Sunday, 12 March 2017

FROM STRATEGIC THINKING TO STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION

The new dimension of Communication
Ishola Ayodele (Result Oriented Comm)




A great thinker of antiquity George Bernard Shaw once said, "The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place"

Communication is not all about talking it is more about mind connection. A state where two or more minds clearly get the picture of what the other person is saying in their minds. They see what the speaker has seen. They feel what he/she is feeling.

Leaders, Brands and Corporations must understand that it is not what they say but what their audience hear that will determine how the audience respond. Thus, challenge is for leaders, Brands and corporations to communicate in a way that their audience hears what they want them to hear and respond in the way they want the audience to respond in order to get the desired results.

Moving audience from where they are to where we want them to be requires STRATEGIC THINKING.

Albert Einstein once said, “The problems of our lives cannot be solved by being in the same level of thinking we were when we created them”. Hence there is a great need for us as communicators to start thinking strategically in order to create the strategic communication that will yield the desired result.

The word strategy comes from the Greek word Strategia which means ‘generalship’.
The general and his lieutenants conceptualize, plan and design the overall military operations and movements in a battle or war before lifting a sword. Thus, Strategy is undertaken before the battle. Tactics are implemented during the battle.

Strategic thinking is the capacity to think conceptually, imaginatively, systematically and opportunistically in an attempt to attain a particular set goal in the future.

In this 21st century, the only type of communication that can yield the desired result is Strategic communication. Majority of the audience in this 21st century are trendy, vocal and tech savvy and unlike in the past they will react to your message because they have the control over the channel of communication.

Our job now as communicator has gone beyond just issuing press releases and posting company activities of social media. Our job is to thinking strategically ahead of time how to position our organization in the same wave length with this sophisticated audience in order to gain their trust and loyalty because that is when we can actually connect with them through our message.

This is why I love the 1978 Mexican statement which says “Public relations practice is the art and science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counseling organization leaders, and implementing planned programs of action which will serve both the organization and the public’s interest”.

 According to Candy Tymson (1996), “PR practice as an art implies the element of specialized skill, knowledge and methods and as a science seeks the inputs of social sciences like Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology and Statistics".

CONSEQUENTLY, AS THE BRAND, MARKETING OR CORPORATE COMMUNICATION MANAGER EVERY OF YOUR BRAND, CORPORATE OR MARKETING COMMUNICATION MUST LEAD TO FINANCIAL OR REPUTATIONAL GAIN FOR THE COMPANY OTHERWISE YOU ARE JUST TALKING AND NOT COMMUNICATING.

This is why a great thinker, Daniel Webster said, “If all my possessions were taken from me with one exception, I would choose to keep the power of communication, for by it I would soon regain all the rest”.

Here are few elements of Strategic Communication led by Strategic thinking
 
Market research (Data gathering).

Understanding the real definition of a customer.

Product/service mapping.

Stakeholder mapping.

Message mapping.

Channel mapping

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