3 Reasons Why Great Medical Communications Plans Fail
Even the best strategies can fall apart on the way to execution. In our work with Medical Affairs leaders across the globe, we see the same pattern again and again: strong plans, smart people, and clear goals—undermined by internal roadblocks that have nothing to do with content quality.
In our 2025 MedComms Landscape Survey, three barriers stood out above all others:
- Budget constraints
- Lack of prioritization by leadership
- Weak internal communication
If any of that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. And more importantly, you’re not failing. But to truly deliver value in this environment, we need to talk about what’s getting in the way.
Budget Constraints That Undercut Strategy
Innovation isn’t free. But many Medical Affairs teams are being asked to deliver omnichannel-ready content, field resources, and internal enablement tools—without corresponding increases in budget or headcount.
This mismatch doesn’t just impact the final deliverables. It leads to tradeoffs that ripple through the process: skipping good ideas because there’s “no room” this quarter.
The result? Teams start optimizing for what they can produce instead of what’s most strategic. And in many cases, great content fails to materialize—not because of poor thinking, but because of resource starvation.
What to do about it:
- Frame content proposals in terms of impact, not assets.
- Prioritize modularity and reuse—getting more from each investment.
- Push for visibility into where budget is being spent elsewhere in the organization to make your case with data.
Leadership Buy-In Is Still Uneven
Many survey respondents told us that Medical Communications still lack a formal seat at the strategic table. The work is acknowledged as important—but in principle, not practice. Leadership may request materials, but fail to prioritize or fund them. Priorities shift, stakeholders rotate, and messaging is often disconnected from broader organizational goals.
This is more than a resourcing issue. It’s a cultural signal. When Medical Affairs is viewed as a reactive function rather than a driver of strategic clarity and scientific influence, the work will always be vulnerable to last-minute deprioritization.
What to do about it:
- Elevate internal storytelling. Don’t just share what you’re doing—explain why it matters, and share successes.
- Connect projects to enterprise-wide priorities (e.g., market access, lifecycle planning, stakeholder trust).
- Use retrospective reports to show how past comms initiatives influenced alignment, HCP engagement, or internal decision-making.
Internal Communication Is a Strategic Risk
This one surprised even us: internal communication breakdowns were cited as a top-three executional barrier—on par with budget and leadership support. That includes issues like:
- Lack of project visibility across teams
- Inconsistent or unclear updates
- No tracking of outcomes or feedback loops
For Medical Communications leaders trying to influence without authority, this is a massive challenge. If cross-functional teams don’t know what’s in progress—or why—it’s nearly impossible to build alignment, accelerate review, or optimize across regions.
Many teams are communicating a lot—but not strategically. Status updates don’t translate into buy-in. And as the whitepaper notes, execution falters not because of the volume of communication, but the lack of clarity and purpose behind it.
What to do about it:
- Build lightweight internal reporting frameworks to show progress and impact.
- Use internal comms tools (newsletters, dashboards, recaps) to connect the dots for stakeholders.
- Assign comms champions across functions to streamline collaboration and feedback.
A Solid MedComms Strategy Alone Isn’t Enough
What we’re seeing isn’t a lack of ambition. It’s a system-wide strain—where Medical Affairs teams are tasked with delivering more, with fewer resources, less prioritization, and unclear internal infrastructure to support them.
This creates a dangerous illusion: on paper, the team has a strategic roadmap. In reality, that roadmap keeps getting detoured by shifting internal dynamics.
To fix this, Medical Affairs leaders need to advocate not just for better content—but for the conditions that allow great content to thrive:
- Better alignment across planning cycles
- Deeper integration into enterprise-wide initiatives
- Clearer storytelling about the role and return of MedComms efforts
- Strategic partnerships that can flex with internal complexity
At MedComms Experts, we believe Medical Communications is a leadership function—one that drives clarity, enables evidence-based action, and helps organizations speak with a single voice.
But leadership doesn’t just come from vision. It comes from execution. And that means designing for influence—not just output.
Final Thought: Are You Set Up to Execute?
The next time your team reviews a medical communications strategy, ask not just, “Is this a good plan?” but:
- “Do we have the support to deliver it?”
- “Will our internal stakeholders champion it?”
- “Have we created feedback loops to adjust as we go?”
- “Are we communicating outcomes—or just ticking boxes?”
Because success isn’t measured by strategy decks. It’s measured by what gets done—and what changes as a result.