Public trust, institutional credibility, and stakeholder confidence are increasingly shaped by actions as much as by messaging, particularly in sectors that engage closely with government. As organisations compete for influence, procurement opportunities, and long-term partnerships, communication extends beyond marketing campaigns to include leadership behaviour, operational performance, and organisational culture. Understanding how these signals are interpreted has become an increasingly important capability for businesses operating in government, defence, and other highly regulated environments.
At the risk of telling trade secrets, one of the most important lessons I learned as a young communicator was driven home to me when I had not long worked as press secretary for Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer.
A protest group had driven the few hundred kilometres from their hometown of Albury to Canberra to voice their objection to a highway bypass going around their city. They were concerned it would badly damage local businesses by allowing cars travelling on the highway between Australia’s two biggest cities to bypass Albury, keeping their cash in their pockets rather than spending it with local vendors.
The group had placards and megaphones. Being Tim, he insisted on going out to meet them, and as his media advisor, I went out to do a reconnaissance first.
The police keep protestors well back from the front of Parliament after a raucous union protest some years earlier raised major security concerns. So, what I could see happening was the distinctive figure of the Deputy Prime Minister, wearing his trademark Akubra, leaving through the front doors and walking the couple of hundred meters to the protest group, while the TV camera recorded pictures of the boisterous protestors acting up for the nightly news, making their angry voices heard to the local member. A terrible look.
I devised another plan. There’s an underground car park beneath that concourse between the front door and the protest, with an entry on the parliament side and a staircase that rises right next to the protestors. So, I took Tim and another advisor through the car park, and the Deputy Prime Minister popped up behind the protestors to say hello. The pictures on that night’s local news in his electorate were of stunned protestors happily shaking Tim’s outstretched hand, rather than of placards and bullhorns that protestors thought would be a great media visual.
We could have issued a media release. We could have stayed inside and done a media interview with an affiliate crew well away from the protest. But by meeting the protestors, he sent the powerful message that he was prepared to listen, reinforcing his image as affable and approachable, while neutralising the opportunity for the negative messages to cut through.
NATO’s new report
One of the more interesting reports I have read recently was not written for business leaders, marketers or government relations professionals.
Prepared and published by the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence, it was written for government communicators.
That’s not as niche an audience as it might seem at first glance. Buried within the report is a simple idea that has implications for every organisation seeking to influence government decision-makers.
“Everything communicates.”
That phrase appears repeatedly throughout the report because it sits at the heart of modern strategic communication thinking, and smart practice. The authors argue that communication is not limited to deliberate messaging. Every action, every policy, every decision, every symbol and every omission communicates something to an audience.
The more I thought about it, the more I realised this is one of the most important concepts for companies pursuing government work. Most organisations still think communication is largely about outputs: Media releases, advertising, websites, social media, presentations and so on.
Those things are important, but government customers rarely (i.e. never, not in Five Eyes, AUKUS and NATO markets) form their opinions solely from communication products. They form opinions from observation. They watch how you behave, whether you deliver, and how your staff engage. They watch how your executives conduct themselves, and how you respond when things go wrong.
Every one of those observations becomes part of your reputation, which in turn influences trust. Trust, in turn, influences access, and access influences opportunity. Many companies assume that communication starts when they decide to communicate, but that’s not how it works, especially not in Government environments. A procurement officer who receives a proposal is not evaluating that proposal in isolation. They are interpreting it within the context of all the other signals they have received from and about the organisation.
Have previous projects been delivered successfully? Are claims consistent with observed performance? Do stakeholders speak positively about the company? Does the organisation appear reliable? Professional? Competent? Responsive? Are they going to become a risk?
Every answer contributes to the message being received, and this is where strategic communication becomes different from marketing. Marketing often focuses on the message you want to send. Strategic communication focuses on the message the audience actually receives.
Understand your audience
The NATO report also highlights that understanding communication requires understanding audiences. Communication is not simply transmission. It is also interpretation. The meaning of any action depends on how the audience receives and perceives it.
That observation is highly relevant for defence companies, government contractors and organisations operating in regulated environments. A company may believe it is communicating innovation, but a government customer may interpret the same behaviour as risk. A company may believe it is communicating agility, but a procurement team may interpret the same behaviour as immaturity or instability.
This is one reason I often encourage clients to think beyond individual communication activities and focus instead on communication architecture. And to ask the question, “What signals are we sending?” Because signals are everywhere. They are carried in your customer service, your delivery, corporate culture, executive visibility, stakeholder engagement, and more. Even staying silent can send a message.
The organisations that perform best in government markets are often not those with the most marketing activity. They are the organisations whose actions consistently reinforce their message. Everything communicates. Once you accept that idea, communication stops being a department and instead becomes a leadership responsibility.
When Tim decided to go out and meet the people who had travelled to protest against the decisions being overseen by the government of which he was a senior member, he sent the message by just being himself, and being seen to be himself.
It was not about what he said. It was about what he did. In that single moment on the Parliament House forecourt, I saw strategic communication in action.
