Communicating strategy as a listed company

Business strategy has commonly been something that was kept in-house and was the subject of a trickle-down internal communications campaign from senior levels within the organisation. The communications and marketing rationale for the reluctance to thoroughly communicate strategy internally had to do with a 'need to know' approach for operational staff. Externally the reluctance stemmed from a perceived loss of competitive advantage if too much was known about the business strategy and planning of a listed company.

But the major characteristic of the modern business world is the speed of change and the necessity for agility and responsiveness in organisational structure and in the creation and deployment of strategy and innovation. The rapid rate of change is occasioned by many different factors, but primarily by the speed of information exchange made possible by the Internet and other communication technologies.

Staying ahead

In order to communicate effectively in this rapidly changing environment, companies now need to let their markets, partners and investors know as quickly and consistently as possible what their strategies are for staying ahead of the curve in their industry.

That process starts internally, through a clearly articulated strategic planning process that is cyclical and iterative, and which involves communication with all stakeholders at every stage - thus a plan-communicate-implement-communicate-measure-communicate-plan cycle.

In this way, the internal and external communication processes, which incorporate all of the traditional marketing communications channels such as PR, advertising, branding and so on, also incorporate strategic business planning and strategic marketing, as well as a measurable approach to best practice within the organisation, benchmarked against the original business strategy.

Communication, especially for listed businesses which incorporate many stakeholders, some of whom are investors who are outside the operations of the organisation, thus works forward rather than historically to create competitive advantage.

In traditional PR and marketing communication, reporting on what the company had done in the past built an image of what the company was likely to be in the future. Because of the rate of information-driven change in business today, this approach is no longer as effective. It is still important to let investors, business partners, staff and customers know where you are going as a company, but it is also critical now to create and implement strategy fast, and show evidence of that implementation. This is the only way to build trust and confidence in the modern business world. Not to publish and discuss strategy leads to misinterpretation, and to less than optimal building of trust as strategy is put into action.