When is your communications plan good enough to go?

Sweating the small stuff can have you tinkering with your plan while the first deadline whizzes past. And that will prompt further tweaks and changes, and so on.

Trying to achieve absolute perfection can prevent good work from getting out the door. This tendency to hold things back while we get lost in doubt and minutiae is nothing new. Voltaire, Shakespeare and Confucious are credited with saying that “Perfect is the Enemy of Good,” in various languages.

Done beats Perfect

A more modern take, often quoted by tech firms, is “Done beats Perfect”. Because many of us have the tendency to tinker and change and pursue new ideas halfway down the track, “done” gets the chance to slip away.

The early developer of British radar, Sir Robert Watson-Watt, is credited with saying that the Third Best option is the one good enough to go with. In his opinion, the Second Best will take too long, and the First Best doesn’t exist. Now there’s a reality check from a guy whose work made a material difference to the British’s defence against the German Luftwaffe.

If he had insisted on making changes, developing his ideas further, there’s a good chance the radar would have worked better. But, more critically, the window of opportunity would have closed. In most cases, we have to live with compromise and learn to weigh up what’s critical, and what can be foregone.

Granted, it’s not 1940 and you’re not fighting the Battle of Britain, but the principle is the same. Know what matters and focus on that. Don’t be distracted by the “nice-to-haves”. Most of your plan’s impact will come from achieving your primary objectives, reaching the most important audiences with key messaging, and building relationships with a few influential opinion leaders. It sounds basic, but we often find ourselves running around for a peripheral idea (usually urgent), or a media platform that really doesn’t do much for us.

Taking Risks

We can never know with 100% certainty how a plan is going to work out. Similar to investing, if you steer clear of risk, you also avoid the chance of high reward. And risk isn’t for everyone, or every industry, but sometimes being too risk-averse is your worst possible option.

If you’re too scared to venture into social media, for example, you could find your business completely ignored and left out of the conversation.

There are real consequences when communications plans go awry. But keeping quiet isn’t a good strategy. Rather be upfront about possible risks, discuss them widely, know how you will react in the event of a few scenarios. Remember your reaction to a PR crisis can overshadow the initial incident.

We’re here to help

If you need help with putting a communications plan together or want to ‘sense check’ any aspects of your plan, give us a call.

We’re here for you in 2022.