current communication strategy checklist also allows you to stay current with industry trends and best practices. As technology and consumer behavior continue to evolve, it’s essential to stay up-to-date on the latest communication trends and tools. By regularly assessing your communication strategy, you can identify new opportunities to engage your audience and explore new channels for reaching them.

In addition to the above, evaluating your communication strategy also helps in identifying the areas where the company is lagging behind in terms of customer engagement and customer satisfaction. By understanding the customer’s perspective, the company can work on the areas of improvement and strive to build a better relationship with the customers.

Overall, evaluating your current communication strategy is a critical step in ensuring that your efforts are effective and aligned with your business goals. Regularly assessing your strategy can identify areas for improvement, measure progress, and stay current with industry trends and best practices.