3 steps for crafting a company communications strategy

Streamlining your company communications strategy for your internal and external comms eliminates the possibility of miscommunication, and yet only 49% of businesses have one in place.

Let’s take a deep dive into communications strategies and find out how you can avoid costly misunderstandings with your company.

What is a company communications strategy?

A company communications strategy gives you a set framework for how you communicate with people both internally and externally. Whether the situation be one you see every day, or something out of the ordinary, your communications strategy will keep your response appropriate and in line with the company voice.

The strategy is often divided into two separate sections, internal communications with your team and external communications with customers and stakeholders.

Your internal communication strategy should include specifics on:

• • Tone – Does your organization value professionalism? Transparency? Friendliness? A combination?
  • Channels – Where should you expect communications to come through? Are there different channels for different types of messages?
  • Frequency – What messages require daily updates? Which ones are more suited to monthly or quarterly updates?
  • Feedback mechanisms – How are employees able to provide input, ask questions, or share ideas?

Your external communications strategy will likely touch on:

• • Key messages – What are the main talking points your company wants to convey to the public or customers?
  • Target audience – Who are you trying to reach with your external communications? What are their needs and interests?
  • Channels – What platforms or mediums will you use to communicate with your target audience?
  • Timing – When is the best time to share your messages? Are there any seasonal or industry-specific events that should be taken into account?
  • Crisis communication plan – How will your company respond and communicate in the event of a crisis or negative situation?
  • Media relations – How will you engage with the media and handle media inquiries?

When you have a strategy in place, you’ll know exactly how to communicate with folks in a way that’s productive and consistent with your brand.

Why do you need a company communications strategy?

Because it includes so many potential situations, a communications strategy will take quite a bit of time to get right. Your team is kind and professional, why not just leave them to their own devices? Well, the truth is, that at least 4 in 5 Americans are concerned about poor workplace communication.

Several wonderful goals are only achievable through a well-implemented communications strategy. For example:

• • Aligning messaging – You want your audiences to know exactly what they’re getting when they engage with your company. Clear-cut guidelines for communication help establish a unique and cohesive brand voice.

• • Building reputation – Effective communication builds trust with customers, team members, investors, and the world at large. This is especially true during a crisis.

• • Managing internal communication – You can avoid losing vital information in the shuffle, and nip workplace resentment in the bud by having guidelines in place around communication.

• • Crisis management – Having a strategy in place for negative interactions allows your team to respond quickly, transparently, and with empathy.

• • Training – Onboarding new talent is much faster and smoother when you have a clearly defined way for them to interact with both external and internal shareholders.

• • Monitoring and evaluation – Without a clear-cut way of communicating, it can be difficult to evaluate your process and team. Once you’ve established goals and best practices, you have something to measure performance against.

Without a communication strategy, it’s nearly impossible to consistently communicate in a way that’s purposeful, targeted, and aligned.

Benefits of a company communications strategy

The work of creating a company-wide communication strategy always pays off, because it opens the door for:

• • Productivity – When your team has clear instructions and can communicate with one another effectively, they can focus on getting results.

• • Enhanced decision-making – Effective communication means your team is making decisions with all the necessary information at their fingertips. Nothing important is sitting in a text message from two weeks ago.

• • Employee engagement and satisfaction – When folks feel comfortable communicating their ideas and concerns, they are more likely to work together as a team. This focus on a specific culture and way of speaking to one another keeps team members happy and connected.

• • Change management – One of the biggest factors in successful change management is a team’s ability to communicate with one another.

• • Effective use of resources – A communication strategy can help identify the most efficient and effective methods of communication, saving time and resources for the company.

• • Customer satisfaction – When employees can effectively communicate with one another and with customers, it leads to better customer service.

• • Competitive advantage – A company with a strong and effective communication strategy can often outperform its competitors by being more agile, responsive, and adaptable.

It never hurts to have a plan and guidelines in place when it comes to something as subjective and potentially messy as communication. These added benefits are just further proof.

3 steps to build a company communications strategy

Because communication is so complex, you might think that coming up with a strategy for it would be complex as well. While that is partially true because of the sheer number of factors involved, there’s an easy way to get the base of your strategy figured out and implemented.

Step one: Identify your communication goals

Knowing exactly what you want out of your communication is key to keeping it consistent across channels. You might have different ideas for both internal and external communication and how you want your brand to be perceived, or you may have a unified vision.

Either way, you should start by creating a list of the top phrases or emphases you want. How do you want your communication to feel for the people receiving it? What do you want the stakeholders to understand, believe, and do?

Some strong core concepts for your communication strategy might include:

• • • Professional
    • Open
    • Understanding
    • Authoritative
    • Innovative
    • Casual
    • Friendly
    • To-The-Point
    • …

Knowing what words describe your ideal brand identity will help you make cohesive decisions later on.

Step two: Choose communication channels

There are so many ways to communicate, and each channel is going to have its feel and story for your brand.

If you want your brand to be fun and down-to-earth, you might focus more on social media campaigns and direct messaging with audiences. On the other hand, a professional brand would likely focus on more traditional means of communication like phone calls or email.

Communicating internally depends greatly on your workflow and overall company culture. How often are you collaborating? Would it be better to connect over regular video calls, or keep things strictly text-based where information is clear-cut?

No form of communication stirs emotions, engagement, urgency, and FOMO quite like video comms do. So, do consider video-based channels like virtual events, virtual town halls, video messaging, and a corporate video portal. Video has also been demonstrated to best promote knowledge retention, and 70% of employees prefer learning from video. What’s more, with video automation tools and AI, video doesn’t take nearly as much time and resources to produce as it used to.

Whatever you choose, make sure it’s able to integrate with your current systems, and that there’s an easy way to see where information is and how to pass it along.

Step three: Put a plan in place

It’s time to set up specific rules and guidelines for communication within your company. With your core vibe in mind, and an understanding of the channels you’ll be using to communicate, decide exactly how team members should respond to specific situations.

How does an innovative and friendly company respond to criticism? How does an open and to-the-point manager offer feedback to their team? Come up with as many scenarios as you can and decide how you would ideally see your team respond and pass information along.

Once you have all your guidelines in place, take the time to explain them to your entire company, and help them transition to a more intentional way of communication with each other and the world at large.

Meet Kaltura  — Open-source video solutions for enterprises, media, and education.

No matter what your ideal communication vibe is, Kaltura is the ideal way to connect with stakeholders and keep information straight. From innovative virtual events and town halls to an all-encompassing community hub and training platform, Kaltura has just what you need to communicate clearly and effectively every single time.

Alternative option: Meet Kaltura: Open-source video solutions for enterprises, media, and education