Corporate Communication Scope, Components

26/01/2022 1 By indiafreenotes

Corporate communication is a set of activities involved in managing and orchestrating all internal and external communications aimed at creating favourable point of view among stakeholders on which the company depends. It is the messages issued by a corporate organization, body, or institute to its audiences, such as employees, media, channel partners and the general public. Organizations aim to communicate the same message to all its stakeholders, to transmit coherence, credibility and ethics.

Corporate communication helps organizations explain their mission, combine its many visions and values into a cohesive message to stakeholders. The concept of corporate communication could be seen as an integrative communication structure linking stakeholders to the organisation.

Various departments and employees of the organisations are connected through communication network by phones, face-to-face discussion, e-mail, fax, memos, etc. to convey orders, instructions and information, to supervise and evaluate performance, to understand and perform individual job, to identify and solve a problem and, ultimately, to fulfill the objectives of the organisation.

External communication with the customers, vendors, distributors, competitors, investors, government agencies, etc., through letters, reports, memos, phones, faxes, websites, internet, etc., are made to introduce, negotiate, co-ordinate, explain, interact, discuss and to develop co-operation and understanding.

Therefore, corporate communication refers to a process of communication through which the managers, supervisors and executives exchange their views, opinions, feelings, etc. with the subordinates and employees in any corporate organisation and negotiate with the outside world with a view to fulfilling the objectives of the organisation.

Philip Kitchen and Don Schultz in “Raising the Corporate Umbrella” defines, ‘‘Corporate communication at its simplest is primarily a mechanism for developing and managing a set of relationships with public or stakeholders who could affect the overall performances. These relationships must be viewed in a long-term strategic fashion.”

Thus, according to the above definition, corporate communication is used to build the image among its audiences to enhance its overall performances.

As per Median Online, an organization who works in the area of corporate communications globally defines that, “Corporate communication is the strategic initiative taken by a corporate organization to communicate the corporate brand and its core messages to a spectrum of growing audiences in a globalized market environment. At its core, corporate communication is very simple, the way a corporate communicates.”

Scope

Create an identity: The success of many companies in India like Reliance industries, Tata, Kirloskar group of companies portray that all these companies have created their identity as an organization which is for their people. In the current scenario, where every day, the function of corporates is complex and unvivid, finding an audience for their products, services or companies determine the growth of an organization. Therefore, a company gives preference to use the tools of communications wisely and timely. The corporate communicator/public affairs manager/public relation officers/media liaison officer/media advisor, and corporate communication manager, they all ensure that their corporate connects build an audience group for the growth of an organization.

Build a brand: Corporates in their day-to-day affairs interacts with two kinds of an audiences, internal and external. The internal audience who may be in form of shareholders, stakeholders or employee of the company carry the pride of association with an organization wherein the external audience are crucial for the future growth of a brand. To balance both the audiences, corporate communication practitioner need to follow the simple approach in mind.

Manage the reputation: Nowadays, the media intervention is very high. The rumor spreads and impacts on organization’s reputation, therefore the corporate communicate practitioner manage the task of building the organization reputation and keep its prestige intact.

Develop a communication model: No organization will make a progress in their isolation approach. It is crucial to communicate with their people on a timely basis. An effective communication model will help an organization to build a strategy which will be beneficial for them in a long run.

Components

Corporate Branding

The main idea behind corporate branding is to create a positive impression of a company and its products on the public. This entails uniting a group of products or businesses under a single name and visual identity (such as a set of symbols), which then becomes the “brand”. The corporate communications team plays a big role in this, especially when the branding process involves presenting the features of the product or company to the potential buyer in a way that induces them to buy.

Customer Communications

While it’s usually the marketing team that takes care of customer management, the corporate communications strategy and marketing strategy often overlap a lot. This is why the corporate communications team contributes towards customer-oriented material like marketing flyers, newsletters, brochures, emails and social media posts.

Media Relations

It’s essential for a company to stay in touch with what the general public is saying about it. This is where corporate communications comes in. From organising and preparing material for press conferences to sending out press releases to keeping an eye on the news for mentions of the company or its stakeholders, the team does it all.

Crisis Communications

A ‘crisis’ is basically any unforeseen event that could potentially damage the company’s reputation externally, internally or both. In case a crisis occurs such as a workplace accident or product defects coming to light the corporate communications team drafts a strategy to address it. This could include answers to questions posed by the press, statements issued by senior company executives to media publications, official announcements on company social media pages and any communications with attorneys or politicians.

Investor Relations

For any company, keeping financial stakeholders happy is a top priority. These could be shareholders for a public company or angel investors for a start-up. The corporate communications team interacts with the investors to build a positive relationship with them. They also work on the content that boosts the company’s image both online and offline so that investors are more confident about where they’re putting their money.

Internal Communications

It isn’t just customers who need to know what the company is doing. Employees across all divisions have to be kept in the loop about new products, services, events, changes of staff, policy changes and other important pieces of information. The corporate communications team takes care of this by sending out emails, newsletters, blog posts and memos that employees can read to stay updated. The team may also organise group sessions where announcements are shared and employees are invited to voice any opinions or suggestions they might have.

Corporate Reputation

Corporate reputation refers to different stakeholders’ perceptions of a company based on its ability to live up to their expectations. These stakeholders could be buyers, employees or investors anyone who has a vested interest in the company. Corporate communications teams influence corporate reputation for the better by sharing the right kinds of press content online and managing search results to boost the company’s online presence.

Corporate Identity

Corporate identity consists of the set of attributes or features that the company’s member feel are unique to and aptly describe the company. It is the corporate communications team that defines this identity for the most part the communications, written and visual, that they share with internal and external stakeholders go a long way in shaping what the stakeholders believe the company is all about.