Communication Strategy

Communication strategy is defined as an approach to communication within organizations focused on key constituencies and the appropriate channels to reach them, and measured in terms of meeting the organizations’ objectives. Strategic communication helps define and execute the strategy of the firm. A strategic approach to communication is critical not only to the execution of the organization’s strategy but also for presenting a sense of alignment from the organization to internal and external constituencies. This entry covers the importance of communication in executing the organization’s strategy, outlines the key components of communicating strategically, and discusses the impacts that communication strategy can have on corporate reputation.

Importance of Communication in Executing Organizational Strategy

The biggest issues in communication strategy revolve around who is involved in the development of strategy (usually just senior executives working with consulting firms) and how it is communicated through people. Based on extensive research with senior executives from a variety of industries, both repetition and consistency are the keys to success in communicating strategically. CEOs have said that just about the time they were getting tired of hearing themselves talk, maybe the audience heard what they had to say about strategy. They also have said that not only do messages need to be repeated but they also need to be consistent and said exactly the same way over and over again.

For many executives, this is counterintuitive and constraining. However, a consistent message leads to a clear understanding of the true identity of the corporation, a coherent idea of who it is, and ultimately a stronger reputation. Research shows that most people in an organization do not know what the strategy is and few executives want to take the time to communicate to them. How can companies deal with this problem and set themselves up for success as they try to develop a strong reputation among all key constituencies?

Communicating Strategically

Communicating strategically means focusing on communication that is central to the core strategy of the firm, looking at communication from the perspective of one’s audience, and measuring success in terms of audience response. The framework shown in Figure 1 details several factors involved in a strategic approach to communication. First, communication is an iterative process that has no beginning and no end. Too often, executives assume that once the strategy has been communicated, it is over. A better way to think about the process is that each communication is part of an ongoing approach to executing strategy.

Figure 1 Corporate Communication Strategy Framework

Second, communicators must think about what the audience should do rather than what must be accomplished. This is setting strategic communication objectives. The best way to think about this is to answer the statement “As a result of this communication, the audience will….”

Third, a focus on key constituencies, including at least employees, shareholders, customers, and communities, means understanding who they are, what they know and feel about the organization, and what their attitude is about the topic communicated.

Finally, the choice of channel is a strategic choice as well. It is critical to use channels that are appealing to the constituency rather than channels that are the choice of the sender. For millennials, for example, social media or text messaging may be more appropriate than traditional channels.

Finally, communication strategy is measured in terms of audience outcome. Did the constituency do what the organization wanted or not? In the case of strategy, this would mean that each constituency not only knows what the strategy is but also is capable of creating communications that are in line with the overall strategy of the firm. This leads to a greater understanding of the organization’s mission, vision, values, and strategy that sets the firm up for better outcomes in terms of reputation.

Communication Strategy and Reputation

Reputation, or credibility, is a key driver of success in building a successful communication strategy, but it is also something that most senior managers do not fully understand. The reputation framework shown in Figure 2 helps explain the connection among strategy, communication, and reputation. The first step in understanding that connection is in understanding what the organization has control over and what it does not. Research shows that senior managers often believe that reputation can be managed; rather, it is an outcome based on the aggregate of perceptions about the true identity of an organization. Thus, the key to success is in creating coherence around the identity of the organization, referred to as developing a one-company strategy. Corporate identity includes the things that are true about a company, such as its name, its strategy, the buildings, its brands, and the people who work for the company. If these real things are not properly aligned (which they rarely are in large, complex organizations) and communication about them is inconsistent, it is impossible to create a clear corporate identity and even more impossible to get the right outcome in terms of the development of a reputation.

Figure 2 What Are Corporate Identity, Image, and Reputation?

The organization only controls what it really is and what it chooses to say about itself. Once it has communicated about itself, key constituencies determine what they think about the organization. As with human beings, two different people or audiences can look at the same individual or corporation and have totally divergent views.

Another difficulty today compared with during the 20th century is the development of new forms of and approaches to communication, such as social media, which can allow people in the audience to learn things about an organization that are not necessarily the things that the organization wants them to know. Social media in its ability to democratize content creation has allowed constituencies to morph into one larger audience that communicates with others rather than refer back to the corporation for affirmation.

Perhaps most important of all in terms of reputation and strategy is that very few organizations have a clear sense of what their image is with key constituencies or what their reputation is overall. What passes for measurement among social scientists who study this area has led to very little agreement about the right approach, and few of the approaches to measurement have led to an outcome-based approach to measuring reputation connected to the reality of the business (e.g., profitability). Instead, most corporations look to public measures of brand and reputation rather than proprietary research that could help them execute strategy more successfully. By making sure to have good data on each constituency’s attitudes about the organization over a long period of time, the organization can understand what in its true identity is affecting its reputation and what should be done to fix that problem in order to gain a stronger reputation.

Finally, the most important thing that companies can do to make sure that they are building a strong reputation is to pay attention to the risk associated with their activities. Several organizations now monitor reputational risk in the same way as they monitor operational or financial risk. By doing so, they ensure that they are at the very least providing a safety net for their companies by protecting their reputation. But the very best companies in the world today are trying to focus on reputational risk as a way to enhance performance and make a strong statement about their approach to the world. By finding the risk, solving for it before it is made public by someone else, and moving on, companies are able to chart their own destiny, which only increases positive attitudes about the corporate identity and ultimately makes for a stronger reputation.

Conclusion

As has been attributed to Socrates, the best way to create a strong reputation is to “endeavor to be what you desire to appear.” What that means for corporations is that they have to know who they are in the first place (meaning they have to develop a strategy), must be able to communicate it clearly to everyone (by developing a coherent communication strategy), and then must monitor and measure responses in a way that leads to better outcomes in terms of reputation. This is a requirement for success in building the kind of company that will be highly reputed in a world that longs for organizations it can trust and rely on to create a better future for all.