IN OUR HEADS
June 12, 2025
Key Takeaways:
- The Army's revamped recruitment approach highlights the value of trust-building through authentic, veteran-led communication.
- Re-recruitment strategies can be a powerful model for internal comms teams facing disengaged or skeptical audiences.
- Streamlined touchpoints and empathetic interactions outperform flashy campaigns in complex, high-stakes institutions.
- Investing in professional communicators—not just messaging—can significantly improve engagement outcomes.
- Structural support for hard-to-reach audiences often drives more impact than broad outreach efforts alone.
At first glance, it might seem like a recruiting crisis in the U.S. Army has little to teach a corporate communications team. But when you strip away the uniforms and acronyms, you're left with a challenge that hits close to home for anyone trying to build trust with a skeptical audience, inspire action, or win over internal stakeholders who are halfway out the door.
The Army's recent pivot in how it communicates with potential recruits offers a compelling case study in reputation management, internal advocacy, and rethinking audience engagement from the inside out.
The internal audience as a public one
Every year, millions of young people express an interest in joining the Army. Yet the military continues to fall short of its recruiting goals. Why? Because the process from “I might be interested” to “I'm ready to sign up” is riddled with friction: an intimidating, multistep process that creates a stressful experience, thereby causing recruits to drop out at alarming rates.
If that sounds familiar, it's because corporate communicators often face the same kind of attrition when engaging employees or niche stakeholders. Just like recruits, internal audiences can lose interest if the experience doesn't meet modern expectations. Often, the challenge isn't what's being said but rather the timing, the messenger, and the delivery.
When a phone call builds more trust than a campaign
The Army didn't just launch a new ad or pump more money into digital. It restructured its contact center and brought in veterans and military spouses — people with real-life insight, not a script. A simplified screening process made initial engagement quicker and less intimidating. Suddenly, a young caller was speaking with someone who actually knew what basic training feels like or what deployment can mean for a family. That simple shift made a profound difference.
Communicators working within complex institutions should take note: Authenticity is a strategic asset. Veteran-led communication, lived experience, and empathy at the point of contact can often do more than a polished brand video. That connection, while difficult to quantify, consistently correlates with higher enlistment rates — even those who initially became a lead through the website.
Recruitment as a long game, not a campaign
The Army is also reshaping its recruiting corps, transforming what was once a temporary assignment into a long-term career track. These new recruiters are shifting focus from pitching services to building relationships, acting more as trusted advisors than traditional salespeople.
The Army also integrated its marketing and recruiting functions under a single leadership structure, led by the Recruiting Commander, a three-star general. This merger ensures that sales and marketing are no longer siloed. Recruiters have visibility into how campaigns are performing, and marketers gain valuable insight from the field — leading to more aligned, effective communications. For communications teams, this structure offers a real-world example of how closer collaboration between internal stakeholders can improve both message delivery and conversion. It also repositions marketing from a support function to a strategic partner in driving outcomes, a shift many large institutions are still struggling to make.
There's a broader lesson here for communicators tasked with employee engagement. Sometimes, messaging fatigue or cultural disconnects don't stem from a lack of effort but from under-investing in the people communicating. Treating internal communications as a professional skillset can lead to deeper, more consistent engagement across departments and demographics.
Turning barriers into pathways
The Army recognized a "moveable middle," young people interested in service but needing faster, clearer pathways to commitment. One of the Army's most impactful recent changes focuses less on messaging and more on removing barriers to entry. The Future Soldier Preparatory Course gives prospective recruits who fall short academically or physically the chance to train up, get support, and eventually qualify. No judgment. No gatekeeping. Just structured help.
To date, the program has graduated nearly 25,000 recruits — proof that structured support can open doors for determined candidates. Many graduates are now encouraging others to enlist, creating a ripple effect of advocacy driven by people who were once unsure themselves. It’s a compelling case for how re-recruitment doesn’t end at onboarding but rather lives in the people you've invested in.
What if communicators adopted a similar mindset? Instead of writing off hard-to-reach employees or communities as disengaged, what if we invested in the kind of tools and support that meet them where they are? Progress happens when people feel believed in — not when they're told to try harder.
Rethinking recruitment as re-recruitment
Whether you're filling ranks or reigniting employee engagement, the real challenge is sustaining commitment over time. Conviction doesn't come from a single message — it's built through repeated, meaningful touchpoints. The Army's move from transactional outreach toward a more experience-driven model underscores a broader lesson: trust builds gradually, through consistent, human-centered interactions.
For PR and comms professionals, the takeaway is clear. Audiences — whether they're soldiers, employees, or stakeholders — don't respond to polished slogans. They respond to relevance, relationship, and respect. Rebuilding trust often starts not with a big campaign, but with a small, intentional redesign of how you show up.
