What causes strategic communication to fail

In February 2022, a survey was conducted on behalf of Faktenkontor and news aktuell among 255 communications professionals from companies, organizations and PR agencies in Germany and Switzerland. The results show that many companies do not have a fixed, overarching strategy for their communications work: Exactly 50 percent currently rely on defined guidelines and measures, while 45 percent do not. According to the PR professionals surveyed, the latter is mainly due to the fact that no resources are available for the creation of a strategy (42 percent) or that a communications strategy is simply not needed (35 percent). However, only 3 percent of respondents consider this approach to be completely unnecessary. After all, 6 percent are currently working on strategic measures.

Strategic communication: it fails due to human resources and budget

If a communications strategy is in place, then implementation is hampered primarily due to a lack of human resources (54 percent) or budget (35 percent). Boundaries between departments also make it difficult for PR professionals to implement a holistic approach (30 percent). For just under a quarter of respondents, on the other hand, the problems are rooted somewhat deeper: 24 percent state that the defined goals and measures cannot be measured at all. Around one in six PR professionals also sees the dispersal of measures as a major challenge (16 percent). Structurally, however, there seem to be fewer problems: Only 12 percent complain about a lack of controlling or unclear responsibilities.

Communication strategy objectives: trust and reputation

By contrast, the goals and ideas that companies attach to an overarching communications strategy are quite clear: The top priority is the intention to create trust and build reputation (67 percent). No much less important is strengthening awareness of the brand, a product or a service (59 percent). The intention to increase awareness of the company follows at some distance for the respondents (34 percent). Concrete economic goals only land in fourth place: For 32 percent, supporting sales with a view to increasing sales is an important purpose.

The results at a glance

Does your company have an overarching, specifically written communication strategy?

• Yes 50%
• No 45%
• Do not know 4%

Reasons for lack of communication strategy

• Not yet the resources to create them 42%
• Not used 35%
• No knowledge of how to address the issue 10%
• We are working on it 6%
• Will be handled / adjusted flexibly 3%
• Considered unnecessary / not triggered 3%

Hurdles in implementation

• Lack of human resources 54%
• Missing budget 35%
• Departmental boundaries prevent holistic implementation 30%
• Definition of non-measurable objectives and measures 24%
• Delimitation in the measures 16%
• Lack of controlling 12%
• No clear responsibilities and accountabilities 12%
• Internal target groups not considered 11%
• Communication strategy not clearly communicated to team 9%
• Lack of management support 9%
• Goals, target groups and messages unclearly formulated 8%
• Content is not set up to suit the channel 6%
• No concrete measures derived 5%
• Topic development bypasses target groups 4%

The 5 most important goals of the communication strategy

• Building trust and reputation 67%
• Increase brand/product/service awareness 59%
• Increase awareness of the company 34%
• Support sales and increase sales 32%
• Retain customers 23%

Source: PR Trend Monitor by news up to date and factual office