A communications strategy can be technically excellent and still fail to get buy-in if it’s presented badly. Senior leaders have limited time and attention, specific concerns, and often a different vocabulary to comms professionals. Bridging that gap is as important as the quality of the strategy itself.
Lead with the business case
Connect your recommendations to what the organisation is trying to achieve. Don’t lead with the comms plan — lead with the strategic challenge it’s addressing. “This strategy responds to the fact that you’re losing ground with [audience] and need to rebuild trust before the next phase of growth” will land better than “Here’s our recommended approach to stakeholder communications.”
Make the choices visible
Strategic decisions are about trade-offs — doing this means not doing that. Make the trade-offs in your strategy explicit. This gives senior leaders something to engage with and makes the thinking behind your recommendations clear. It also helps you if they push back, because you can explain why you made the call you did.
Anticipate the questions
Before the presentation, think about what each person in the room is likely to care about. A CFO will ask about cost. A CEO will ask about risk and impact. A comms director will ask about feasibility. Prepare for these questions in advance — not with defensive answers, but with honest, considered responses.
Invite challenge, don’t avoid it
The purpose of the presentation isn’t to get through your slides undisturbed — it’s to get alignment on a direction. That requires conversation. Build in time for questions. If someone challenges a recommendation, engage with it rather than defending it reflexively. Being willing to say “that’s a fair challenge, let me think about it” is more credible than having a polished answer for everything.
The strategy presentation planner below helps you structure your presentation from opening frame to call to action, with prompts for anticipating questions and handling objections.