Business Corporate Communications Strategy

According to a landmark study, companies that employ dedicated corporate communications professional experience measurable increases in market value. A solid corporate communications strategy helps organizations effectively communicate with internal and external stakeholders, including employees, vendors, customers and the public at large. When done effectively, it streamlines communications among business functions, helping management, human resources and marketing maintain a unified voice and consistent messages. Developing a solid corporate communications strategy can help a business thrive by preventing the costly mistakes that inevitably result from miscommunication.

The field of corporate communications, with documented strategies to foster effective business communications, emerged in response to the recognition that the better a business communicates, the more successful it tends to become. For example, improved communications translate into a 29.5 percent increase in market value and employee turnover rates below or significantly below similar companies without formal, strategic corporate communications programs, according to the "Communication ROI Study" conducted by human resources consulting firm Watson Wyatt in 2003.

Because "communication" applies to so many different processes within the business world, the scope of a strategic corporate communications plan can be somewhat hard to define. In general, it addresses the way management communicates with employees as well as the way the company communicates with external parties, like customers and vendors, to improve overall business operations. A comprehensive corporate communications strategy should include tactics to maximize employee, shareholder, customer, community, media and public relations. Creating consistent, concise and clear messages so that management, human resources and marketing can do the best possible job is the goal.

The first step toward creating a strategic corporate communications plan itself relies on strong communications. Gather key management, human resources and marketing personnel to present the case for formal planning and seek buy-in. Next, work together to outline key areas of concern. Focus on communication challenges and successes. Next, create a formal plan that specifies how key business functions will integrate and share information externally and internally. During this process, be certain to align the voice and messages promoted with the company's larger strategic mission, vision and objectives. An internal corporate communications professional or external consultant can be invaluable during this process, helping participants to better document and implement new communications processes.

Some business professionals have considered communications strategy a "soft" business area, suggesting that this type of planning was nice but not necessary to efficient and profitable operations. Studies conducted over the last two decades suggest otherwise. Formally documenting a company's communication strategies does positively impact the bottom line. In fact, consulting firm Watson Wyatt found that companies with the "highest levels of effective communication experienced a 26 percent total return to shareholders" over a four-year period as compared to the "-15 percent return experienced by firms that communicate least effectively," as reported in "The Essentials of Corporate Communications and Public Relations," published by the Harvard Business School Press.

By PROTAS LEVINA

BAPRM 42657