corporate communications - chapter 1,2,3,4,5,6
Mission
Overriding purpose in line with the values and expectations of stakeholders
Stake
'an interest or a share in an undertaking, [that] can range from simply an interest in an undertaking at one extreme to a legal claim of ownership at the other extreme' (Carroll, A.B., 1996)
corporate social strategy.
- Helping people - A plan the organisation carries to achieve its goals.
corporate communication
- effects what other people think and how they spend their time. - lack of control throughout the company's reputation - identifying the customer's needs and wants. - corporate strategy and the development of messages for a variety of purposes for inside and outside the organization. - a management function. - with stakeholder groups upon which the organization is dependent
Why maintain a corporate blog?
-73% of journalists use blogs when researching a story (PR Week Survey, 2008) -Blogs create a personal connection with users -Facilitate positive attitudes towards the company -Encourage positive word of mouth
'The public be damned'
-Activity based on publicity, promotions and selling activity -Conducted by press agents, promoters and propagandists -Publicity-seeking approach -Answerable to no government or watchdogs -Played on gullible public who wanted to be entertained -Often so exaggerated it was lies! (they don't care, let them speak. it doesn't matter)
Horizontal structures
-Allow professionals to respond fast to emergent issues -Provide control and ensure consistent message -Allow for cross-functional team work and flexibility -Avoid 'silos', compartmentalisation and turf wars (when everyone is communicating at the same level- more flexible/fair)
Stakeholders
-Avoid conflicting images and messages -Especially important as individuals have more than one stakeholder role
Secondary Stakeholder
-Can generally influence or affect, or are influenced or affected by the organization but are not engaged in financial transactions -Do have a moral/normative interest -Capacity to mobilize public opinion for or again organization Media Special interest groups
Communicators
-Communication technician: is generally not involved in strategic management decision-making and strategic decisions concerning communication strategy and programmes -Communication manager: makes strategy or policy decisions and is held accountable for programme success or failure -Philips -
Social networking sites
-Create profile about yourself -Present personal information to share -Small network or community of friends or colleagues Relatively rich medium: -Share pictures, video, links, audio, instant messages, email -Lacks direct face-to-face interaction
Step 4: Identify themed messages
-Decide upon a core message that can be translated into a specific campaign format and message style -Themed messages may relate to the organization as a whole or to more specific areas such as products and services, CSR or financial performance
CSR initiatives
-Direct outcome of shift in models -Includes philanthropy, community involvement, ethical and environmentally friendly business practices -Recognizes business needs to deliver wider societal value beyond shareholder/market value alone
Collaboration and engagement
-Focus on changing the relationship between the organization and its stakeholders from 'management' to 'collaboration' and from 'exchange' to 'long-term relationships' -'Collaboration' implies a two-way symmetrical model of dialogue and consultation
Step 1: Strategic intent
-Formulates a change or consolidation of stakeholder reputations of the organization -Is based upon the gap between how the organization wants to be seen by important stakeholder groups and how it is currently seen by each of those groups
Communication-based drivers
-Greater amounts of message clutter -Increased message effectiveness through consistency and reinforcement of core messages -Complementarity of media and media cost inflation -Media multiplication requires control of communication channels
Step 6: Develop a media strategy
-Identify the most effective and efficient means of reaching the target audiences within the given budgetary constraints -Decide upon the right mix of media for a particular communication programme or campaign
Organizational drivers
-Improved efficiency -Increased accountability -Provision of strategic direction and purpose through consolidation -Commonalities and overlap between communication disciplines
'Muckrakers'
-Investigative journalists who exposed scandals associated with power, capitalism and government corruption -Raised public awareness of unethical and harmful practices -Response: Large organizations hired writers and former journalists as spokespeople, in pursuit of public approval.
Content communities: corporate challenges
-Issue around copyrighted material -Sharing corporate documents without permission -Illegally acquired or reproduced content -Negative video
Challenge
-Managing and controlling the corporate message -Fragmented news gathering and dissemination
Step 7: Prepare the budget
-Most of the budget will be spent on media buying -Based upon the budget, practitioners may have to revise the previous steps and select a different mix of media and/or adjust communication objectives
Opportunity
-New ways to reach/engage stakeholders -Have conversations -Adopt an authentic voice -Tell or elaborate its story or messages
Engagement
-Not merely about sharing opinions and perspectives -Also organization must be transparent -Acting in character to bring across identity -Fostering stakeholders to become genuine advocates -Without this, stakeholders organize for action and point out lack of authenticity.
Market- and environment-based drivers
-Stakeholder roles overlap -Internal communication is inseparable from external communication -Demands for greater transparency
The content of communication strategy
-Starts from an organization-wide assessment of the organization's reputation in the light of its vision at a particular point in time -Reputation-vision gap forms the basis for the formulation of a strategic intent
corporate identity
-Strategically projecting a particular positive image of the organization -to build, maintain and protect strong reputations with stakeholders -leads to stakeholders accepting and supporting the organization -Gives organizations first-choice status with investors, customers, employees and other stakeholders -Originally corporate identity focused on logos and visual design -Now encompasses all forms of communication -Not just outward embodiment of company but also intrinsic characteristics/traits of company that provides specificity
Strategy formation
-Strategy formation consists of a combination of planned and emergent processes -Strategy involves a general direction and not simply plans or tactics -Strategy is about the organization and its environment
Benefits of stakeholder model
-To be a good citizen as an end in itself -Employee morale -Reputation of organization
Step 5: Develop message styles
-Use one of the five message styles -Can use multiple message styles simultaneously to communicate with different target audiences -Organizations often use the same message style to communicate about certain specific areas
Step 3: Identify and prioritize target audiences
-Use the stakeholder salience model and the power-interest matrix (Chapter 3) to identify the most important stakeholder groups -Segment those groups into more specific target audiences that are prioritized for a particular programme or campaign
Vertical structures
-Used by multi-divisional and multinational companies -Divide each organisation's primary tasks into smaller tasks and activities -Staff function at corporate headquarters -Links to the CEO or senior management -Most senior CC professional likely to have seat at executive board (not much communication. people dont have a voice. listen to the boss)
Distinctiveness
-takeholders: recognize an organization -Employees: A strong image helps raise motivate and morale - creating a 'we' feeling
The organisation of corporate communications
1. distinct 2. complementary 3. integrated
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
A business's concern for the welfare of society. (what the company does to give back to its community). examples - charity, donations etc.
Market
A defined group for whom a product is or may be in demand (and for whom an organization creates and maintains products and services)
Social media
A group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and that allow for the creation and exchange of user-generated content
Corporate Reputation
An individual's collective representation of past images of an organization (induced through either communication or past experiences) established over time. - images that become solid - fairly fixed images (changes sometimes).
Stakeholders
Any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organisation's objectives. - customers, suppliers. employees, education affiliations, government, charity, and environmental groups and customer support.
Step 2: Define communication objectives
Appeal to stakeholders with a particular message so that they react favourably to it and change or consolidate a specific supportive behaviour towards the organization Should be as tightly defined as possible: Specific SMART:- Measureable Actionable Realistic Timely
impact
Being favoured may have an impact on performance
Endorsed
Businesses and product brands are endorsed or badged with the parent company name
Planning programmes and campaigns
Communication programme: a formulated set of activities towards targeted internal and external audiences, which may include outreach activities, community initiatives and other ways in which organizations and their employees communicate with stakeholder audiences, and has no pre-set endpoint Communication campaign: restricted to the use of a mediated form of communication (e.g., mass media advertising) towards specific stakeholder audiences and is restricted to a single point in time
The process of communication strategy
Communication strategies involve: -Bringing stakeholder reputations in line with the vision of the organization -Reinforcing existing reputations of stakeholders if broadly in line with how the organization wants itself to be seen -Wal-Mart-
Corporate identity, image and reputation
Corporate image management adds an important symbolic dimension to corporate communication
vision
Desired future state: the aspiration of the organization
New media landscape
Game changer for CC Command and control model: -No longer about digital information consumption -Break from traditional message flows Communication and community: -Now about fostering interactive free-flowing conversation -Democratizing nature of media
Web 2.0
General ideological and technological shift in the use of online technologies. provides the platform for social media
Equity stakes
Held by those with direct ownership Shareholders, directors, minority interest owners
Aligning identity, image and reputation
Importance of alignment between: -the organizational culture as experienced by employees -the corporate vision as articulated by senior managers -corporate image or reputation in the minds of external stakeholders Who are the organization's stakeholders? -What do the stakeholders want from the organization? -Is the organization effectively communicating -its vision to its stakeholders?
Content generation
Impromptu and free generation and dissemination of corporate content.
Branded
Individual businesses or product brands each carry their own name (and are seemingly unrelated to each other) {Procter & Gamble (Ariel, Ola) Electrolux (Zanussi), Unilever (Dove)}
Interface between vision and image
Interface between vision and culture: Does the organization practise the values it promotes? Does the organization's vision inspire all its subcultures? Are the organization's vision and culture sufficiently differentiated from those of its competitors?
Influencer stakes
Neither equity or economic stake but have interests Consumer advocates, environmental groups, trade organizations, government agencies
owned media
On-line media that an organization owns and thus controls
Strategic messaging
Organization-wide assessment of how organization is seen by stakeholders (reputation) in light of the organization's vision The gap is the basis of strategic intent: the change or consolidation in a company's reputation that is intended -Philips -
Paid media
Paid for content or exposure on other (non-owned) on-line media
Stakeholder initiatives
Range of schemes and initiatives have developed at industry, national and transnational level -UN Global Compact Initiative -Global Reporting Initiative -World Bank's Business Partners for Development -OECD's Guidelines for Multinational Companies
Monolithic
Single all-embracing identity (products all carry the same corporate name)
Earned media
Stakeholder generated on-line word-of-mouth about the organization that in effect becomes the "medium"
strategic intent
Suggests a set of communication tactics and activities that aim to affect awareness, knowledge, reputation and behaviour of important stakeholders
Integration
The act of coordinating all communication so that the corporate identity is effectively and consistently communicated to internal and external groups
corporate identity
The profile and values communicated by an organization 'The world's favorite airline' (This corporate identity with its associated brand values of service, quality, innovation, cosmopolitanism and Britishness is carried through in positioning, design, livery, and communications). - identity that the company pushes out
Communication
The tactics and media that are used to communicate with internal and external groups
Strategies
The ways or means in which the corporate objectives are to be achieved and put into effect
Economic or market stakes
Those who have an economic interest, but not an ownership interest Employees, customers, suppliers, competitors
Virtual social worlds
Users adopt a persona/virtual ego The user lives a virtual life
Three toolkit elements
Vision: senior management's aspirations for the organization Culture: the organization's values as felt and shared by all employees of the organization Image: the image or impression that outside stakeholders have of the organization
Primary Stakeholder
Without their continued participation the organization cannot survive Employees Suppliers Consumers
Contractual stakeholders
have an element of contract customers employees distributors suppliers shareholders lenders
community stakeholders
have NO element of contract consumers, regulators, government, media, local communities, pressure groups
Markets stablised or declined at this time
organisations hired advertising agents to promote products
Socio-economic theory:
other groups besides shareholders count accountability extends to groups considered to be important for the continuity of the organization and the welfare of society
Corporate positioning
planned and controlled transfer of corporate messages and campaigns.
Neo-classical theory:
purpose of organizations is to make profits accountable to themselves and shareholders
Paradigms on the process of strategy-making:
rational planning mode intuitiveor visionary incremental or emergent
Broadcasting
stakeholders as audiences receive messages from the organization in a controlled and planned manner
Crowd-casting
stakeholders as participants produce or forward content about the organisation
Corporate objectives
statement of overall aims in line with the overall purpose
Stages in formulating the content of a communication strategy
strategic intent themed messages message style
corporate image
the immediate set of associations of an individual in response to one or more signals or messages from or about a particular organization at a single point in time. - varies of things that are good or bad.
Strategy formation characteristics
visionary top down botton up analytical ad hoc and spontaneous deliberate and planned
