Corporate Communication

Summary

The script discusses the symbiotic relationship between organizations and their communities, emphasizing the role of public relations in fostering this bond. It highlights the importance of trust, positive media coverage, and corporate social responsibility in shaping the corporate brand. The video also touches on engaging stakeholders, managing crises, and the unique considerations of financial communication in public relations.

Takeaways

• 🌿 The speaker confesses a love for nature documentaries, particularly those featuring symbiotic relationships in African wildlife.
• 🐘 An example of symbiosis mentioned is between hippos and birds, where birds help hippos by taking care of bugs and hippos provide protection to the birds.
• 🤝 The concept of symbiosis is drawn parallel to the relationship between an organization and the community it serves, emphasizing the importance of public relations in maintaining this relationship.
• 📢 The video focuses on corporate communication, especially external communication, and the role of public relations in fostering trust between an organization and its publics.
• 🔍 The balance of trust is achieved by having more positive news and impact outweigh the negative, which is a key goal of corporate communication.
• 👥 Corporate public relations involves identifying and engaging key stakeholders such as employees, investors, customers, and local community members.
• 📰 Effective media coverage is crucial for shaping the narrative around an organization and cultivating positive relationships within the community.
• 💡 Thought leadership opportunities are important for showcasing expertise and research that can benefit the community and enhance the organization's reputation.
• 🌐 Corporate social responsibility is key to developing and promoting a positive corporate brand that resonates with the values of the community and customers.
• 📈 Financial communication is a specialized area of public relations, especially for public companies, where clear communication with investors and the public is essential.
• 🌟 Consistency in branding and communication is crucial to establishing a clear identity and maintaining the trust of the organization's various publics.

Q & A

What is the speaker's personal interest mentioned in the script?

The speaker has a personal interest in nature documentaries, particularly those focused on Africa, and is fascinated by the symbiotic relationships between animals.

How does the speaker compare organizations to nature?

The speaker compares organizations to animals in nature by drawing a parallel between symbiotic relationships in nature and the relationship between an organization and the community it serves.

What is the role of public relations in maintaining the relationship between an organization and the community?

Public relations plays a crucial role in developing, maintaining, and ensuring the smoothness of the symbiotic relationship between an organization and the community it serves.

What is the primary focus of the video?

The primary focus of the video is to discuss corporate communication, with an emphasis on external communication, and the role of public relations in it.

How does corporate communication contribute to building trust within an organization?

Corporate communication contributes to building trust by creating more positive news, stories, and impacts than negative ones, ensuring that the positive outweighs the negative.

What are some of the specific functions of corporate public relations mentioned in the script?

Some specific functions of corporate public relations include identifying and engaging key stakeholders, securing effective media coverage, developing thought leadership opportunities, and promoting corporate brand through corporate social responsibility.

Why is it important for an organization to develop and promote a corporate brand?

Developing and promoting a corporate brand is important because it helps shape the public's perception of the organization, creating positive associations and trust.

What are some strategies for managing issues and crises in corporate public relations?

Strategies for managing issues and crises include being proactive in anticipating potential issues, developing a plan to address them, and being reactive and responsive when unexpected crises occur.

How does the speaker suggest approaching corporate branding?

The speaker suggests being specific in shaping the narrative of the brand, knowing the audience, being consistent in messaging, and leaning into the chosen brand identity.

What is the significance of financial communication in corporate public relations?

Financial communication is significant because it involves communicating financial information to stakeholders, which can affect investor relations and the public's perception of the organization's financial health and stewardship.

Why is it essential for public relations professionals to understand their audience?

Understanding the audience is essential for public relations professionals to tailor their communication strategies effectively, ensuring that the messaging resonates with the intended recipients.

What is the role of media in corporate communication?

Media plays a crucial role in corporate communication as they are gatekeepers of information and help shape the narrative around an organization, influencing public perception.

Outlines

00:00

🐘 Corporate Communication and Symbiosis

The speaker confesses their love for nature documentaries, particularly those about African wildlife, and uses the symbiotic relationship between hippos and birds as an analogy for the relationship between an organization and its community. They emphasize the importance of public relations in fostering this symbiosis through external communication, focusing on building trust through positive news and impact. The speaker outlines the role of corporate communication in maintaining this balance and highlights the need for positive interactions with various publics.

05:02

📢 Functions of Corporate Public Relations

This paragraph delves into the specific functions of corporate public relations, including identifying and engaging key stakeholders such as employees, investors, and customers. It discusses the importance of securing positive media coverage and developing thought leadership opportunities to showcase the organization's expertise and research. The speaker also touches on the role of corporate social responsibility in shaping the brand's image and how it can influence public perception. The paragraph concludes by mentioning the proactive and reactive aspects of managing issues and crises as part of corporate PR.

10:03

🏢 Corporate Branding and Social Responsibility

The focus of this paragraph is on corporate branding and the strategies organizations use to establish their identity and reputation. The speaker stresses the importance of consistency in brand messaging across different platforms and the need to understand the target audience, including internal stakeholders like employees. The paragraph also highlights the significance of corporate social responsibility in financial communications, emphasizing the need for transparency and the demonstration of good stewardship with resources to benefit the community.

15:04

💼 Financial Communication and Public Relations

In this final paragraph, the speaker discusses the unique challenges of financial communication in the corporate world, especially for publicly traded companies. They emphasize the importance of public relations in managing the narrative around financial matters and the need to maintain clear and active relationships with media outlets. The speaker also highlights the importance of investor relations, including having a plan for communicating financial information effectively. The paragraph concludes by reiterating the central theme of building and maintaining relationships as the key to successful public relations.

Keywords

💡Symbiosis

Symbiosis refers to a close and long-term interaction between two different species where both benefit. In the video, symbiosis is used as an analogy to describe the relationship between an organization and its community. The example of hippos and birds illustrates how each party benefits from the interaction: the hippos get bug control while the birds get protection. This concept is central to understanding the importance of positive corporate-community relations.

💡Public Relations

Public Relations (PR) is the practice of managing the spread of information between an individual or an organization and the public. It plays a crucial role in developing a positive image and maintaining a good relationship with the public. In the video, PR is highlighted as a key function in corporate communication, emphasizing its role in fostering the symbiotic relationship between an organization and its community.

💡Corporate Communication

Corporate Communication refers to the methods and strategies used by businesses to convey information to various stakeholders, including employees, customers, investors, and the media. The video primarily focuses on external communication, discussing how corporations interact with their surrounding communities and the role of PR in facilitating these interactions.

💡Trust

Trust is a fundamental aspect of any relationship, including those between organizations and their publics. The video emphasizes the importance of trust in corporate communication, suggesting that organizations should strive for a positive balance of trust by creating more positive news and impact than negative. Trust is built through positive interactions and is vital for an organization's reputation.

💡Stakeholders

Stakeholders are individuals or groups who have an interest or stake in an organization. The video mentions the need for corporate PR to identify and engage key stakeholders such as employees, investors, customers, and local community members. Engaging stakeholders positively is crucial for developing and maintaining beneficial relationships that support the organization's goals.

💡Media Coverage

Effective media coverage is essential for corporations to disseminate their message and塑造品牌形象. The video discusses the importance of securing positive media coverage and developing relationships with media outlets to shape the narrative around the organization. This helps in building trust and a positive image within the community.

💡Thought Leadership

Thought leadership in the corporate context refers to the role of experts or authoritative figures within an organization who influence public opinion and contribute to the industry's knowledge base. The video suggests that corporations should develop thought leadership opportunities to showcase their expertise and the positive impact they have on their community or industry.

💡Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a self-regulatory mechanism where a business monitors its own practices to ensure they are ethical and contribute positively to society and the environment. The video mentions that corporations should develop and promote their brand through CSR, demonstrating that they are not only profitable but also good stewards of the community and environment.

💡Branding

Branding is the process of creating a unique name and image for a product or company in the consumer's mind, mainly through advertising. The video discusses the importance of corporate branding and the need for organizations to be consistent in their messaging to establish a clear identity. A strong brand helps in building trust and recognition among consumers.

💡Financial Communication

Financial communication refers to the dissemination of financial information to various stakeholders, including investors and the public. The video points out that public relations professionals may be tasked with communicating financial information, emphasizing the need for clarity, transparency, and the consideration of public relations in financial disclosures.

💡Crisis Management

Crisis management is the process by which an organization deals with a sudden event that threatens to harm its reputation, such as a public scandal or an accident. The video briefly mentions the proactive approach of issue management and the reactive nature of crisis management, highlighting the role of PR in preparing for and responding to such events.

Highlights

Confession of love for nature documentaries and fascination with symbiosis in nature.

Example of symbiosis between hippos and birds, highlighting mutual benefits.

Comparison of symbiosis in nature to that between organizations and their communities.

The role of public relations in maintaining the symbiotic relationship between an organization and its community.

Importance of trust in corporate communication and how to achieve a positive balance.

The goal of corporate communication is to have more positive than negative news.

Functions of corporate public relations include identifying and engaging key stakeholders.

The necessity of securing effective and positive media coverage.

Developing thought leadership opportunities to showcase organizational expertise.

Promoting the corporate brand through corporate social responsibility.

The impact of corporate branding on public perception and trust.

Managing issues proactively and crises reactively in corporate PR.

The variety of focuses within corporate public relations and the potential for specialization.

Key elements for effective corporate branding, including consistency and knowing your audience.

The importance of financial communication in corporate public relations.

The significance of public relations for publicly traded companies.

The role of media in shaping narratives and the importance of maintaining clear relationships with them.

The need for a communication plan when dealing with investors.

The importance of corporate social responsibility in financial communications.

The centrality of relationships in corporate communication and public relations.

Transcripts

I have a bit of a confession for you.

I love those nature documentary TV shows, movies and things.

Anything to do with nature, especially African fascination with Africa.

I just love all those nature documentaries,

and one of the things I'm especially interested in is the

what's called symbiosis that exists between some of these animals.

Like you have these big hippos and these birds that live basically

on top of the hippos and around the hippos.

And they have this mutually beneficial relationship

that the birds help

take care of bugs and other things that would bother the hippo otherwise.

And the hippo provides protection and things for for the birds.

It's just this wonderful relationship between the hippo and the birds.

It's a good symbiotic relationship that benefits

both parties in the, you know, course of nature.

And in truth, though, organizations really aren't that different.

There exists a symbiosis between an organization

and the community in which it resides, in which it serves it.

And so public relations then has an important role to play

in the role of corporate communication, to help develop and maintain and,

you know, ensure the smoothness of that symbiotic relationship

between the organization and the community and the publics that it serves.

So in this video, we're

going to talk a little bit about corporate communication, and we're going to focus

primarily on external communication that will touch on internal.

But we have a separate video for employee relations and you can check it out.

But this is going to focus primarily on external communications.

But how this corporation organization works with the community around it,

how we communicate that, the importance of that and

and the role that public relations plays in that function.

So in truth,

corporate communication comes down to a really a very simple equation

sort of that or this sort of balancing act, if you want to think of it

that way, that basically, you know, trust is important for that organization.

It's important that the public be able to trust them.

Your customers trust you, your employees trust you, that that there exists

a level of trust between an organization and the various publics that it serves.

And so it's a really simple equation to get to that that sort of positive

balance of trust, you need more positive news

stories and more positive impact than you have negative.

You want the positive to outweigh the negative, in other words.

And that will then cause the trust to slide down

toward where you want it to be.

And, you know, these publics will have more trust in your organization.

So we want to both create circumstances where that's the case

and then also publicize those circumstances that would that would

kind of, you know, provide that positive impact in the community

and provide that positive sense of of

of trust and engender trust through that

those positive news mentions and positive relationship building

elements that exist between the organization and the community.

So if we look at the specific functions then of corporate public relations

and we think of corporate communication or corporate public relations,

whatever it might be called it, the organization

where you're working and it could be different

if you're in a nonprofit or in government agency,

you may be a public information officer or or whatever it is.

But, you know, basically we're talking about

any function of public relations that where you're sure that you were

the middle person between the organization

and the public and really publicizing what that organization is doing.

So some of the different functions,

though, may involve identifying and engaging key stakeholders.

This could be employees, it could be investors, it could be customers.

It could be just people who live nearby, physically live nearby,

wherever your organization is.

And there are lots of different stakeholders, as we've talked about

before, in public relations, that we have to be concerned with.

So we want to

identify those stakeholders first and then engage them in a positive way.

So that's a that's a function of corporate PR is to both identify and then engage

in some way those key stakeholders so that we develop those and cultivate

those positive relationships.

But we also want to secure effective media coverage and ideally effective,

positive media coverage.

Obviously, we want to we want to develop relationships

with people in the media and the different media outlets.

And so we can get our news out there when it's appropriate and and and so that

we can kind of shape the story and shape the narrative around our organization.

And it can cultivate those positive feelings as positive relationships

within the community through the kind of gatekeepers of the media.

So we need to secure effective media coverage.

We also want to be developing thought leadership opportunities.

So thought leadership is basically

anytime you can put somebody from an organization

who's an expert in something in front of a public crowd

that's thought leadership, in essence, or you can publicize some research

that you're doing that's going to benefit the community

or benefit, you know, your customers or whoever.

It's it's those types of things.

But so giving a speech, having your CEO or somebody

significant in the organization give a speech on their area of expertize

to a community group would be an example of thought, leadership

or publicizing some research that, you know, that can be publicized,

that's happening within your organization and the positive impact

that it's going to have on the community and on the world if, if,

if that's the case.

So but we want to develop these thought leadership opportunities

to not only put our people out in front of the world,

but also to develop their their world, the world of the people who

have relationships with our organization, you know, with our customers,

with our clients, with our community, with our peers.

We want to develop those thought leadership, exercise opportunities so that we can

demonstrate the quality of

our organization and the positive impact that our organization has.

And then in general, we've talked about corporate social responsibility

in other videos, but we need to develop and promote

corporate brand what we call corporate brand

through corporate and social responsibility, right?

So we want people to when they think of the brand

of our organization or our company, we want them to have positive thoughts.

We want to develop that positive brand. Right.

That that says that, you know, for example, when you think of Whole Foods,

just, you know, the first thing that comes to mind for

most people would be are many people would be okay.

It's nutritious. It's good for the environment.

It's good for it's good for us as people.

They're looking out for us.

And so they have a sort of that that's their brand that they're sort of

health conscious and and and concerned with the environment and things like that.

As opposed to you know, Amazon in some ways has a corporation

that says you can get what you want and you can get it quickly.

But their corporate brand is also taking a hit in recent years in terms of

they don't necessarily

treat their employees the way some people think they ought to.

Maybe their packaging is not so great for the environment.

And so when you're order and multiple things

and they come in six different boxes, gosh, what impact

can that really have when you have millions of people doing that,

you know, around the country, around the world or whatever?

So their corporate brand has taken a hit in recent years in terms of, yes,

they're efficient and they're large and they're cheaper, but

are they really good for the community or are they good for the environment,

good for their employees and so forth?

So so we need to focus on a corporate brand and develop

that corporate ran through corporate social responsibility.

So whether that's through organization,

what we're doing in our company, you know, we're making donations.

We're, we're being responsible in terms of the environment and things like that,

or whether it's through our employees supporting our employees, volunteer

efforts and and supporting them in their own organizations,

their pursuits and supporting their development or whatever it is.

However, we're doing that we want to develop our corporate brand

and promote that corporate brand through corporate social responsibility.

And and finally, the the sort of the last category

we're going to look at here is the public relations

in the corporate world, often times involves managing issues and crises.

This is something we'll get into in a in a later video here.

But the difference between these really is that managing issues is proactive,

trying to, you know, anticipate things that might be coming down the pike, ways

that things might be affected.

And so we're trying to manage those issues proactively and get in front of them,

head them off if we can.

But if not,

then get in front of them and determine how we're going to deal with those things

or crises which are more reactive.

They're not proactive.

Crises are things we don't see coming,

and they're issues that we have to respond to on the fly

a lot of times, and we have to respond quickly in order to be effective.

So in both of those areas, the public relations is involved in

managing both the issues and crises within an organization.

That's another function of corporate PR.

So so as you can see, public relations in the corporate world

takes on a lot of different focuses.

It's a lot of different areas.

There's a lot of different things in your hands and a lot of different

cookie jars when we're dealing with that, which some people find really exciting.

Other people find not as engaging.

They like to focus more on one thing or another.

And the larger the organization, the more likely you are going to have

the people that somebody's going to focus on.

Each one of these things, specifically for a smaller organization,

you might be responsible for all these things,

but if you're in a large organization, you

probably have more of a division of labor and you may be focusing more on

one of these things than than the others or a couple of these things,

just depending on the size of the organization

and the structure of that organization.

But but public relations could theoretically

be involved in in any of these tasks.

One of the things we mentioned was corporate branding.

So I want to take a minute

to look at corporate branding and and take a look what that looks like.

So some key elements for corporate branding.

You know, branding is just as we as

I mentioned before, branding is just establishing,

you know, the essentially the identity of your organization.

What are you going to be known for when people hear the name of your organization?

What's sort of the first thing that comes to mind

or the thing that they attach with your organization

and or attached to your organization most readily?

So when we think about corporate branding, it's a company.

It's important to keep a few things in mind.

First of all,

you want to pick a lead, you want to design, you want to

you want to shape that narrative of what your organization

is going to be known for, what is your brand?

And then be very specific

in picking a lane with, you know, how are you going to approach that?

Are you going to for social media, let's just take social media, for example.

Are you going to be the really engaging social media brand where

where you're kind of, you know, are you going to try and be funny

or are you going to try to engage people that way?

Or are you going to be really serious?

You're going to be factual, you're going to be whatever you know what

and how does that tie into your overall brand?

Is your brand that you're a fun organization,

that you have a fun product or service, or is it more serious?

You need to be a little more buttoned up

and and who need to pick a lane, decide what is our brand

and stick to

that, you know, stick to that unless we decide

to make a conscious change and then switch over to that other lane.

Right.

But but in other words, we want to stay in our lane

and make sure that everything we're doing

is really pointing back to that specific brand.

You also need to know your audience.

You need to know whether or not

your audience has a sense of humor or whether or not they're more serious or,

you know, whether they're going to be on social media,

whether they like something a little more traditional.

So we need to

when we're trying to establish our brand and promote that brand, we need to know

where our audience is going to be, where are we going to find our audience

and when we're thinking about audiences, don't forget about your internal audience.

Be sure that your employees understand what your brand is

as an organization that they're in line with that that they support that.

And and so we want to make sure that internally we have all of our ducks

in a row in terms of branding as well, that our employees are aware of our brand

and conscientious of that and, and following following the policies

and principles that we have in place in order to maintain that brand,

don't be afraid to lean into whatever it is.

You know, once you pick that lane, really lean into it.

If it's going to be

if you're going to be funny, be funny and be funny consistently.

Make sure that you're funny.

And not just that you think you're funny, but other people think you're funny.

If you're going to be serious, you're going to be, you know, the the you know,

whatever it is, whatever your brand is, lean into that really go for it.

Don't don't take half measures here.

When it comes to branding,

you really have to be all in on whatever your brand is going to be

and finally be consistent in that sort of

touching on what we've been talking about here.

But be consistent.

Don't try and constantly jump back and forth between funny and serious and

and all these other areas decide who you are as an organization.

Really lean into that and then be consistent with that,

have that follow through with all of your different

methods of communicating with your audiences and with your public.

Be consistent in who you establish that you are

and who you communicate to your public that you are.

What kind of last aspect of public relations in a corporate world

I want to look at real quick was just a financial communication.

And sometimes as public relations people, we are specifically tasks

tasked with communicating something related to finances regarding

that organization's, that's not uncommon at all, whether it's internal or external.

So financial communications can be a little different.

So a couple tips or points

that I wanted to throw out there for for financial communications.

First of all, a public company means public relations.

If you work for a and you're representing a publicly traded organization,

publicly traded company, or an organization

that claims to serve the public good, then you need some public relations.

You have a community that you're serving.

And so you need to be aware of that.

And so public relations are important.

Any time when you have a public company who's either

traded publicly or doing business publicly and engaging with customers publicly.

So if that's the case, you need to be aware of and consider

the public relations aspect of things for your organization.

I certainly do remember coming back to the Media Matters.

Media are the gatekeepers.

They share a lot of information, they control a lot of the narrative and

and help you develop that narrative and and get the word spread.

So media matters, it's important to develop relationships, people,

the media, and have clarity in what that relationship is.

Don't let those lines get blurry but keep a very clear.

But but but fiber relationship active with the different media outlets

that might affect your organization

also need to be focused with investors.

If this is a publicly traded company,

you're going to have investors you have to have a plan for

how am I going to communicate with investors about money?

What money are the sorry, what information are they entitled to?

What information would be good for them to know and support our case

and those types of things?

And and what's the best way for me to communicate that to them?

So lots of things to think about when we're dealing with investors as well.

And then finally, that keep you still beating a dead horse here.

But but corporate social responsibility,

people want to know that we're good stewards with the money

and not just using it wisely within the organization,

but we're using it in a way that benefits the community that's very important.

So anyway, engaging in corporate and social responsibility is an important

aspect of financial communications

for a public relations person as well.

In the end, we can see that this all really comes back

to relationships in developing relationships, building

relationships, cultivating relationships, maintaining relationships, and utilizing

those relationships to the best interests of the other party in the end yourself.

But the people really make up

these chains and the shame that leads you from

effective public relations to, you know,

to engagement with your community and your publics and things.

So the people aspect is very, very important,

whether those people are internal employees or whether they are

people in the public that you're serving.

We need to remember that these relationships depend on people,

organizations don't build relationships with one another,

not the buildings and things.

It's the people within those organizations that really develop those relationships.

If you have questions about corporate communication

or about anything else related to public relations, please feel free to email me.

I enjoy communicating with you there.

In the meantime, I hope that you have enjoyed

this overview of corporate communication

and have a better understanding of the different functions that are served

in that particular field, or a vein of public relations.