Corporate communications
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Corporate communication is the communication issued by a corporate / organization / body / institute to all its public(s). Publics here - can be both internal (employees, stakeholders, i.e - share and stock holders) and external (agencies, channel partners, media, government, industry bodies and institutes, educational institutes and general public).
According to the book Essentials of Corporate Communication[1] by Cees van Riel and Charles Fombrun the term Corporate Communication can be defined as the set of activities involved in managing and orchestrating all internal and external communications aimed at creating favorable starting points with stakeholders on which the company depends. Corporate communication consists of the dissemination of information by a variety of specialists and generalists in an organization, with the common goal of enhancing the organization's ability to retain its license to operate.
As Jackson (1987)[2] remarks: Note that it is corporate communication - without a final "s". Tired of being called on to fix the company switchboard, recommend an answering machine or meet a computer salesman, I long ago adopted this form as being more accurate and left communications to the telecommunications specialists. It's a small point but another attempt to bring clarity out of confusion.
Corporate communication serves as the liaison between an organization and its publics.
Organizations can strategically communicate to their audiences through public relations and advertising. This may involve an employee newsletter or video, crisis management with the news media, special events planning, building product value and communicating with stockholders, clients or donors.
[edit] What corporate communication encodes and promotes
- Strong corporate culture
- Coherent corporate identity
- Reasonable corporate philosophy
- Genuine sense of corporate citizenship
- An appropriate and professional relationship with the press, including quick, responsible ways of communicating in a crisis
- Understanding of communication tools and technologies
- Sophisticated approaches to global communications
How an organization communicates with its employees, its extended audiences, the press and its customers brings its values to life. Corporate communications is all about managing perceptions and ensuring:
- Effective and timely dissemination of information
- Positive corporate image
- Smooth and affirmative relationship with all stakeholders
Be it a corporate body, company, organization, institution, non-governmental organization, governmental body, all of them need to have a respectable image and reputation. In today's day and age of increasing competition, easy access to information and the media explosion, reputation management has gained even more importance. Therefore, corporate communications as a role has become significant and professional in nature.
Gone are the days when corporate communication merely meant 'wining and dining the client' - it has now emerged as a science and art of perception management.
Corporate communication comprises:
[edit] External communication
[edit] Media relations
This involves building and maintaining a positive relationship with the media (television, print, web, et cetera). This includes, but is not limited to, drafting and dissemination of press releases, organizing press conferences and meeting with media professionals and organizing events for the media as a group.
[edit] External events
Could involve vendor / supplier / distributor meets, channel partner meetings, events related to product launches, important initiatives, et cetera.
[edit] Company/spokesperson profiling
Ensuring that the company/organization spokesperson is in the public limelight, is well-known and considered as an authority in the respective sector/field.
- Managing content of corporate websites and/or other external touch points
- Managing corporate publications - for the external world
- Managing print media
[edit] Brand management
- Development and upkeep of the corporate identity to ensure adherence to corporate brand guidelines
To improve overall business communications so as to clearly and effectively communicate the essence of the company.
[edit] Corporate Identity/Organizational Identity
There are two approches for Identity, respectively Corporate Identity and Organizational Identity.
- "Corporate Identity is the reality and uniqueness of an organization, which is integrally related to its external and internal image and reputation through corporate communication" (Gray and Balmer, 1998)
- "Organizational Identity comprises those characteristics of an organization that its members believe are central, distinctive and enduring. That is, organizational identity consists of those attributes that members feel are fundamental to (central) and uniquely descriptive of (distinctive) the organization and that persist within the organization over time (enduring)". (Pratt and Foreman, 2000)
[edit] Corporate Reputation
Reputations are overall assessments of organizations by their stakeholders. They are aggregate perceptions by stakeholders of an organizaitons's ability to fulfil their expectations, whether these stakeholders are interested in buying the company's products, working for the company, or investing in the company's shares.[3]
In 2000, the US based Council of PR Firms identified seven programs that were developed by either media organizations or market research firms, and that were being used by companies to assess or benchmark their corporate reputations. Of these only three are conducted regularly and have broad visibility:
- "America's Most Admired Companies" by Fortune Magazine;
- The "Brand Asset Valuator" by Young & Rubicam;
- "RepTrak" by Reputation Institute.
[edit] Crisis communication
Crisis communications is generally considered a sub-specialty of the public relations profession that is designed to protect and defend an individual, company, or organization facing a public challenge to its reputation. These challenges may come in the form of an investigation from a government agency, a criminal allegation, a media inquiry, a shareholders lawsuit, a violation of environmental regulations, or any of a number of other scenarios involving the legal, ethical, or financial standing of the entity.
Crisis communications professionals preach that an organization’s reputation is often its most valuable asset. When that reputation comes under attack, protecting and defending it becomes the highest priority. This is particularly true in today’s 24 hour news cycle, fuelled by government investigations, Congressional or parliamentary hearings, lawsuits, and “gotcha” journalism. When events like these happen, the media firestorm can quickly overwhelm the ability of the entity to effectively respond to the demands of the crisis. To emerge with its reputation intact, an organization must anticipate every move and respond immediately and with confidence. Companies facing such a threat will often bring in experienced crisis communications specialists to help prepare and guide them through the process.
Effectively responding to the challenges of a crisis requires more than the typical skills of the public relations professional, requiring instead experience at the highest levels of the field, such as investigative reporting, politics, and the White House.
Crisis communications can include crafting thorough and compelling statements, known as “messages,” often tested by research and polling. A rapid response capability—pioneered by the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign operatives and refined during Bill Clinton's eight years under attack by his political adversaries while in the White House, has also become an essential element of crisis communications. Additional tactics may include proactive media outreach to get messages and context to the media, identifying and recruiting credible third-party allies who can attest to the company’s side of the story, and striking first, not waiting to be hit.
Crisis communications is a part of larger process referred to as crisis management though it may well be a major tool of handling a crisis situation in government, organization or business.
Crisis Communications is also considered a sub-speciality of the Business Continuity area of modern business. The aim of crisis communications in this context is to assist organisations to achieve continuity of critical business processes and information flows under crisis, disaster or event driven circumstances.
Responding quickly, efficiently, effectively and in a premeditated way are the primary objectives of an effective crisis communications strategy and/or solution. Harnassing technology and people to ensure a rapid and co-ordinated response to a range of potentially crippling scenarios distinguishes a well thought out and executed plan from a poorly or ill-considered one. The inherent lag time in marshalling responses to a crisis can result in considerable losses to company revenues, reputation as well as substantially impacting on costs.
Effective crisis communications strategies will typically consider achieving most, if not all, of the following objectives:
> Maintain connectivity > Be readily accessible to the news media > Show empathy for the people involved > Allow distributed access > Streamline communication processes > Maintain information security > Ensure uninterrupted audit trails > Deliver high volume communications > Support multi-channel communications > Remove dependencies on paper based processes
By definition a crisis is an unexpected and detrimental situation or event. Crisis communications can play a significant role by transforming the unexpected into the anticipated and responding accordingly.
[edit] Employee communication
- Sharing information with employees, building employer pride, managing employee issues, et cetera.
- Manage the Intranet and other internal web portals
[edit] Internal communication
- Managing corporate publications for employees and partners
- Organising internal events for staff
[edit] Corporate communication officers
Recent research on the corporate communication function reports that corporate communication officers (CCOs) in Global Fortune 500 companies tend to have average tenures of about 4.5 years and that nearly one-half (48 per cent) report to the Chief Executive Officer. CCOs say that approximately 42 per cent of their job is strategic and 58 per cent is tactical. Over the next year, they will be focusing more on social responsibility, social media and reputation. The research done by Weber Shandwick and Spencer Stuart found distinct differences between CCOs in Most Admired companies versus Contender companies. [4]
[edit] The Part-time Executive International Master of Corporate communication
The Rotterdam School of Management and Corporate Communication Centre offer the unique Part-time Executive International Master of Corporate Communication programme.
This programme is designed for corporate communication professioanls looking for advanced knowledge and proficiencies in this specialised area. A lot of information about above subjects are available on the MCC programme website.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Riel, C.B.M. van & Fombrun, C. (2007) Essentials of Corporate Communication, Abingdon: Routledge.
- ^ Jackson, P. (1987) Corporate Communication for Managers, London: Pitman.
- ^ Charles, F. (1996) Reputation: Realizing Value from the Corporate Image, Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
- ^ The Rising CCO, www.webershandwick.com,
