Corporate Communication is the method by which large and medium size companies communicate with customers, stakeholders and employees.
The reputation of a company and its products are built through the messages disseminated by the company to employees, customers and the public.
Without Communication A Company Does Not Exist
Corporate communication makes the company visible and gives its products an image and reputation a customer can identify with. Customers and employees also get to know - and feel good - about the company they are working for and doing business with.
Customers need to know about the company; its management; its method of manufacture; its mode of functioning, and the company’s philosophy and values. They need to know its products and services so that they can trust what the company stands for and confidently buy, consume and use their products.
Stakeholders -- investors, shareholders, partners and suppliers, employees, government, NGO’s, local community, industry and customers -- any individual or group which can affect or be affected by an organisations activities need to feel a sense of involvement with what the company is doing, the more they know, and the more open the communication with them, the more they trust, and feel involved and responsible for the company in which they have a stake.
Employees are most important to the organisation; without them the company cannot run. Both the management and employees must appreciate this interdependence. So, both management and employees at all levels must develop a sense of inclusion, a sense willing cooperation and a united pursuit of the company’s values and goals. This is done through two-way internal communications up and down the hierarchy
Corporate Communication Department
To communicate effectively, a company or corporate needs professionals who specialise in communications with both employees and the external audiences.
Corporate communicators need to understand and empathise with all the target audiences and know how to use Public Relations, marketing Communications and Internal communications, to express corporate identity, corporate culture and brand equity through internal and external media.
The company needs a department comprising professionals in both employee communications and in external communications. The tools used by both the specialities are dissimilar and require a different sensitivity in managing them.
The corporate communication department professional must be versatile and capable of writing a press release, an article on behalf of the top management for publication in the mass media, and must know what tone to adopt when writing a message for the MD to employees.
The corporate communication department is a source of information to journalists and vice versa from the media to the management. Corporate communication department is a guide and influence to top management about image management, it co-ordinates between the PR agency and the MD in creating and maintaining an image of the company.
It is the liaison between the top management and the marketing department in the preparation of product advertisements and marketing communications. The Corporate Communication department is custodian of the brand image, and briefs and supervises the production of product literature and advertising, co -ordinates with printers, AV makers, film producers, creative agencies so that the standards of the company and its corporate identity are followed.
In internal communications, the corporate communications department edits the house journal, newsletter, email messages from the top management which have to be vetted and rewritten, notice boards have to be kept busy and the intranet has to be updated enough for two way communication between management and employees to maintain morale and to further their identification and purpose with the company.
The corporate communication department works along with and under the overall direction of the Managing director in providing policies and guidelines in corporate image, corporate identity and corporate culture. The Corporate communication department works closely with HR in inculcating corporate culture and two-way communication in the company through internal/employee communications. The corporate communication department also works with the marketing department on marketing communications and also with the finance department in disseminating relevant financial information.
A corporate communication department is as essential to a company as Finance and HR especially in a company which has a large number of employees comprising, workers, managers, marketing and sales people who are located in several different units in diverse areas spanning a range of states and countries.
