CORPORATE COMMUNICATION

Corporate communication is an essential aspect of communication, which needs to be

studied and put to use in all the corporate organization for greater efficiency at work.
Corporate communication collectively refers to the communication processes that are
meant for corporate or business purposes. Corporate communication refers to the
communication within corporate organization (internal communication) as well as the
communication between different corporate entities (external communication).
Corporate communication can make use of different types of mass media.

TYPES OF CORPORATE COMMUNICATION

Internal Management Communication

Internal corporate communication means the communication within a particular

company. Some of the commonly used tools for internal communication can include
business meetings, conferences, interviews, presentations or print media like brochures,
newsletters, memos, or business letters. Corporate communication is used to make
announcements, take decisions and in general share

Crisis communication

Crisis Communication is also sometimes considered a sub-specialty of the Business

Continuity area of modern business. The aim of crisis communication in this context is
to assist organizations to achieve continuity of critical business processes and
information flows under crisis, disaster or event driven circumstances.

Responding quickly, efficiently, effectively and in a premeditated way are the primary
objectives of an effective crisis communication strategy and/or solution. Harnessing
technology and people to ensure a rapid and co-ordinate response to a range of
potentially crippling scenarios distinguishes a well thought out and executed plan from
a poorly or ill-considered one. The inherent lag time in marshalling responses to a crisis
can result in considerable losses to company revenues, reputation as well as
substantially impacting on costs.
Effective crisis communication strategies will typically consider achieving most, if not
all, of the following objectives:

• Maintain connectivity
• Be readily accessible to the news media
• Show empathy for the people involved
• Allow distributed access
• Streamline communication processes

Marketing communication

Marketing Communications are messages and related media used to communicate with
a market. Marketing communications is the "promotion" part of the "Marketing Mix" or
the "four Ps": price, place, promotion, and product.

Marketing communications is focused on the product/produce/service as opposed to

corporate communications where the focus of communications work is the
company/enterprise itself. Marketing communications is primarily concerned with
demand generation, product/produce/service positioning while corporate
communications deal with issue management, mergers and acquisitions, litigation, etc.

The objective of Marketing Communication is:-

• Ensure uninterrupted audit trails

• Deliver high volume communications
• Support multi-channel communications
• Remove dependencies on paper based processes

External Corporate Communication

External corporate communication process includes communication of the corporate

organization with its current/potential investors, customers and other corporate entities.
The external corporate communication process includes elements like advertising,
marketing and public relations. The external communication is responsible for the way
the company portrays itself to the entire corporate world. Thus, external corporate
communication is instrumental in creating the brand image or brand identity. The
advertisement campaigns and promotional events can be included in external corporate
communication as well. Television ads, newspaper ads, radio jingles, promotional
events, or even business proposals, affiliation or partnership proposals are included in
external corporate communication.

Business Communication Barriers

There are six crunching barriers to business communication:

• Poor structure to the communication

• A weak delivery
• The use of the wrong medium to deliver the communication
• A mixed message
• The message is delivered to the wrong audience
• A distracting environment

Let's consider each of these barriers to business communication in turn...

Poor structure to the communication

• As mentioned in Essentials of Business Communication, the structure of a

communication is an essential factor in how well a business communication is
received by an audience.
• It doesn't matter whether that audience is an audience of one or one million, good
structure is essential if a communication is to be 'heard' amongst the advertising and
marketing 'noise' of today's business environment.
• So a poor structure to your message or delivery is therefore a major barrier to
effective communication.
•
•
•
•
• A weak delivery

It doesn't matter how important or impressive the subject of your communication is, if
you deliver it without any 'punch' you will not get as many people to take your desired
action as you would like.A weak delivery is like the very funny joke with the badly-told
punch line --- it is not as funny or as memorable as you remember the original to be.
Use of wrong Medium

You have to announce a temporary hold on non-essential stationery spending in your

department. How do you communicate this?

Believe it or not, I know of one company who were seriously considering holding a
major public meeting about this, with the department head having to get up in front of
the entire department in the staff restaurant and explain why her staff couldn't order
disposable fountain pens for a while.

I know of one group that were thinking of rolling out a small internal initiative via an
expensive multi-media cd-rom, one to be given to each member of staff.

In the first case a simple memo would have sufficed; in the second a simple
announcement on their intranet would equally have gotten the message across.

Similarly, an advertising campaign on local radio would be a highly ineffective way of

reaching the desired audience if the message was complex and really intended for a
narrow niche audience.

A mixed Message

It is very hard for an audience -- whether an audience of 1 or 1 million -- to understand

your communication if you unnecessarily obfuscate.

What?

If you deliberately, or otherwise, confuse them. A huge barrier to business

communication is the ability of 'business-speak' to confuse and alienate its audience.

It does this in two ways:

1. By using terms and phrases that are 'jargon', the meaning of which are possibly
recognized but probably not fully understood

2. By trying to 'save time/paper' by rolling several different communication messages

into one.
The Wrong Audience

Presenting your message to the wrong audience for your business communication is a
complete waste of your time and money.

A Distracting Environment

There's nothing worse than trying to communicate your message to a group of people
who cannot 'hear' you.

Whether their inability to 'hear' you is because of:

• Your voice not being strong enough

• Too many others talking in the room at the same time
• Police and ambulance sirens outside the venue
• Too many phone calls coming in to their office while they're trying to read
your memo
• Interruptions while they try to read your report
• Incoming emails keep popping up while they are reading your web-based
communication
• Their minds are full of other pressing matters.

The barriers to effective business communication are many, but with care and attention
the majority of them can be overcome.

The fewer the barriers, the greater the chance that your business communication will be
heard, understood and your MDA ('Most Desired Action' you wish them to take) will
actually occur.
CORPORATE COMMUNICATION AND
ADVERTISING

Corporate Communication is an essential part of today’s business strategy. This is the

21st century where every organization is trying to expand its scope and venture into
newer areas. So it is very necessary to communicate about your work, your product and
your services to the external public. All the big organizations that have tasted the fruit
of success have used corporate communication as the tool. Corporate communication
have helped them build their identity, their reputation, marked their presence in the
minds of the customers. The organization should understand the importance of
Corporate Communication in today’s scenario.

It is very important to understand that how Corporate Communication works?

Corporate Communication is well coordinated and well planned series of activities
necessary to highlight company’s products, services, annual reports, achievements,
social responsibility activities among the public. This knowledge is necessary to be
circulated among the internal employees too. The corporate communication helps in
building a long term image and identity in the eyes and minds of the customers,
business partners, share holders, stakeholders.

The Top Ten Advertising Mantras

Advertising not only results in tangible gains, but also intangible gains in the form of
publicity and goodwill. In the past, when Yellow Pages were the advertising solution
for all small and big retailers; today the web culture has taken over all traditional
methods. While some managers even took resort of internet banner ads, after a few days
of success, even that medium worn out. So, has been the story with the print medium. A
lot of managers employed the medium of print when it comes to advertising but the
results have rather remained cold.

Therefore, what will be the best resort for Advertising and Marketing especially for
small scale companies needs to be identified. Here there are the top ten low-cost
advertising methods which managers will find very useful.
1. Creating your own Website:

Today, when more and more people are turning internet savvy; for any company to
come into the public eye having a company’s website is a must. A research has put
forth that seventy percent of potential buyers’ first research about the product or service
on the internet before walking to a mall or showroom to buy the product or service. If
companies cannot invest money, then there are also free blogs and websites which offer
domain names as preferred. Also, remember to market your website or blog by
employing means of social media. Social media culture is on a rise, and publicizing
about your presence on such platforms can result in potential success.

2. Brand Tie-ups and Cross Promotions:

Hunt for companies that pitch to similar customer base and their product or service
could compliment with that of yours. This will result in sharing the customer base thus
widening the number of potential customers. Also, creating a marketing campaign on a
share basis could be mutually beneficial to both the companies.

3. Conduct Seminars over different Mediums:

Yes, seminars no longer connote that meetings have to take place in person. There are
different mediums over which such seminars can be held. Those which take place over
the internet are referred to as Webinars. This is a much cost effective way as all the
participants are attending the seminar from the convenience of their homes or offices.
Sites like YouTube are ideal for it as demonstrations can be featured over there.

4. Always keep that Eye Open for Cheap and Creative Mediums:

At times even the most expensive mediums fail to catch the attention of the potential
consumer or customer. Whereas at times, the advertisement copy is great to attract
customers, but the medium does not support the message and thereby is not able to
reach large number of people. Therefore, it is not just the advertisement but even the
medium which is most important. Both should be complimenting to each other.
Advertisements are usually viewed as interruption and people try to move away from
such channels. Therefore, let your advertisement come more as a surprise which will
evoke the person to pay attention to the advertisement.

5. Make Most of the Workforce:

The power of people is most important and the key driving factor for any business.
Motivate employees to spread the word. Print flyers and get them distributed. This will
increase the visibility of the brand on a small scale; but accompanied with the power of
word of mouth; it can play a significant deal. The only matter of concern with this
medium is that one cannot keep a control on the spread of message, as word of mouth is
like a twin-sided sword. It is equally risky as beneficial. Spread of message about
negative experiences will not be able to be filtered out.

6. Focusing on Mass Mediums like TV:

Although, mass mediums are an expensive affair; even then there are ways to fit the
medium in your budget. Cable television is an ally of the medium of Television
advertising which can be employed at low-costs. Cable Television also helps one to
focus on geographic targeting as it tends to local in nature. Apart from Cable TV, one
can even advertise on conventional TV by selecting the preferred zip code where you
want the advertising message to reach. A lot of times, cable operators possess the
demographic information of the subscribers which can further enable the advertiser to
safeguard their targeting parameters.

7. Practicing the System of Lead Generation and Maintaining a Regular Contact:

Increase the customer base by getting access to more and more people. One can go
about doing so by simply putting up a form on their official website and request the
visitor to leave their names and details on the website. This action can be incentivized
by providing them details of the upcoming sales well in advance. With the information
provided, the company can send the prospects direct-mailers from time to time, or to
show a concern, wish them via sms or e-mail on birthdays and anniversaries.

8. Strive to Improve the Database:

Database is a very crucial piece of record containing the important contact details and
other details of the existing as well as prospective clients. The larger the database, the
greater is your customer base or can potentially be. Therefore, maintaining these
records is very important, and not just maintaining but adding information to the
database frequently.

9. Publicizing and Spreading the Word:

One can publicize about their brand through means of press releases across the print
medium or even on the internet. One can also make use of Fcaebook, LindedIn and
other social networking sites by driving members to the page, and then to the website.
Spreading the word this way employs least amount of money and greater levels of
efficiency.

10. Keeping a Constant Check on Results:

Always keep a check on the results and the objectives set by you. This will ensure less
wastage of time and money, and the sooner you realize that a particular way os not
working out, the sooner you try out another resort.

CORPORATE COMMUNICATION AND MARKETING

Today’s businesses for achieving success should use email, social networks and mobile
marketing – the digital marketing mix to most effectively connect and communicate
with their current and prospective customers. How they work for the company is a big
question? Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, you tube
and Flicker – video and photo sharing websites, social bookmarking websites may not
necessarily increase leads, nor do they popularize the company but they provide an
opportunity, a platform to share information in a one to many format; extending their
brand reach and learn details about their audiences. On the other hand, the customers
get an access to search the company’s profile in detail and develop a proper
understanding before making a purchase. For both, social networking acts as a bridge
fostering trust and loyalty. These services are quick, prompt and cost effective.
Blogging and micro blogging go a step further by allowing companies to promote new
products, share news and stay connected. The customer is benefited by updated
knowledge about the products and services offered by the company. The blogs and
micro blogs increase brand visibility, improve search engine rankings and word – of –
marketing.
The smart phones brought by the major mobile manufacturers have enhanced chances
of increasing personal and business productivity. Enabling the user to surf net while on
move, send and receive communication and marketing messages, has led to higher
degree of relevance. Email and mobile marketing are considered to be important
marketing tools empowering the companies to instantly reach their customers wherever
they are.

Corporate and Customer suffer due to Miscommunication

Miscommunication by Tata Indicom

Posted-07-08-2010 by customer

“I am an user of tata Photon Plus.

I have a sincere complaint regarding the current month bill for my photon number, the
details which are as follows:
Tata Photon Number : 0924#######.
Account No : 906#######.

The current month bill is very inappropriate as per my knowledge. This

inappropriateness was due to some communication gap that has happened at the time of
purchasing this connection. As per the current plan( Night Plan 950), I have been told
that the night usage will be from 11 PM to 10 AM, which actually is not true. The
actual timings are from 11 PM to 7 AM. But as per the communication from the tata
indicom executives, I have been using my photon rigorously during the night times (11
PM to 10 AM). Because of such a issue, my bill amount was exceed by 1500 Rs.
Relating to the same, I have raised a complaint at customer care, the reference number
for which is 2270#####.”

• There is miscommunication between the seller and the customer.

• Both customer and business have to suffer due to this miscommunication.
• Customer was burdened by excess bill.
• Trust of the customer was broken.

Corporate Communication and brand management:

Reputations are overall assessments of organizations by their stakeholders. They are

aggregate perceptions by stakeholders of an organization’s ability to fulfill their
expectations, whether these stakeholders are interested in buying the company's
products, working for the company, or investing in the company's shares.

Importance of Corporate Image

Several factors have contributed to the increasing importance of corporate image in

recent years. For example, the business climate in the United States has become one of
environmental complexity and change. This has forced many business enterprises to
significantly alter their strategies to better compete and survive. The acceleration of
product life cycles is another vital dimension of the turbulent business environment.
Globalization has been still another catalyst in the rise of corporate image programs, as
companies have sought ways to spread their reputations to distant markets. A related
factor is that as a corporation expands its operations internationally, or even
domestically, through acquisitions, there is a danger that its
geographically dispersed business units will project dissimilar or contrary images to
the detriment of corporate synergy.

CORPORATE IMAGE AND COMMUNICATION

Corporate communication provides the link between corporate identity and corporate
image. It should be defined in the broadest possible sense, because companies
communicate identities in many different ways. Communication can include almost
anything the company does, from the way telephones are answered to the involvement
of company employees in community affairs. Some of the principal sources of
corporate communication include company and product names and logos, formal
statements (mission statements, credos, codes of ethics, annual reports, advertising
copy, and company slogans), and behavior during important events. These events
encompass scheduled events such as open houses and anniversary sales as well
as unscheduled events such as lawsuits or negative press coverage.

CONCLUSION

Corporate communication or the art of crafting and building brand identities and
corporate brands has been responsible for the worldwide success of American brands
such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, McDonald's, Wal-Mart, IBM, Microsoft, HP, Apple, Google,
General Electric and others. Corporate communication helps companies to shape and
mould corporate presence, identity and reputation in the minds of customers, important
stakeholders and other audiences. It is important for an organization to invest in
corporate communication initiatives to perpetuate its long-term corporate image and
brand identity.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:

1.McKay Matthew ,Davis Martha Messages: The Communication Skills

Book,Pages(23-67),Paperback-Publishers.

2.Agrenti Paul A: Corporate Communication ,Pages(45-67),Paperback-Publishers.

3.Goodman Micheal, B: Overview Corporate communication, Pages(78-123),

Pearson-Publishers.