Mission-Driven Messaging: The Power of Strategic Communications
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Mission-Driven Messaging: The Power of Strategic Communications

Shannon Potter, Policy Analyst - Project Technical Lead
Author: Shannon Potter, Strategic Communications Lead
  • Alexandria, VA | April 24, 2025
SPA is committed to providing innovative solutions to the most challenging national security problems facing the U.S. and our allies. In the high-stakes world of national defense, how well you communicate about your mission is vital to long-term success.

SPA’s industry-leading team of Strategic Communications professionals is dedicated to helping you create compelling communication and fulfill organizational missions by delivering the right messages to the right audiences.

What is Strategic Communications?
Three critical elements of Strategic Communications: Words, opportunities, and people
At SPA, we believe it’s not what you say – it’s your ability to create understanding and foster agreement. Language without intent won’t resonate with your audience or convey your mission impact. That’s why our Strategic Communications Team is dedicated to helping you craft purposeful, powerful messages that resonate with key audiences. We provide tailored, tools-driven solutions to ensure your mission is clearly understood, and your message is delivered with intent and clarity. We have provided tailored Strategic Communications expertise across the DoD and other agencies, including support to the surface navy (OPNAV N96 and NAVSEA’s PEO IWS) and the submarine navy (SSP’s D5LE2 and SLCM-N programs). Deepening understanding of your audience and adopting a proactive approach, strategic communication will:
  • Articulate organizational issues and goals
  • Anticipate stakeholder perceptions
  • Produce refined messaging
  • Foster understanding and break through communication barriers
  • Streamline communication
  • Make every stakeholder interaction purposeful and tied to the mission
  • Maximize mission-focused results
  • Minimize reactive communication

Our Strategic Communications professionals keep the big picture in mind while drilling down on key issues to create solutions that support the organization’s mission.

Strategic Communications in action

Strategic communications cuts through the noise to align your mission and organizational objectives with the way you communicate.

Solutions to communications often comes down to three critical elements: Words, People, and Opportunities.

Strategic communications cuts through the noise to align your mission and organizational objectives with the way you communicate. With alignment and consistency of messaging, you will steadily make progress towards your organizational goals.

At SPA, our novel approach to Strategic Communications is enabled by innovative Strategic Communications Opportunities and Recommendations for Engagement (SCORE) Tools.

  • Words
Strategically crafted, designated messaging streamlines responses, creates internal alignment, and enables a more proactive posture. We develop and organize key messages based on in-depth analysis using our innovative Talking Point Response Management tool.
  • People: Stakeholder Analysis
A solid understanding of how stakeholder interests may impact perceptions of your messaging is an essential component of strategic communications. SPA has developed comprehensive resources and tools, including our Stakeholder and Media Monitoring Databases, to identify and understand your audiences.
  • Opportunity: Engagement Strategy
All engagements – including speeches, briefings, public-facing communications, or any presentation of your message – are an opportunity to advance objectives. Our SCORE Planning card helps you find efficiencies and strategically plan your engagements. This interactive tool helps you organize and prioritize each engagement and align events with objectives.
Driven by experts, these tools are a hybrid of insider experience and analytic rigor and automation. These tools turbo-charge existing efforts and streamline processes, empowering you to quickly and confidently make decisions on engagements, anticipate stakeholder perceptions, and deliver aligned, strategic messaging. With the support of our Strategic Communications professionals, you can ensure every engagement moves the needle.

Why strategic communications?

The SPA Strategic Communications team provides the clear direction and forethought that is vital in a critical industry
Unlike public affairs or traditional communications, which primarily focus on delivering messages to the public or media through tools like press releases, strategic communications works behind the scenes to shape both internal and external messaging. It involves crafting comprehensive strategies that guide how an organization communicates across all levels, ensuring alignment and consistency across all channels—from internal teams to external stakeholders.

Developed by professionals, Strategic Communications maintains the big picture mission while designing intentional messaging for key engagements with precision. The SPA Strategic Communications team provides the clear direction and forethought that is vital in a critical industry.

Why SPA?

“A results-driven approach grounded in proven methodologies and industry-leading best practices.”

Shannon Potter, Strategic Communications Lead
At SPA, we bring the expertise needed to craft and execute comprehensive communication strategies. Our experts write, design, and produce Strategic Communications materials so you can focus on the mission.
Our rigorous approach to Strategic Communications combines expert experience with analytical focus. We provide tools to ensure simple, relevant, and intentional communications. A tools-drive approach to comprehensive communication allows developed strategy to be transformed into streamlined processes and successful, high-return engagements.
SPA offers strategic communications support across the Department of Defense and beyond, to clients including:
  • AUKUS Integration and Acquisition
  • OPNAV N96
  • OPNAV N97
  • Defense Threat Reduction Agency
  • Strategic Systems Programs
  • Nuclear Posture Review

Learn about all of SPA’s capabilities at spa.com/capabilities.

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