The evolution of marketing communications during my career has come in waves of innovation and change. A lot of people these days hold that the innovations, the waves of change, are coming faster than in times past, but actually, the process of change has been pretty constant for a long time now.

Mainframe computers powering remote terminals gave way to mini-computers, then to desktop PCs, which are in the process of giving way to ever more mobile computing devices. Networks went from a loose affiliation of local and national telephone networks to national fiber optic networks to corporate LANs and WANs, to an awesome Web of fiber-cable-satellite capabilities all accessible via a unified protocol. Writing and design went from typewriters and typeset machines and film and printing plates to everything from self-publishing on blogs to all digital printing processes. Change has been constant.

There are, however, occasional rogue waves that startle us with their power. The first nationwide fiber optic network (by Sprint’s predecessor United Telecom) was a rogue wave. Printer quality desktop publishing (basically QuarkXpress) was a rogue wave. An accessible Internet browser (Netscape Navigator) was a rogue wave. A powerful website design app (Dreamweaver) that non-programmers could innovate with was a rogue wave. Social media integration (Twitter + YouTube + Facebook + Blogs + Your Website) is a rogue wave.

Fortunately, these surges don’t come that often. But it’s also fortunate that they remain predictable. There will be more on a fairly regular basis. It’s also important to remember that these continual developments won’t make you obsolete as long as you pay attention and keep an open mind.

In all of this, the marketing communications goals remain the same. You have a product or a service or a message that needs to be communicated. You must figure out why someone should be interested in that product or service. Then  you hire someone to help you figure out how to use the most effective “tools of the moment” to tell your story. It’s simple… but it’s not. That part hasn’t changed at all. And I really doubt that it ever will.

Like many clients, this one has a sense of where he wants to get to, as well as some knowledge of who he has to work with to get there. What he hasn’t done is spend any time plotting the course or identifying the milestones he will need to meet along the path to his destination. In fact, he hasn’t even figured out the destination. It’s as if he wants to go to France, but has failed to identify whether he is traveling by ship or by air, and he hasn’t determined whether he wishes to arrive in Paris or Marseille. He just knows he wants to get to France.

I explained to my fellow project manager that she’ll have to determine the true destination (my grandfather once told me that you have to know where you’re going or you won’t know when you get there). And then — to continue the travel analogy — work back from the destination to figure out how to get there. As each step in the process is identified, one more true objective will have been uncovered.

For example, by sea or by air? Is there a deadline that requires more speed? Is there a budget that limits what can be spent? Is it important to be in one city (Paris?) or will any city provide the same benefits? If you travel by air, which airline? Do you already have a ticket, or will you need a ticket? Where do you get the ticket? How much will it cost, and how do you get the money to buy the ticket? I’m sure you get the drift.

Basically, figure out what you want. Then start working backwards through the process of getting there. This won’t always be an easy task.

Maybe the end goal is to influence a legislative agenda. One would have to identify who can have impact on that agenda, what type of impact each has, what each person needs to know (or needs to understand), how to educate or inform the influencers, how those people prefer to receive information, what media need to be prepared to communicate with them, how to create and finance those operations, etc.

Maybe the end goal is to rebrand a company. Once again, start with the vision of what you want to be. Then start working back to where you are now. You are creating the roadmap that will define your journey.

Clients often don’t want to spend the time doing this work. That’s why strategic marketers and project managers exist… because we enjoy doing it. It’s fun to create all the puzzle pieces and then put them together in a way that makes sense.