A
Antonio Maio
I was fascinated by a recent conversation about corporate communications with my good friend Liz. I had always thought that corporate communications was the domain of a Corporate Communications team. Sounds obvious - these are typically teams within an organization that are very skilled at writing and they manage all communications inside and outside of a corporation so that they present a favorable point of view. However, the point came up that, depending on our role, most of us can in fact be corporate communicators. We went on to talk about how corporate communications can take different forms and often serve a fundamental purpose for many roles, including the ones that we both work in. We also explored the various channels that corporate communicators can use to get their messages across most effectively. As I think through this and explore the world of corporate communications, I'd like to share with you some of those thoughts here and how it may affect how most of us do our jobs.
When we step back and look at what corporate communications means, we need to consider the audiences we want to target with different types of communications. Consider for example:
We clearly have many examples of communications that are owned and published by different groups, to different audiences, which all serve very different purposes depending on our role. We quickly see that these, and more, are all forms of corporate communications.
When we look at the different types of channels available so that we can make our communications most effective, we end up with a few common themes:
I find that as we think about the various types of communications we work with every day, its helpful to think about them in this type of broader sense. Clear and effective communication is often the difference between a good outcome and a great one. The effectiveness of our communications can really benefit from thoughtful consideration of their audience, a consistent structure or template, the frequency with which they're sent, using fewer more impactful words, if they need to be managed as a campaign and how we measure of their reach. The more we think about communications in this sense and focus on improving their effectiveness, the more we find that 'corporate communications' is not only the domain of a Corporate Communications Team. We can all be corporate communicators!
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When we step back and look at what corporate communications means, we need to consider the audiences we want to target with different types of communications. Consider for example:
- Corporate Press Releases - These are carefully crafted communications that primarily target external audiences such as investors or media outlets. They have broad distribution that is very public, and they target a very large and diverse audience. Crafting and publishing press releases is the domain of a Corporate Communications team and more specifically PR specialists within those teams. They are published through well established channels such as public news wires, media publications, and a public facing web site. They can also be published to internal audiences through email or organizational news sites in order to build excitement and awareness inside the corporation.
- HR Policy Updates - These are usually internal org-wide communications designed to communicate an update to an HR policy. HR teams are heavily involved in crafting these messages, but they often work with the Corporate Communications team to convey a positive message. HR teams want all staff to read these, so publishing them through a well orchestrated campaign that utilizes multiple channels is a recommended approach. Those channels often include email, internal news sites and an HR department page on a corporate intranet.
- Data Breach Notifications (this is my world) - These are carefully crafted and sensitive messages where cybersecurity is often an initiator. However, they also work closely with legal, compliance/risk and senior leadership teams to develop them. These communications are often driven by regulatory compliance requirements for breach reporting and are targeted at the regulators which are an external audience. They sometimes also target (and worded differently for) end-customers, depending on the type of data breached. These are not communications that you want to have to send often and they are typically unique for every situation. Their distribution is controlled very carefully as they can open up an organization to reputational and legal risks.
- Technology Rollout & Adoption Programs - When rolling out new technology, technology updates or technology adoption programs to an organization, these communications are targeted at internal audiences and are part of a well-defined communications plan. We establish that plan during the planning process for the rollout. I have seen these be most effective when they are managed as part of a campaign. We can target the entire organization or parts of the organization depending on how we're rolling out the technology. Its also helpful for communicators to target multiple channels so that the target audience can access the information through the channel they are most comfortable with. These are also very effective when posted to a community site or service which supports more freeform updates and communications.
- Project Status Updates - When managing projects, we're usually required to provide regular project status updates. These often target at least an internal audience, but can sometimes involve external stakeholders. Each project manager is responsible for managing these communications for the projects they own and consistency is important - we typically want to send these status updates at the same date/time each week, in the same format and to the same audience for a particular project. We usually store status reports in a central project collaboration location, but our communications letting stakeholders know there is a new status update can include both email and a post to a team where we're managing the project. I normally would not have, but I'm now thinking about these communications as a "campaign" for a long running projects, with a regular communication cadence using a standard template.
- Company Holiday or Social Events - For holidays and social events we often need to send several communications leading up to the event, for example informing people of the event, asking them to vote on options, and confirming attendance. These too can be managed through a simple campaign, that targets specific internal audience, using a standard banner or template so they look fun and professional. These are often planned and managed by an internal social committee.
- Internal Fund Raising Events - These types of events also require regular communications so that we can effectively convince people to make a donation to our cause. Managing these types of communications as a 'donation campaign' is fairly standard, and again benefits from regular cadence, using a standard professional looking format and communicating through multiple channels like email and posting to an internal news site or intranet. These might be formulated and managed by an internal social committee or a social justice group. These can be very effective when posted to a community site that supports more freeform communication.
- Employee Training Programs - Many organizations have standard training programs that internal audiences are required to take, such as a security training program. These are also a form of corporate communication. They at least happen annually, if not more frequently. They are usually formulated by an internal training team who is responsible for producing the content, measuring the success of the program and issuing reminders when people inevitably miss their training deadlines.
We clearly have many examples of communications that are owned and published by different groups, to different audiences, which all serve very different purposes depending on our role. We quickly see that these, and more, are all forms of corporate communications.
When we look at the different types of channels available so that we can make our communications most effective, we end up with a few common themes:
- Email - We can publish communications by email when we target varying audiences, either broad or very specific ones. Although not exclusive to email, when communications require an immediate 'call to action' they are often sent by email. Email communications often take on a more formal tone, as they can be seen often as a corporate record. That said, it is difficult to measure the success of email communications - to know how many people actually opened and read it. Email is also used when our audiences includes groups that are outside our organization, or groups that are most comfortable using that medium, which is still many people.
- Teams Channels - When collaborating with a well-defined group of people on a specific topic or project, and our communications are targeted specifically at that group, posting to a Teams channel can be very effective because the communication appears in the context of the team - it appears in the context of the topic or project in which the audience is collaborating. These messages are only visible to team members and are most effective when targeting smaller audiences. We do not typically use this method when targeting an entire organization or large department. These often have a slightly less formal tone and by their nature are less-formatted, which is sometimes what's needed to capture someone's attention.
- SharePoint News Pages - When publishing informational communications (those we think of as news) which may not have an immediate call to action, posting to a SharePoint news page that targets either the entire organization or a particular audience (for example, a department) can be a great way of getting the word out while also not overwhelming people's inboxes or teams. These are typically broad audiences and their tone can vary - they can be conversational or they can be more formal.
- Viva Engage (Yammer) Communities - When sharing informational communications that are intended to be informal, less-structured and perhaps create a freeform exchange of conversational responses, posting to a Viva Engage Community can create very engaging and friendly way to communicate. These communications can pose questions to a very broad audience and solicit many different points of view. They can create a natural and friction-free way for internal audiences to communicate and respond. For example, many people would probably not respond to a CEO's email that was sent org-wide, but they would likely be more comfortable responding to a CEO's post on a Viva Engage Community.
I find that as we think about the various types of communications we work with every day, its helpful to think about them in this type of broader sense. Clear and effective communication is often the difference between a good outcome and a great one. The effectiveness of our communications can really benefit from thoughtful consideration of their audience, a consistent structure or template, the frequency with which they're sent, using fewer more impactful words, if they need to be managed as a campaign and how we measure of their reach. The more we think about communications in this sense and focus on improving their effectiveness, the more we find that 'corporate communications' is not only the domain of a Corporate Communications Team. We can all be corporate communicators!
Continue reading...