For decades, marketing communications has been treated as the art of crafting the right message and pushing it through the right channels. But as we move into 2026, marketing communications is less about what organizations say and more about how meaning is created, reinforced, and contested in public. Audiences are not passive recipients of information; they are interpreters, amplifiers, critics, and sometimes opponents. The question leaders must now ask is not just “Is our message clear and concise?” but “Does our brand make sense in the world our audience is navigating?” This means not just for your own brand, but as part of the larger sector your organization operates within.
Governance Role?
In our last post we also highlighted that the erosion of trust in institutions has fundamentally changed the communications landscape. This is clearly a concern as many Boards review long-standing “brand trust” measurement reports. They know trust is declining and audiences are acutely sensitive to gaps between stated mission and values and lived behaviour.
Today’s governance environment is also increasingly complex. Good Governance Frameworks include strategic planning, financial oversight, policy and operational alignment with mission, organization culture and impact measurement – but Communications?!
Well most governance frameworks include checklists such as:
- Your governance engages others.
- Your organization collaborates meaningfully with citizens, stakeholders, governments and other public institutions to address horizontal, multi-sectoral and jurisdictional public policy challenges.
- Collaborative governance practices are put in place to meet citizens’ needs better and increase public trust.
- You communicate outcomes transparently to citizens. (source: iog.ca)
I know many of our readers will agree that marketing communications now functions as a real-time credibility test – one that reveals whether an organization understands its own role, power, and impact. So how do we raise the right strategic planning questions at our 2026 Board meetings?
Role, Power and Impact
Perhaps the most under-appreciated shift is that marketing communications now operates at the level of power. Who is authorized to speak for the organization? Whose experience is treated as representative? Who is exposed when a message is challenged, misinterpreted, or rejected? These are not simply ethical considerations. They are strategic choices with real reputational and operational consequences.
As audiences become more attuned to power dynamics, marketing communications can become a site of scrutiny rather than persuasion. If teams haven’t had PR training this can be a struggle for them. Messages are evaluated not only for what they say, but for who is saying them and who is missing. When organizations default to centralized, executive-led narratives, they often unintentionally signal distance, control, or risk aversion—particularly when communicating about communities they do not belong to.
This has changed the nature of credibility. Authority no longer comes from position alone. It comes from proximity, accountability, and shared risk. Organizations that continue to “speak about” rather than “speak with” find their communications increasingly questioned, regardless of how polished the message may be.
Distribution of Voice
The distribution of voice is now a strategic design problem that needs to be considered as you review your Strategy. Decentralizing communication—whether to staff, donors/funders, community members, partners, participants or advocates—can increase authenticity, but it also redistributes risk. When voice is shared, control is reduced. When control is reduced, leaders must confront where responsibility truly sits when messages land poorly or provoke backlash. Charitable teams know this all too well as we have decades of experience building trusted brands and trying to navigate collaborative partnerships and community-led projects.
Many organizations have attempted in the past to resolve these tensions by mapping out approval processes for joint messaging or retreating to safer language. Audiences however are even far more critical of “political non-answers” and the result is often bland, evasive communications that satisfy internal governance but fail externally. Risk is not eliminated; it is merely deferred.
Power also shows up in what organizations choose not to say. In moments of social, political, or economic turmoil, neutrality is often framed as prudence or signals where an organization stands, whether intended or not.
Making Changes in 2026
This is why we think marketing communications can no longer be treated as a downstream function. Charities that are succeeding ensure it is inseparable from leadership, strategic planning, governance, and organizational values in practice—not just on paper.
Communications teams today are being asked to manage consequences that originate far beyond messaging, without always having the authority to shape the underlying decisions.
The question for leaders this year is no longer how well their organization communicates – but how honestly it is willing to account for who speaks, who is protected, and who takes the risk when meaning is made in public.
We look forward to hearing how your organisations are moving toward this strategic coherence. Rather than scripting every statement, are you investing in shared principles, decision frameworks, and narrative boundaries that allow teams to respond intelligently as conditions change? Do you feel you will move away from a year of chaos in 2025 – towards 2026 disciplined adaptability? Is your team clear on how decisions are explained, how any potential trade-offs are acknowledged? – as it all will shape external perceptions.
Moving Away from Polished Narratives
And if your board is still focused on “storytelling” ensure they are aware there is also a growing fatigue with performative storytelling. Audiences are not looking for polished narratives; they are looking for orientation. They want help understanding complexity, uncertainty, and consequence. Organizations that can offer context- rather than just promotion – earn attention and trust over time. The future of marketing communications will not be defined by louder campaigns or better tools. It will be defined by an organization’s ability to align behaviour, strategy, and meaning under pressure.
So one of our key predictions for 2026 is that Marketing communications is no longer a support function. It is a leadership capability. And organizations that fail to treat it as such will increasingly find themselves misunderstood—at best, and mistrusted at worst.