By Moliehi Molekoa (South Africa)
Adviser, APCR Committee
Managing Director of Magna Carta Reputation Management Consultants
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ― Maya Angelou
In practice, conventional strategic communication focuses on communicating the best message, through the right channels, to deliver specific goals. The only shortcoming in that approach is that it overlooks the fact that effective communication involves mutual or reciprocal action.
Communicating without demonstrating value for the audience is like an advertisement asking people to buy a product or service without conveying the benefit in it for them. Unless people can determine what’s in it for them, they’d be hard-pressed to follow through.
Communicating with purpose, while showcasing the value to achieve a goal is the secret of successful strategic communication.
Effective communication helps you evoke specific responses in your target audience. In those responses, it helps you get what you want out of the situation by allowing your target audience to benefit mutually from the deal.
This is true not just for effective communication within and between businesses, but also for governments and nation-states, and even human relationships.
Communicating with purpose, while showcasing value in order to achieve a goal can be easily accomplished by following a four-step process: set a goal, know your audience, communicate the benefit, and communicate the call to action.
Set A Goal: For a business, this could be a collaboration with another business; for a government, this could be managing a national crisis; for a person, this could be a relationship goal.
Know Your Audience: What kind of collaboration may they be interested in? What does a population need in a time of national crisis? What may a specific person be looking for in a relationship?
Communicate the benefit: Help your target audience understand what they get out of a partnership or collaboration. Demonstrate how the partnership will benefit both parties.
Specify the call to action: Use the benefit that both parties share to communicate a call to action.
By following this process, one can effectively overcome reluctance to follow through when two parties are communicating through challenges.
Business A might be interested in landing a partnership with Business B. To do that, Business A will first set the goal, which is to secure the partnership. It will then try to understand the kind of partnership Business B may be interested in.
In the third step, Business A will help Business B understand how they benefit from such a partnership. Finally, Business A will use the common benefit for both parties to propose a call to action; in this case, signing the partnership.
Strategic communication isn’t any different when practised by governments or nation-states. Let’s take for example how countries leveraged strategic communication during the COVID-19 pandemic to disseminate critical information in a timely manner with the end goal of managing the pandemic effectively.
Some countries met with early success in drastically reducing their infection rate, while others experienced persistent, overwhelming outbreaks. While there are several variables at play, the difference can be partly attributed to how communities have received, interpreted, and acted on information provided by government agencies, in addition to the speed and scope of government intervention.
According to the Rapid Evidence Brief (February 2022) issued by the Ministry of Health in Kenya, there are disparities among African countries on vaccines received and vaccines administered.
The publication attributed the disparities to the different public health communication strategies adopted by these countries. It found that health promotion activities and/or incentives and endorsements were key determinants that helped achieve a broader uptake of the vaccine by effectively demonstrating its value to potential recipients of the vaccine, i.e., the target audience.
Similarly, a study cited in the World Medical & Health Policy journal evaluated the South African and Namibian governments’ use of digital media during the pandemic. It highlighted the shortcomings of both governments for “simply transmitting information” without adequate engagement.
In doing so, both governments failed to achieve the intended purpose of their digital media messaging campaigns by failing to effectively demonstrate how vaccination was mutually beneficial for all parties.
While these are real-world examples, they should be applied within the unique context of your situation and to the strategies you’re pursuing. Hopefully, this quick reference helps you develop effective communication strategies and tactics that will ultimately improve your business results.
Strategic communication requires you to see communication as a mutual exchange rather than a one-way street to generate interest and excitement.
Communication is essential to any kind of relationship, whether business or personal. When done right, strategic communication can be a game changer for any individual or organisation. It is key to growing as a company and getting what you want while ensuring that your target audience benefits from engaging with you.