One of the things I commonly hear from clients who have decided their organisation needs a communication strategy is: “We’re doing all this great work, but no one knows about it.” And by “no one”, they’re also referring to their own employees. And while telling your organisation’s story to all your stakeholders can have many positive outcomes, thought needs to be given to how this is planned to maximise impact.

Aligning your organisation’s internal and external messaging and communications through a strategy can have many benefits for your company. Here are five of them:

 

You can align your communications to your company’s overall strategic vision.

Most companies have a strategic five-year plan, and aligning your communications to this is an important part of ensuring all your stakeholders understand what’s important to your company, what the priorities are, where you’re going and how you’re going to get there. A communications strategy ensures that all your communications, both internal and external, align with your company’s goals and values.

 

It ensures consistency and clarity.

A communication strategy sets out clear objectives explaining why your company communicates and what it’s trying to achieve, who the stakeholders/audiences are, how your company approaches communications, what tools it’s going to use to reach different audiences, and when/how often you should be communicating. The strategy then ensures your communications are clear and consistent across the organisation, preventing conflict or confusion.

 

It provides clear guidelines on how your company talks about itself.

Strategic communication plans set out key messages, including the language your company uses to describe the company itself and what it’s doing. Ensuring consistent language is used across all platforms is incredibly important in communicating the brand and vision of your organisation, but also enhancing reputation and trust. Key message decks should be developed for both proactive and reactive communication so that your company is prepared to speak about many different topics.

 

It builds trust with employees and drives their behaviour.

Communication strategies should have a strong focus on how and when your company communicates with its employees in a proactive and meaningful way. Messaging about what’s happening in the company, why decisions have been made and how they will affect employees are critical in employees feeling like they are a valued part of the company, which improves attraction and retention. When your people truly understand your organisation’s strategy and culture (thanks to your clear and purposeful communication), their everyday behaviours and ways of working are more likely to align with company goals.

 

It makes communicating more effective and efficient.

Communication strategies consider how to best leverage the work your company may already be doing to ensure content can be used across multiple platforms. As an example, many companies produce a newsletter, the content from which can be used as individual posts across the company’s social channels and rolled out over a period of time. A strategy will ensure the work is done once, but amplified across channels to reach more audiences and stakeholders.

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