Therefore, the best corporate communicators are attuned to what is going on in and outside the corporation. They have a good sense of what is happening in the world that will directly or indirectly have an impact on the company. They can project how corporate philosophies, principles, and objectives will be perceived by employees, customers, investors, regulators, and the community.
However, they are never naive enough to assume that a company will always be thinking and acting in harmony with the world around it, and so must be prepared to manage dissension among these important constituencies.
Corporate communications takes into account every audience that has a bearing on the company's ability to achieve its objective. The four disciplines described below are the key means by which companies communicate.
Marketing Communications: Part of the Selling Art
As the name suggests, this discipline furthers the company's efforts to sell its products. Marketing communications focuses on the real and perceived news value of the product or service being offered in hopes of creating media interest and coverage, and then balancing it with advertising and promotion. Such coverage, when positive, implies third-party endorsement, the strongest selling proposition possible. As examples, think of automobile reviews in Car and Driver, the mention of a book on "Larry King live," the coverage of a computer innovation in business publications.
Marketing communications should be part of the company's effort to create awareness, develop attitudes, and provide information. Marketing communications is a costly process, so it should not be thought of as a means to gain "free publicity." However, it is an excellent way to present a detailed message to a wide variety of target audiences for a comparatively modest investment in a reasonable period of time.
Despite what some may think or say, the payoff from marketing communications is measurable. The process is most effective when integrated with well-thought-out advertising and promotional plan. Key factors are the practitioner's ability to articulate clearly an objective and to provide a detailed profile of the audience being targeted. This will help determine that media in which the message must appear, so that efforts can be concentrated.
Successful marketing communications relies on frequency of message delivery and credibility of the medium in which the information is delivered, whether it be a newsletter for clients or write-ups in trade journals.
Of importance to you is that there is room in this area for entry-level professionals, both within corporations and in outside agencies. A big part of this job is the researching of products and services describing the company's latest offering. Often, when the new product is significant, it will mean the arrangement of press conferences, press luncheons, interviews with pertinent company representatives, and, perhaps, the production of literature and videos.
This job requires the ability to learn about new, unfamiliar areas quickly, to anticipate the needs of reporters, editors, and customers, and to respond accordingly.
Employee Communications: Developing a Company's Greatest Resource
Employees should never be the last ones to learn something about their company, but, all too often, they are. It doesn't matter if it's good news, like the signing of an important client, or bad news, like a downturn in business.
Smart companies understand that employees can be their best ambassadors. They are community spokespersons, image builders, opinion shapers, and product endorsers. Companies that fail to keep employees informed about policies, philosophies, and plans are overlooking one of their greatest corporate communications resources. Good employee communications, whether in the form of newsletters, bulletin boards, regular staff meetings, or big-budget video programs and teleconferences, can result in greater productivity, higher product quality, and better customer service.
Whatever a company invests in employee communications will usually be more than tripled in sales, greater efficiency, and higher product quality.
Satellite communications and the desire among workers for greater involvement in the decision-making process are bringing about dramatic changes in employee/employer relations. In addition, the wave of "downsizing" that began in the 1980s and the resultant drop in employee loyalty increases the importance and difficulty of the employee communications effort.
This is an area in which I encourage prospective public relations practitioners to get their start Companies are realizing the increasing importance of this area and, as a result, increasing the budget and staff they devote to it.
Effective employee communications involves finding out what employees are thinking, determining how messages are traveling "top down," and encouraging corporate leaders to respond to employees' complaints and concerns, whether they are expressed in employee surveys, in open meetings, or through the grapevine.
Professionals in this area must have the ability to develop credibility with both management and the line. That is a difficult task. It requires frankness and tact, bluntness and diplomacy. Most of all, it requires skills in listening, interpreting, and presenting.
Community Relations: A Means for Keeping in Touch
Many years ago I received quite a dressing down from my supervisor, the owner of a major privately-held company. The point that was made very clear to me was that the owner believed in a "core-out" concept of management-my first responsibility was to the ownership, then my fellow employees, and then to the community in which I lived and worked. This list was followed by trade partners and various other audiences influencing the success of the company and its products in the marketplace. I still embrace this concept today. It has proven true repeatedly throughout my career.
Being involved in the community is extremely important to corporate growth. Not only is the community the pool from which talent is selected, it also serves as a pilot market for testing concepts, exploring consumer interests and tastes, and getting feedback philosophies and on performance.
Corporate America is wise to treat the communities in which it lives and operates the way it hopes to be treated in return.
