Communication Disruption Chaos
The term “communication disruption” exploded with digital messaging. While industry disruptions – we’re looking at you, Netflix – alter landscapes long term, communication disruptions operate on smaller scales. Sure, surpassing a Twitter trending topic feels magnificent. It’s a mike drop. But too frequently, short-term disruptions cost you message consistency.
Communication Disruption Addiction
Repeated communication disruptions result in short-lived euphoria and a costly burden when carried across today’s media channels. Ignite curiosity with content marketing! Redirect social conversations! Why isn’t that video viral?!? It’s a tall order for one hopefully cohesive message. It’s also unnecessarily time consuming for your leadership to endlessly churn new material and ulcer forming for communications teams to uniquely position them. And, more often than not, these individual messages step on each other, converging in a cloud only vaguely resembling your vision.
Sound suffocatingly familiar in today’s political environment? We’re witnessing an exploding number of messaging platforms locked in a messy collision with reach and frequency goals. The result is chaos. If we earned a nice tax credit every time a commentator preached about, “staying on message,” I’d be pretty happy next April.
So why insist that every post, sound bite or ad explode – especially when there’s ample room for primary and supporting messages? Some of it stems from undisciplined trial-and-error strategies. But the most common source is an abundance of blessings: lots of solo-quality communication instruments without a conductor. Every digital agency must justify their spend. Social media teams defend their daily analytics and trends. Ditto for public relations. This happens with in-house teams as well. The chaos swells from a leadership vacuum that emphasizes individual message measurement, not collective appreciation.
If lessons surface from this political cycle’s endless communication disruptions, they must include greater message discipline and fewer distractions by individual tactic results. Cohesiveness can – and must – exist within multiple message platforms. When you’re ready for communication leadership to move the needle with long-term gains, not seismic spikes, it’s time to talk to the pros at JHL. Our business and public affairs messaging generates committed, motivated support, not a barrage of passing thoughts.