The measure of a brand’s identity is not limited to the line of products or services it provides. It goes beyond, extending to brand communication. Communication patterns both within and outside of the company must meet the threshold of a brand identity.
Corporate communication helps establish a point of contact with the general public and with relevant stakeholders. External communication works on the brand reputation, while internal communication aligns employees with the management.
What is Corporate Communication?
Companies that search for and set up standards for internal and external corporate communication tend to ace it.
External Communication
This involves brand advertising to the masses, basically beyond the boundary walls of the company, i.e., the clients, audience, and others externally associated with the company. It gets a bit personal at one point as well and includes what employees have to say about the company through their personal social media accounts.
Internal Communication
It is company communication within the boundaries, i.e., in between the employees, irrespective of the hierarchy. This is closely related to internal marketing, where communication flows in every direction. Examples of corporate communication flow would be top-level to bottom, same levels, and from the bottom to top-level.
Companies majorly have external corporate communication measures sorted but lack internal elements. A convergence of internal and external conversing measures would benchmark the right kind of organizational productivity.
Reasons for Internal Corporate Communication
Essentially, corporate communication increases productivity. Here are some more reasons to establish a strong point of why corporate communication is essential.
Brand Awareness
Advertising is the most popular type of marketing.
Millennials and Gen Z especially are not a fan of advertising. They want to learn and be educated about a particular service or offering, while not being sold to it. Their buying decision-making process is majorly inclined towards what the product has to offer, not its advertising tactics. They prefer learning information from trusted sources which is why influencer marketing has taken off the way it has.
In the corporate framework, this is where internal corporate communication kicks in. What your employees have to say about your brand will influence both customers and future hires.
Employee Engagement
HR is aware of how crucial it is to keep employee engagement constant, it reflects on the business. It is obvious employees who enjoy their work tend to stay highly productive. Also, the retention rate remains high as well.
The positivity within the work environment and motivation is forever. Employee engagement flows smoothly with corporate communication.
Let us see some ways in which you can use corporate communication to build engagement:
- Encourage hierarchy-free communication
- Have an open-door policy
- Build company goals within the SMART framework
- Be clear and communicate designated goals and vision
- Be open to creative ideas and criticism from employees
- Focus on employee advocacy and accountability
Innovation
Innovation is the essence companies need to strive with for survival. Without enough innovation at hand, companies would lack resources in the long run. Innovation is what creates brands like Apple.
Corporate communication can cultivate a culture of innovation. Employees can share knowledge, collaborate with multiple departments, and take initiative. Internal communication would be a major strategy to source and fuel the organization with innovation.
Top Talent
The hiring process is genuinely extensive, and not to forget, time-consuming. Corporate communication can spare the company from a degree of hassle via referrals, brand ambassadors, and much more.
Internal marketing would fetch you the ideal requirements to hire the top talents. Employee recommendations and suggestions would lead the best of talent your way. Also, the costs of posting job ads would come down when employees act as the brand ambassadors and help you reach for the best talent.
Productivity
Corporate communication makes productivity achievable in a multitude of ways. Prompt communication leads to the ability to instantly address an issue and find solutions. Being open to experiences and putting out a word of wisdom and knowledge empowers employees. All such aspects lead to efficient collaboration and better productivity.
Corporate Communication is Now Digitalized
Executing corporate communication in the right way may get extremely difficult. And, this is when digital tools would be your lifesaver. You can come up with the best internal marketing strategies, but you would need the assistance of appropriate tools. Let us discuss some of the digital platforms that can help in internal marketing.
Video Conferencing
We have entered the era of the distributed workforce and video conferencing is the major support tool for any organization. Be it communicating with colleagues or collaborating on projects, video calling tools are highly impactful. Some of the best examples are Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts, and Microsoft Teams.
Tractional Communication
This is a substitute for video conferencing, where employees communicate via messages. Email and other software, such as Slack, would be great examples of this form of communication. Emails are majorly exchanged among employees to collaborate efficiently.
Social Communication
The above-mentioned internal marketing channels work well but can be limited. This is where social communication channels jump into the frame.
Some companies complement video calling or emails with social communication channels. Some others entirely substitute video calling and emails. This type of communication is highly engaging, i.e., it offers way more choices and options than emails or video calling.
Social communication channels are a fun way of engaging, working, and sharing stuff with the employees of the organization. For more informal corporate communications you can look at creating Discord servers.
Addressing Inefficiencies through Internal Marketing
We are well versed by now that corporate communication possesses the ability to battle crises, overcome cultural problems, and induce growth. People marketing covers multiple arenas and let us go through some of them.
Organized and Uniform Work Fashion
Deploy internal marketing ideas and keep your communications in line to make each workday fruitful. An internal communication strategy is a powerful tool; when employees are aware of the right communication measures, they would save a lot of time. The end result – extra time to focus on work.
With organized company communication, the management will be able to convey the right message, at the right time, to the right personnel. This ensures no one is cut off. And also, no extra time goes into the process of trying to retrieve the data.
Overcome Silos
Internal marketing helps overcome silos and induce a high level of collaboration among departments. This is essential and should be an adopted strategy because studies support such collaboration. Statistics claim that companies with better interdepartmental communication tend to ace the game of performance.
Transparent Work Culture
Companies deploying the measures of corporate communication portray their desire to be transparent. Surveys suggest that employees have expressed satisfaction with companies that are open with their strategies and goals. Additionally, studies claim that transparent high-level management opens more doors to success for both the company and employees.
Principals of Internal Marketing
Leaders can create a vision. However, it is when they live the vision with the employees that make the difference. Here are some of the components of an internal marketing program that can make an impact.
Choose Your Moment
During the tenure of its existence, a company would go through multiple turning points. We can pinpoint instances when there are fundamental challenges or changes as the turning point. It is in such instances that employees lack direction and may have a hard time coping with the situation. They either turn out extremely enthusiastic or happen to shrink their enthusiasm.
Management must therefore choose such turning points to their favor and launch internal branding campaigns. When done, managers will get the ideal opportunity to suppress any negativity and redirect it to the positive path. The chosen moment to a campaign is its momentum and managers must grab hold of it and enhance corporate communication.
Internal and External Marketing Go Hand in Hand
When we establish the essentials of internal marketing apart from external, we showcase its relevance. This does not mean internal marketing and external marketing are two separate entities. A message sent out to the clients or the audience is also the message that employees need to hear. It is when a barricade is placed between both types of communication that employees begin questioning the integrity of the organization.
When internal and external communication matches, it also uplifts the external marketing campaigns. Employees would know what to deliver and they are very likely to meet the customer’s expectations.
Consider Branding for Employees
The ultimate goal for internal as well as external marketing is the same, an emotional connection with the brand which creates a great experience. Branding for employees includes keeping the brand alive and designating an approach to work. It would give the employees motivation and a vision into how they need to pursue their job.
It is crucial to have a plan of execution, a professional branding campaign, inside the company. Management must come up with messages and explain their purpose to leave a long-lasting image on employees. Often, such a campaign follows the precise professional process, i.e., it includes research, planning, and execution.
The Role of Internal Marketing
The idea of an internal corporate communication strategy is better communication, it is that simple, to begin with. How vocal you are about your brand determines how employees would like to engage with it.
If there exist any such gaps, it indeed is time to redefine your internal communication standards. Here are some ways in which companies can overcome internal communication challenges.
- Alter top-down communication and induce inter-departmental communication
- Considering employees’ feedback and making alterations to the strategy
- Reaching out to all employees, irrespective of the work level, and establishing engagement
- Reviewing internal communications and performance to introduce changes, when required
The Advantages of Company Communication
Specifically, there are some benefits of internal marketing programs. This section contains the 3 most popular ones. Let us walk through them all:
- Awareness of Values and Goals – While a company is a promise maker, it is the employees that strive to ensure the promise made is kept. Corporate communication eliminates any gap which stops the flow of this amazing process of fulfilling a promise made. Employees well versed with the goals and the values of the company tend to carry it forth. They are also the pillar of branding.
- Better Connection – When internal marketing is rightfully executed, employees better connect with the products and services they are selling. The end result is obvious of course- satisfied stakeholders. Employees would better engage with their work and clients with the company’s offerings. The motivation that employees portray while selling the products would influence the clients and businesses will prosper walking in the path of positivity.
- The Essence of ‘Trust’ – A transparent relationship births a sense of trust within the employees. When gaps within departments are eliminated, trust and confidence, the foundations of a company’s success, prevail.
Frequently Asked Questions on Internal Corporate Communication
What is one benefit of internal storytelling?
Companies do not need to tell a story alone, they will have their employees as their brand ambassadors. Through internal marketing, a company conveys to its employees’ policies, branding, and mission. By making employees their brand ambassadors they can also bring down hiring costs and to a small extent, advertising.
What is internal marketing?
Branding is not limited to the clients, customers, and the audience of the company, but extends to the internal stakeholders as well. Internal marketing creates a neutral voice, a healthy work environment, and better productivity levels within the organization.
Is Internal Communication What’s Missing in Your Marketing Mix?
Corporate communication is not limited to a specific definition and is a broad term. The sole purpose of any form of communication/strategy that you follow is to ignite positivity and craft a brand. The corporate communication culture that you cultivate, speaks of your company’s brand identity.
Internal branding is crucial, as we have essentially established it. Socializing within the boundaries of the company would work wonders and keeping departments communicating constantly.
In conclusion, corporate communication breaks the ice and endorses engagement, keeps employees informed, and improves the brand image.
