Communication planning: Agility is a game changer in strategy development

The purpose of this conceptual article is to explore what agility means for communication planning. Agility is focused on adaptation to change. A review of current communication planning models shows that most models are focused on long-term detailed planning with little room to fully adapt to change. In contrast, agility encourages to focus on choices to be tested, not only at the output or tactic levels but for every choice in the strategy. This implies that we should alter our idea of evaluation as the final step in our planning models and focus much more on goal-based and goal-free formative evaluation, in order to test choices over and over again and show that strategy is not a product but a process of adaptation. The design of an agile communication strategy must be short and simple and show the coherence of the choices made. Based on the literature in business and marketing strategy modeling, a framework for an agile communication strategy with eight building blocks is presented. The intention of this model is to introduce a framework that helps to see strategy building as a narrative that ensures coherence in the choices made and offers room for fully adapting to change.