Communication without control becomes occupational therapy

This article was written by: Dr. Reimer Stobbe

Communications departments are producing more content today than ever before. They use countless channels, deliver real-time reports, measure reach, clicks and engagement rates down to the second decimal place. At the same time, uncertainty is growing in many companies as to what strategic contribution communication can actually still make. This is not a contradiction. It is the result of a fundamental misunderstanding.

Many communication organizations confuse data collection with control. They produce dashboards instead of impact. The crucial question is not how many key figures are available, but whether communication is contributing to clearly defined goals at all.

Because likes are not yet a reputation. Reach is not yet impact. And a successful social media post is by no means a contribution to the company’s success.

The silent loss of importance of communication

Communication rarely loses its strategic role abruptly. The loss of importance happens gradually. It begins where communication is primarily understood as a production function: Creating content, serving channels, rolling out campaigns, delivering reporting. In this model, communication becomes an internal service provider. Efficiency then counts more than impact. The operational machinery runs faster and faster, but the strategic relevance decreases. This is precisely what is dangerous. Because companies today are under massive pressure from the expectations of their stakeholders: Employees expect orientation, investors trust, political players transparency, customers credibility and talents attractive prospects. Communication is therefore no longer just a mediation function. It has become the management of stakeholder relationships.

The actual value contribution of communication therefore does not arise in the short term in the profit and loss account. Communication creates potential for success in the future. It ensures the willingness of relevant stakeholders to cooperate. Without this support, no company can be successful in the long term. Communication is therefore not an operational cost item, but a strategic investment.

Why range overestimated is overestimated

Despite this, many communication departments still focus almost exclusively on visibility. Reach dominates the discussion because it is easy to measure. Dashboards love reach. So do management presentations.

But reach alone does not change anything. This is precisely why the DPRG/ICV impact levels were developed. They make a conscious distinction between output and outcome. Output initially only describes the contact offer: reach, visibility, media resonance or content playout. The actual impact only arises later – in terms of perception, knowledge, attitudes and behavior.

The problem with many communication organizations is that they stop at the reach level. They measure whether content has been played out, but not whether this actually changes attitudes or creates desired behavior. This means that there is no actual proof of effectiveness.

Communication must be from behavior be thought of from behavior

Strategic communication management therefore does not begin with measures, but with a different question: What should stakeholders ultimately think, feel or do differently? This perspective changes the entire planning process. For example, if you want customers to build trust or employees to support change processes, you first have to define the specific behavior you are aiming for. Only then does it become clear which attitudes are necessary for this, which knowledge needs to be built up and which communication measures make sense. This creates a genuine chain of effects. Many communication departments today work in exactly the opposite way. They start with formats, channels or content ideas and then hope for an impact. This inevitably leads to actionism. Without a strategic target architecture, communication remains operationally busy but strategically disoriented.

AI exacerbates the weaknesses of existing systems

The current AI wave is making this problem more visible than ever. Many communication departments are currently focusing on efficiency gains in content production: creating texts faster, automating visuals, speeding up processes. This makes sense, but it falls short. The real revolution lies elsewhere. AI unfolds its greatest benefits where data is integrated, patterns are recognized and decisions are supported. Modern communication management is therefore based on a clean data architecture. Social media, websites, CRM systems, media response analyses, social listening or event data must be brought together in order to make impact chains visible. This is precisely where the wheat is currently separated from the chaff.

Companies with clear governance and an integrated data strategy can use AI to manage communication measures more precisely, understand stakeholders in a more differentiated way and make their impact visible more quickly. Companies without this foundation, on the other hand, simply produce more data noise. AI strengthens existing systems. Good systems get better. Bad systems become more chaotic.

The real challenge is called Governance

This is why governance is becoming the central management task of communication.Communication controlling does not mean collecting as many key figures as possible. It means establishing a common control logic: standardized KPIs, comparable impact measurement, uniform data sources and clear target systems. This sounds technical at first, but is above all organizationally demanding. This is because communication departments need to overcome their silos. Media relations, social media, website teams, CRM, event communication and reputation management must no longer work side by side like separate worlds. Only by linking these areas can integrated communication management be achieved. This is precisely why communication controlling is much more than just reporting. It is organizational development.

The communication department of the future

The communications department of the future will no longer be defined primarily by content. Its strategic value will come from the ability to understand stakeholder relationships based on data, to make impact visible and to support corporate goals through communication. This also changes the role of those responsible for communication. In future, not only storytelling skills and channel knowledge will be required, but also strategic thinking, an understanding of data and the ability to build impact systems. This will make communication more demanding – but also more relevant.

AI in particular can help to relieve communication departments of operational routines. Reports are automated. Data analyses become faster. Patterns can be recognized earlier. This finally creates space for strategic work. And this is perhaps the greatest opportunity of the current transformation: for the first time in years, communication could focus more on its actual core task – creating orientation.

Communication without control mainly produces activity. Communication with clear impact objectives, on the other hand, can have a real strategic influence.

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