Your Audacious Run Back: Executive Communications

Do you know that beautiful strategic communications plan sitting in your cloud storage? The one with big ideas that never saw daylight because of [insert fire drill here]? It's time to dust it off.

For the next few weeks, I'll write a few "Run Back" articles, sharing my thoughts about how to do more with what you already have.

First up: the Executive Communications Plan.

Why Start the New Year with Exec Comms

According to the 2024 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report, executive communications is a critical business driver, yet most organizations admit it's under-resourced, misused, and poorly measured.

Over the last decade, I have learned that executive communications isn't just about visibility. It is a powerful tool for customer nurture, deal expansion, and market protection. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? An executive communications program ties directly to your primary business goals. Many companies treat it as a separate function when it should be a core element in your communications strategy.

Let's fix that.

I Have No Budget and Even Less Time

No budget, no resources? Kill everything else and focus on executive communications. I'm oversimplifying. But seriously, that would be my advice. So, if you have a plan that didn't get any airtime last year, you won't need to overhaul it. Start with the incremental, impactful work that can get your executive comms program off to a fast start.

Need some ideas?

Have your CEO "write" a New Year/Momentum LinkedIn article or blog. You don't have to do it today. If you're working on Sales Kick Off or something right now, start an outline and then you can post something by the end of the month.

Take your first piece of coverage that lands this month and write a blog post from the CEO to provide additional color.

While you're at Sales Kick Off, ask your CEO to give a few details on a video highlighting your company's progress or competitive landscape, and write a blog post.

Whatever you do, amplify everything, everywhere. Don't forget about your customer newsletter, partner portal, get creative. Also, I'm focusing on the CEO role, but it could be your CRO, Head of International Sales, Head of Channel, a Strong Sales Engineer, anyone…or EVERYONE and then amplify, amplify, amplify.

[I wrote a post about the Amplify Bag that you can read here.]

Not sure if your plan needs a reset? Keep reading.

Three Red Flags Your Exec Comms May Need a Reset

The Crisis-Only Communicator: When your CEO only surfaces during layoffs, product launches or security breaches, you've got a problem. At a major cybersecurity firm, their CEO became known as the "bearer of bad news" because they only appeared during incident disclosures. The fix? We established a regular cadence of market visibility. Within six months, stakeholder sentiment shifted from anxiety to engagement.

The Technical Overdose: Technical leaders often dive too deep too fast, losing their audience. We've all been there before. I call it "talking through his/her whole thought process" before getting to the answer. One company solved this by implementing a simple "business impact first, technical detail second" rule. Their market messages now consistently connect innovation to outcomes - and their customers, analysts, and press pay attention.

The Platform Mismatch: Posting long-form technical analyses on LinkedIn when your audience prefers quick video insights is a platform mismatch. One executive tripled engagement rates by switching to 2-minute video insights after discovering that 70% of their target audience preferred short-form video.

The Art of Asking Good Questions

Begin by asking better questions that your prospective SME already knows the answers to.

And water is wet – I know. But hear me out.

I don't think it's necessary to come up with a whole laundry list of industry-specific blah you read on a competitor's blog. Make it so easy that it doesn't feel like your SME has to carve out a ton of thoughtful/long/complex stuff.

Your SME can answer these questions quickly, is passionate about them, and would give you everything you need and more. My favorite questions generate unique perspectives but will be rooted in the business goals, making them unique to your brand. This is important because I don't believe in traditional thought leadership (I told you I'm a bit different). More on that later. ??

Here are my top favorite questions to reflect on what has been done in the past while developing fresh perspectives for an executive communications program.

1. What's your unique right to win?

2. Which goals did you set that weren't accomplished or weren't as successful as you expected?

3. Why did you prioritize this project/product, and how will it support growth?

4. Why are our customers behaving this way?

5. What messages or themes should I communicate to help with competitive depositioning?

The answers to questions like these can extend your program for a quarter and save you and your executive time in the long run. Don't forget about your platforms, I usually judge how an SME answers the first question to determine which platforms they are suited to evangelize. This is also a great question to avoid hearing "we don't have any competitors" while also getting some good content for future high-level media relations opportunities.

Once you've had a few conversations, lean in. This is where I think the process becomes essential.

Your Audacious Action Plan

1. Own Your Rhythm: Set a communications cadence that makes your leaders impossible to ignore. Crisis or not, own the conversation.

2. Speak Human: Help your SMEs drop the tech jargon. Every technical announcement or content needs a crystal-clear business impact statement that hits like a sledgehammer.

3. Command Your Channels: Match your message medium to where your audience lives. Don't assume - measure, adapt, and dominate.

4. Measure What Moves Markets: Forget vanity metrics. Track sentiment shifts and message pull-throughs that drive decisions. Volume is noise; impact is everything.

Start with one response to an audacious question and watch your market notice and lean in to hear what you're saying.

How are you revamping your executive communications program this year? Do you have any other good questions that you like to ask executives? I'd love to hear what you think.

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The Audacity of Comms is written by Carmen Harris, a communications leader who has driven brand strategy, corporate communications, and leadership insights for companies like Forescout, FireEye/Mandiant, Sumo Logic, and FireMon. Known for straight talk and strategic thinking in tech communications.

#ExecutiveCommunications #TechComms #Leadership #MarketStrategy #LeadershipFingerprint