What’s all this effort actually achieving?

A long-term client came to me with a familiar problem: “We’re delivering more content than ever, reports, blogs, newsletters but it doesn’t feel like we’re making an impact.”

This was a high-profile organisation with a strong reputation and a respected brand. On the surface, they looked like a communications success story. But despite the polish, their audiences weren’t engaging with their content. Internally, the team was stretched to breaking point. Leaders were starting to ask awkward questions: “What’s all this effort actually achieving?”

That’s the danger of chasing volume over value. In today’s noisy world, more output doesn’t always mean more influence.

What we did together

We stripped it back to a simple Torchbearing principle: start with the change you want to see, not the content you want to produce.

Instead of asking “What do we need to put out next?” the team began asking “What do we want our audience to think, feel, or do differently?”

They were a smart team, so that shift unlocked everything. Their messages got sharper, and stakeholders started to engage in a different way because the communication was designed to spark conversation, not just deliver information.

Torchbearing takeaways:

1. Define the change before the content.
Every communication should start with this question: What do I want my audience to do differently as a result?

2. Create a conversation, not just content.
Don’t wait until after you’ve published to think about engagement. Design it in from the start.