This week, guest author Dina Ely invites you to imagine if nature led your organization’s communications.
If you hired nature as your Chief Marketing Officer, it wouldn’t begin with content calendars or brand architecture. It would start with patterns. It would want you to see how communication works in a living system. It’d show you how signals move, how relationships form, and how attention behaves more like a current than a spotlight.
Nature has shaped stories for far longer than any industry has existed. None of those stories rely on constant output. None chase empty numbers. Every signal has purpose.
So instead of starting with plans and metrics, nature would take you somewhere that shows strategy in motion: a coral reef.
The reef as strategy
Reefs are living marketplaces of color, movement, vibration, and relationship. No organism thrives in isolation. Each claims a precise niche. Signals are intentional. Cooperation is everywhere: cleaners tending clients, fish sheltering in corals, partnerships that help whole communities endure.
It’s a model built on clarity of role, shared benefit, and wise energy use—exactly the foundation any CMO needs.
Once that foundation is set, nature would shift from high-level strategy to a clear, practical playbook. These are the patterns it’d hand your marketing team.
Visibility, signal, and attention
Nature uses attention deliberately. It doesn’t broadcast endlessly; it sends the right message at the right moment to the right audience.
1. Flashy works… briefly.
Male birds display brilliant feathers during short breeding seasons. The attention is real but temporary. In marketing, the same holds true: big, high-energy campaigns can make a splash, but momentum fades quickly. Not every initiative can, or should, be engineered for spectacle.
2. When everyone is flashy, no one stands out.
Most fireflies flash at their own pace and style, avoiding signal overlap. Escalating brightness or frequency doesn’t help anyone rise above the crowd. When every brand tries to dazzle at once, distinction gets lost.
3. Selective signaling matters.
In communications, timing often matters more than frequency. Periodical cicadas demonstrate this beautifully. After years underground, they emerge together in a wave of synchronized sound to attract mates. It’s a signal impossible to ignore. A well-timed message can have far more impact than constant output.
4. Thrive in your niche, not everywhere.
Saguaro cacti are iconic cacti native to the Sonoran Desert. They survive only in a narrow range of environmental conditions. Their success comes from deep specialization. In marketing, being present on every platform isn’t the same as being effective. Choose environments where your message naturally thrives.
5. Innovation lives at the edges.
Crows innovate because they see possibilities others overlook. They create and use tools to solve problems in ways no one expects. Creativity isn’t a stunt; it’s a response to the world as they uniquely perceive it. Innovation in marketing communications works the same way. Original approaches often come from noticing what others miss and shaping methods that fit your strengths.
Relationships, loyalty, and community
Healthy ecosystems depend on connection. Strong communication is relational, not extractive.
1. Loyalty is easier than constant outreach.
Cleaner wrasse are small reef fish that run “cleaning stations,” removing parasites from larger fish. Fish return repeatedly because these moments of vulnerability build trust. In business, retaining customers who already believe in you is far easier and less costly than continually chasing new audiences. Treat your supporters right.
2. Competitor struggles signal ecosystem strain.
When pollinators decline, entire landscapes feel the effects. In any industry, if peers begin to struggle, it’s worth paying attention. Often the environment, not individual effort, is shifting. Ecosystem awareness matters.
3. Collaboration multiplies resilience.
Shrimp-goby pairs are one of the reef’s sweetest partnerships. The shrimp has poor eyesight but digs safe burrows. The goby, a small fish, has sharp vision and keeps watch. They share a home and communicate through gentle touch so both stay safe. Collaboration between brands, creators, and communities works the same way—cross-pollinating ideas, combining audiences, and expanding reach. Sharing the spotlight often grows and solidifies the whole effort.
4. Authentic engagement beats performance.
Ants communicate through purposeful chemical cues. No theatrics. Their signals support the colony. In communications, meaningful interaction always matters more than impressive but shallow reach.
5. Internal alignment shapes external clarity.
Mycorrhizal networks distribute nutrients and information beneath forests, strengthening entire communities from the ground up. Inside organizations, strong internal communication serves the same function. When teams are aligned, external messaging becomes clearer, steadier, and more trustworthy.
Sustainability, strategy, and integrity
Nature communicates with discipline. It allocates energy with care, reveals ideas at the right moment, and repairs what needs strengthening.
1. Conserve energy for the moments that matter.
Hibernating species slow their metabolism to preserve strength for the seasons that demand more from them. Communications benefit from the same mindset. You don’t need to be “always on.” Save your effort for initiatives that truly need it.
2. Transparency builds trust.
Leafcutter ants cut leaves, carry them home, and use them to cultivate a fungus that feeds the colony. You can see every step of the process: the trail, the workers, the underground gardens. When audiences understand how your work happens, confidence grows. Transparency isn’t a performance; it’s a relationship-builder.
3. Some ideas need protection until they’re ready.
While transparency grows trust, sometimes we need to cloak what’s unfinished. Early-stage projects deserve protection while they take shape. A chameleon blends into its surroundings until the moment is safe and purposeful. A little teaser is fine, but timing matters in what you reveal and when.
4. Repair strengthens relationships.
Wolves use appeasement gestures after conflict to restore cohesion. In public relations, acknowledging impact and repairing trust after missteps keeps relationships strong. Mistakes are part of life; repair is part of strategy.
How will you communicate like nature?
Nature’s guidance isn’t rooted in noise or speed. It’s rooted in patterns: thoughtful signals, strong relationships, and wise use of energy. Every message supports a living system.
If nature sat at your leadership table tomorrow as your CMO, what would it ask you to adjust first—your timing, your relationships, or the way you’re spending your energy?
Dina Ely is a multi-passionate board-certified holistic health practitioner who also has a 25+ year career in marketing communications. Dina’s work combines nature’s wisdom, psychology, neuroscience, and holistic well-being to help people find a more grounded way of engaging with themselves, others, and the world. Connect with Dina and read her insights on Substack.
