Strong Strategy Starts with Listening
By Barbara Soifer, Strategic Advisory: Marketing Strategy; Membership Growth
When organizations are trying to grow, evolve, or better explain the value of their work, the instinct is often to begin with the message.
What should we say? How should we describe ourselves? What will resonate with the market?
Those are important questions. But they are rarely the right place to start.
Strong strategy starts with listening.
Recently, our team worked with a global technology organization navigating a familiar challenge: the organization had significant expertise, active programs, passionate members, and important work underway across multiple areas. Yet, like many complex organizations, it needed greater clarity around how those efforts connected to audience needs, market realities, and future growth.
The work was not about creating a new tagline or rewriting a website in isolation. It was about bringing the right people together to listen, challenge assumptions, identify patterns, and create a more aligned view of the road ahead.
That process matters.
In member-driven organizations, especially those working in technical or emerging markets, there are often many perspectives in the room. Technical leaders may focus on innovation and capability. Business leaders may focus on adoption and value. Members may have different priorities depending on their industry, geography, or role in the ecosystem.
A strong strategy does not ignore those differences. It creates a way to understand them.
At Virtual, we often describe this as moving from “Now to Next.” It begins with an honest view of where an organization is today: what is working, where the friction points are, what different audiences need, and what may be preventing the organization from telling a clear and compelling story.
From there, the work becomes more intentional. Teams can better prioritize, align messaging with real value, and make decisions about where to focus their time and energy.
The result is not simply better marketing. It's about projecting greater confidence across the organization.
When people understand the shared direction, marketing becomes more effective, member engagement becomes more meaningful, and the organization is better positioned to move forward with purpose.
Because the strongest strategies are not built from assumptions. They are built from listening.