Innovation doesn’t just happen by accident (I mean sometimes it does, but we can’t just rely on fate, right?). For organizations to find, develop, and most importantly prioritize new and innovative ideas, they need an innovation process. And while there is no one-size-fits-all solution, there are some common elements and problems to solve.

Communicating with consumers is important. Your biggest ally in creating clear communications is your consumer. Do yourself a favor. Get to know her. She has a lot of thoughts about you that she hasn’t shared. She has secret joys about what you do for her. But also more than a few gripes about what you could be doing better.

To do strategic planning right, you must listen to the voices of all key stakeholder groups, even—and perhaps especially—if you can’t ensure their opinions will be followed. We recommend taking these five strategic planning actions to increase buy-in and the likelihood of the plan’s success.

Defining your digital transformation strategy has many challenges: technical challenges, process challenges, and even cultural challenges. One of the biggest challenges  is also one of its biggest promises—communicating the insights generated by all that data. How do you get the right information in the right place and time to the right people. All in a format they can actually use? In other words, how do you turn insight to action?

Communicating your new, breakthrough strategy can be a more delicate process than drafting it in the first place. One of the best tools to employ at this stage is using visuals in presentations to secure buy-in and understanding.

Determining what growth drivers are is paramount to uncovering what motivates your customers. So, what do you do? Implement a cross-silo internal alignment that is clear, precise, and compelling. Distill your brand’s value to its essence, give it a face and voice, and develop a rigorous program to express it. We build brands with a systems approach. That means that every part of your brand works together in a symbolic web of touchpoints.

Emotions aren’t the only barrier to change. Another barrier for audiences can be comprehension. People can’t do what they can’t understand. If the audience is confused about how a new process works, the change will never stick. As we’ve written before, visual communication is important to change. And a well planned change communication plan is vital to success.