When it comes to corporate communications, the truth is, mapping out a plan on how and why you’ll talk to your stakeholders is essential to your business: be overly dull in your communications, and you’ll lose valuable eyes and ears – whether that’s internal (think employees, leadership and HR) or external (think shareholders, future employees and clients).
Read on to learn how to get in front of the right crowd, say something memorable and adopt a successful corporate communications strategy.
What’s a corporate communications strategy and what are the benefits?
A corporate communications strategy outlines how, where and why you’ll communicate as a business. When you want to grab the attention of stakeholders, from employees and shareholders to potential future clients, you need a corporate communications strategy. A successful strategy is easy to understand internally, and effective externally. How do you know your plan is working? Simple: you’ll be closer to achieving your engagement goals.
What if I don’t have a corporate communications strategy?
If you don’t have a strategy (yet), you risk falling into the traps of a company that simply can’t communicate effectively. Symptoms include a misaligned brand (different teams saying wildly different messages), messages that fall flat, and a brand that is never able to resonate with its intended audience. If any of this sounds familiar, don’t worry – we’ve mapped out how to resolve these all-too-common business woes below.
5 steps to achieve a successful communications strategy
Let’s keep things simple: here’s how to build out a new communications plan into five easy steps.
1. Know your messaging goals, inside out
Before you even think about planning out your content and channels, you should understand your messaging goals. Start by getting an understanding of what needs to be said, instead of getting weighed down by how to say it. What areas of your business need to get messages across? Your product team will want new releases firmly on the map, your HR team will want to shout about new hires, and your sales team will want to share their acquisition successes. By mapping out these company priorities throughout the year with all parts of the business (customer, client and employees), you can weave them into the fabric of your corporate communications strategy.
2. Define your audience
Now you know your messaging, you can lean on the experience of your team (and customer personas, if you have them) to define who should receive each part of your messaging. You may want to focus on strengthening culture with your employees, and your investor relations could strengthen from regular communications about revenue streams. For times when your message overlaps into multiple audiences, think about tailoring how you deliver the same message in a unique format. Why? To make sure it suits each audience’s wants, needs and pain points. Your communications as a company becomes far more powerful when you understand the messaging angles you defined in the first stage, and match it with a deep understanding of your audience.
3. Choose the right channels to reach your audience
Your investors probably don’t follow your TikTok channel, and your potential new clients have likely moved on from Facebook. You’ll know better than us – open your social media analytics to work out the average age and demographic of your audience, so you can hone your messaging accordingly.
Here’s a common way to structure your social channels:
- Investors, current and prospective employees - LinkedIn
- Existing customers - Instagram, Twitter, TikTok
- Prospective clients - LinkedIn, Twitter
4. Choose the right formats to engage your audience
We’re sure you’ve heard enough about algorithms, but hey, they’re important: make sure you’re working with the algorithm and your social analytics, rather than going against the data.
Employees not reading that monthly newsletter? Opt for scroll-stopping video instead. When you produce content that intrigues your stakeholders and targets their pain points, you’ll be more likely to see a boost in engagement.
5. Measure your engagement
So you’ve built the perfect recipe for content that tells powerful stories, builds intrigue and boosts your brand’s engagement. What next? Measure, measure, measure. Every piece of content is an experiment in what your audience truly resonates with, and you can measure engagement through social analytics (look for stats on reach and engagement) and internal surveys, as well as benchmarking against your old communication method.
You might be surprised at the open rate of your corporate newsletter vs your social posts. Every audience is unique – so keep testing and learning.
How can I start producing content for my corporate communications strategy?
To hit the ground running with your corporate communications, and build a consistent structure, we recommend using video templates throughout your corporate communications. By featuring content you know works, and using narrative structures you can re-use again and again, you’ll have more ways to amplify your message in less time.
Not sure where to start? We’ve got 7 great corporate communication templates to help bring your message to life, and prevent you from getting lost in a sea of bland.
Templates to bring your corporate communications strategy to life
Telling a joke without the buildup? No-one will laugh. Don’t sell your messaging short either – the way you present it is often as important as the message itself.
Try these video templates for your corporate communications and watch your engagement rise while you chop away at needless content admin time. We’ve done all the hard work for you, so you can focus on honing in on your corporate messages.
New initiatives
Sharing news of a new product launch, department or project? Tie it all together with The ‘This Period’ In Template template.
Who’s it for? Investors, current and prospective employees
Partnerships, mergers and acquisitions
Made an offer they can’t refuse? Now let the world know. Bring the story of your business to life with The ‘Stakeholder Update’ Template.
Who’s it for? Stakeholders, investors, prospective stakeholders
Business reports
Reports on your business progress are hard to nail. How do you build intrigue? Use The ‘Year in Review’ Template to put your numbers in context that gets your audience stopping their scroll.
Who’s it for? Existing employees and investors
Sharing success
Tired of the same old “We’re delighted to announce” LinkedIn posts? Us too! Shout about your successes using the The ‘Progress Metre’ Template and make it easy to chart and measure your success with your business awards, achievements and progress.
Who’s it for? Prospective and existing investors, clients and employees
Mission, Vision & Principles content
Content about your company’s mission and vision can be wishy-washy. Make yours crystal clear and show you truly mean what you say with the The ‘Why Do We Do It’ Template.
Who’s it for? Prospective clients, employees and investors
Media spotlights
The ‘Daily News’ Template means you can easily keep track of PR assets, articles about your company and interviews. Sharing a screen recording of the show is good, but doing it in a branded, considered way can bring better results. Try it!
Who’s it for? Prospective and current employees, investors and clients
Employee updates
Company updates, events, onboarding and resources don’t have to be just another dull email for your team to wade through. Try The ‘From The Books’ Template to keep in touch with employees in a way that works for them!
Who’s it for? Current employees
Conclusion
In today's fast-paced and highly competitive business environment, a successful corporate communications strategy is essential for any organisation looking to effectively engage and connect with its stakeholders. By implementing these tried-and-true strategies, businesses can forge deep connections both inside and outside the organisation, improve their brand image, and score big wins in the communication game.
