Saying ‘strategy’ has become very common nowadays. We are talking about content marketing strategies, strategies for social networks, strategies for web positioning, etc. The abuse in the use of this word has caused it to be downplayed. It is currently used as a synonym for tactics, planning, among other terms, which would be more appropriate to describe certain types of documents. In this post I will talk about what strategic communication is and its importance within organizations.
Strategy, planning and tactics
Mario Benedetti’s famous poem helps us clearly distinguish the difference between “Tactics and strategy”. A tactic can be an action or a series of concrete actions. For its part, the strategy points to a larger goal. Thus, a communication strategy must have a main objective and a series of secondary objectives that can be grounded in programs, and these in tactics.
Jesper Falkheimer and Mats Heide, in their book What is strategic communication? distinguish between planned communication and strategic communication. While the former has a more tactical aspect, which seeks to attract consumers or influence people’s opinion; the second part of the very heart of an organization: its mission, vision and values, and how to convey the same message to different groups of people.
The authors say that in a changing world, in which the behavior of the markets is not very predictable, strong brands must be built that communicate their value through unified messages. The era of the Internet and social networks has represented a challenge for strategic communication, not only because of the production of messages but also because of the different interpretation that people can make of them.
Areas of strategic communication
Strategic communication has been divided into the following areas, whose boundaries are not always easy to distinguish:
Direction communication
Through this, leaders transmit authority and manage to convince their subordinates about the paths that the organization is going to take. However, it is not only the CEO’s task, but he must surround himself with specialists who advise him on this matter and who work in a coordinated manner at all levels: directors, managers and operations.
Marketing communication
It usually goes hand in hand with public relations communication but they are not the same thing. The first is oriented to the promotion and sale of products or services provided by the corporation. Sometimes, it derives in personal selling, it has to do with direct contact between seller and client.
Public relations communication
It is an instrument of marketing communication, and it is also called publicity, which, according to Philip Kotler, consists of “the non-personal stimulation of the demand for a product, service or business unit by publishing important commercial news about it in an advertising medium, or obtaining its appearance on radio, television or other media, not paid by the sponsor”. For example, mentions in newspapers, magazines, etc. which are paid by the company itself.
Organizational communication
It is aimed at various target audiences and is outside the field of marketing communication. Some examples are public administrations, investors, the human resources area, environmental communication, internal communication, among others.
In conclusion…
- Marketing communication is subordinate to strategic communication.
- Currently companies have contact with different target audiences through their own media (website, social networks, blogs, etc).
- Strategic communication helps us understand each other, build lasting relationships and maintain a common identity in a highly changing environment saturated with messages.
- When a brand is strong, there is a unified opinion about what it wants to convey.
- The lack of care in corporate communication can lead to a media crisis in a much more risky way than before, since now the messages can quickly go viral.
Do you need help with your corporate communication? We would love to advise you on this matter, contact us!
