Operations > Business Strategies > Business Strategy Implementation
Announcing a New Business Strategy

Business Strategy Implementation

Announcing a New Business Strategy

The business strategy is ready to be announced to the world. Stop the presses! Before you get too far along, here are a few important things to know about announcing a new business strategy.

Like a proud parent, you're bubbling over with enthusiasm for your new business strategy.

But before you get too carried away, you might want to consider how you will announce your new strategy to your employees and to the rest of the world. While a well-executed announcement can create momentum, a botched announcement can doom your new strategy from the start.

Before you do anything, it's important to make sure your management team is in agreement with the strategy and with the way it will be announced. Any leadership divisions will be read as an indication of uncertainty - and uncertainty is the last thing you want to communicate to either your workforce or the marketplace.

As you discuss a plan for announcing your strategy, you'll also want to make sure no one on the leadership team leaks the details prior to the official announcement. Partial or preliminary information is often misleading and can create a toxic atmosphere long before you formally announce your strategy.

Be strategic. It sounds redundant, but strategy may be the key to announcing a new strategy. The same effort you applied to the development of your new business strategy needs to be applied to the development of an announcment strategy. There's simply no excuse for releasing information about a new business strategy in a random, uncoordinated manner.
Go multichannel. Multichannel distribution is usually the right way to announce a new business strategy. In addition to traditional PR and marketing channels, consider leveraging your company's online presence to stir up enthusiasm for a new direction. Social media can be an especially effective tool for making the most of your rollout.
Speak to end users. Draft your announcement around the needs of end users. Far too often, strategy announcements are written for industry insiders when the real audience is the media and by extension, the general public. Conversely, if your announcement objectives are geared primarily toward industry professionals, avoid watering the content of your announcement down. Consider the audience you want to impact with your announcement and draft the content accordingly.
Strike a balance. Novice business strategists feel compelled to communicate lofty (and usually unachievable) goals when they announce new strategies. Veteran strategists understand the importance of setting big goals, but are also savvy enough to avoid tying completely unrealistic expectations to their new strategies. It's okay to think big - just make sure you're capable of delivering big results before you start shouting you new strategy from rooftops.