How to build a strong corporate communication strategy
Corporate communications refers to the activities involved with managing both internal and external communication in business.
The main goal of corporate communications is to create a positive, open communication flow between stakeholders, investors, the public and employees, which helps boost a company’s brand.
Adoni Media Communications Director, Clare Christensen, said corporate communications is about crafting engagement with a company.
“It’s the story behind the organisation and the people who work there,” she said.
“Corporate communications is also about informing the public and staff of any goings on within the organisation.”
What is corporate communications?
Corporate communications is often split into three categories.
Management communication occurs with both internal and external target audiences. Marketing communication involves sponsorship, selling, advertising and direct mail. And organisational communication usually includes public relations, corporate advertising, employee communication, investor relations and public affairs.
These three tiers of corporate communication can be used to create strategies that all benefit your organisation.
Corporate Communication Strategies
The best way to achieve results is to devise corporate communications strategies that can help ensure your business communicates effectively with everyone involved.
Effective corporate communication strategies include tactics such as:
- Media training and relations
- Investor relations
- Public relations
- Social media campaigns
- Corporate brand management
- Publicity
- Sales communications support
- Strategic planning
- Community outreach programs
- Stakeholder and community engagement
- Issues and public affairs management
- Government relations
- Crisis management
These methods will elevate your business to the next level and help you communicate externally and internally.
Some corporate communication strategy examples include:
Budget Planning:
For any sort of internal communications campaign to be successful, the corporate communications department will need allocated funding for resources. Knowing how much you are already spending and what areas need funding will help you plan strategies and campaigns that will improve corporate communication flow.
Improving both peer to peer and manager to employee communications:
When it comes to internal communications, the tools that you use matter. Slack, Wrike and Intranet services will improve how your employees communicate with you and to each other. With these services, you can measure how your employees use their time and help to complete tasks, brainstorm ideas or improve customer services.
Choose your spokespeople wisely:
While it is a good idea to have chief executives as your main spokespeople, you might also want to think about other employees who can also be key spokespeople. This is important when the CEO is away or unavailable and allows you to have a backup spokesperson who is confident speaking to the media. Employees who can speak with authority on their area of expertise is also a value-add for any business as it helps boost credibility and trust with your target audience as well as with journalists. CEOs, executives, and all your key spokespeople should undergo media training to ensure they know and understand your key messaging, they know what to say and how to say it, and know how to manage the media with confidence.
At Adoni Media, we tailor our approach to corporate communication strategies to match your communication goals. We also pride ourselves on becoming an extension of your internal communications team. Our senior executives are former senior television and radio journalists who each have more than 30 years media and PR experience. To choose the right PR partner to help you make headlines and make your brand stand out: