BMPR 422: CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS:

Contact hours: 42
Pre-requisites: public relations
Purpose: The course prepares the student with necessary public relations skills and knowledge to
effectively work in the corporate organizations as a PRO or a Communications Liaison.
Expected Learning Outcomes of the Course:
By the end of the course the learners should be able to:-
a) Describe the role of communication in the effective running and attainment of organizational
goals.
b) Write and develop communication strategies for various types of organizations.
c) Formulate corporate communication projects and describe the effective running of
communication portals, publications and other media in an organization.
Course Outline
WEEK TOPIC SUB TOPIC

Week 1 Introduction  Concepts of a communication strategy

Week 2 Organizational culture  Organizations and organizational culture

Week 3 Internal and external  Issues related to internal and external

communication in communication in organizations
organizations

Week 4 Types of corporate  Types of corporate communications i.e

communications corporate advertising, corporate PR

Week 5 Forms of media used in  Various forms of media

communication

CAT 1

Week 6 Analysis of communication in  Analysis of communication in corporate

corporate organizations organizations

Week 7 Reviews of case studies from  Positioning and reviews case studies from
Kenya Kenya

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Week 8 Reviews of case studies from  Positioning and reviews case studies from
Africa and the World Africa & the World

Week 9 Developing a communication  How to develop a communication strategy

strategy

CAT 2

Week 10 Writing a communication  Writing a communication strategy

strategy

Week 11 Role of PROs  Role of PROs

Week 12 Media relations.  Media relations.

Week 13&14 EXAMS

Teaching /  Lectures and tutorials; group discussion; demonstration; Individual

Learning assignment; Case studies
Methodologies:
Instructional  Projector; test books; design catalogues; computer laboratory; design
Materials and software; simulators
Equipment:
Course  Examination - 70%; Continuous Assessment Test (CATS) - 20%;
Assessment Assignments - 10%; Total - 100%
REFERENCE  Clow, Kenneth E., 2003.Integrated Advertising, Promotion and Marketing
BOOKS Communications, Prentice Hall of India Private Ltd, New Delhi,
 Hughes, G., 2005Marketing Communications,. Elsevier, Amsterdam,

Text  Yadin, D., 2001. Creative Marketing Communications, Kogan Page,

Books/Materials London,
for further
Reading:

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 COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

A communication strategy is a single, coherent narrative that describes

a communications solution to a problem or bundle of problems. Working at a strategic level, it
sets out: the nature of the problem or challenge and the key considerations in addressing it.

Working at a strategic level, it sets out:

o the nature of the problem or challenge

o the key considerations in addressing it
o the choices that have been made
o the key drivers of those decisions (crucially, insight into audiences)
o the resources required
o the stages to go through
o the evaluation criteria

A strategy differs from a plan in that it:

o considers the wider context

o tends to take a longer-term view
o avoids the detail of individual activities
A strategy provides answers to ‘what?’, ‘why?’ and ‘who?’, while a plan fills in more detail
around ‘when?’ and ‘how?’.

Strategies can be developed either at corporate level or to support individual policy or delivery
initiatives.

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 Why develop communication strategies?

If communication and marketing plans drive the delivery of campaigns and projects, is creating a
strategic overview an unnecessary burden? Well, like anything that we write, a strategy should
be seen from the perspective of those who will read it.

Communication strategies can:

o provide a link between business objectives and communications planning and delivery
o help explain to policy and delivery colleagues how communications will support departmental
objectives, and which strategic choices have been taken and why
o build common understanding of audiences and priorities across a communications division
o create continuity in communications activity over an extended period (especially when there is
high staff turnover)
o articulate objectives and measures of success when building a case for resources or evaluating
performance
o explore and mitigate communications risks

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Organizational culture includes an organization's expectations, experiences, philosophy, and

values that hold it together, and is expressed in its self-image, inner workings, interactions with
the outside world, and future expectations. It is based on shared attitudes, beliefs, customs, and
written and unwritten rules that have been developed over time and are considered valid.
Also called corporate culture, it's shown in
(1) the ways the organization conducts its business, treats its employees, customers, and the
wider community,

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(2) the extent to which freedom is allowed in decision making, developing new ideas, and
personal expression,
(3) how power and information flow through its hierarchy, and
(4) how committed employees are towards collective objectives.
It affects the organization's productivity and performance, and provides guidelines on
customer care and service, product quality and safety, attendance and punctuality,
and concern for the environment. It also extends to production-
methods, marketing and advertising practices, and to new product creation. Organizational
culture is unique for every organization and one of the hardest things to change
Organizations

An organization can also be referred to by other names e.g. an institution corporation or even a
company. Any organization can be defined as a group of structures coordinated by individuals or
teams which exist to fulfill particular objectives. Organizations can either be profit oriented or
non-profit oriented.

Organizational communication therefore refers to methods, systems and strategies that are used
to convey information and exchange ideas within an organization.

Organizations can largely be categorized as follows.

Parastatals- These are largely government owned enterprises. They exist for two reasons

Provide essential goods and services through government’s supervision

Generate essential revenue for government e.g. KTDA,NCPB

2. Educational organizations-these exist to provide training & learning to individuals & groups
e.g. schools, colleges, polytechnics & institutes, universities.

3. Religious organizations-provide spiritual services to the public e.g churches & church
institutions.

4. Relief/humanitarian organizations-Exist to provide voluntary humanitarian assistance

especially to persons and groups of persons that need particular strategic assistance e.g NGO’s.

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5. Business organizations-They exist for the sole purpose of making profit. They either trade in
goods or services. They can either be:

a) Sole proprietorships-owned by one person

b) Partnerships-owned by groups of people

c) Joint stock organizations- sell shares @stock exchange

d) Conglomerates-An organization offering many services e.g NMG

e) Multinationals-e.g Airlines, Time Warner Company that owns CNN,

Membership is usually structured as political parties. Some of them are structured as human
rights or advocacy groups.

Formal communication for organizations

Communication is used formally in all organizations as a tool for fulfilling its objectives.

Communication is the most critical instruments for the perpetuation of the official functions of
all organizations.

In every organization, formal communication is used for the following purposes

The administrative function of communication i.e. to coordinate the day to day running of the
organization, convey crucial information to employees and organizations publics/groups that the
organization interacts with.

To communicate administrative info in the organization e.g. appointments & dismissals,

promotions & dismissals, transfers & to announce meetings.

b) The advertising function of organizational communication-Involves formulating persuasive

messages to persuade the organization customers & prospective customers to buy or continue
buying the organizational goods or services.

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-Advertising communication can be formulated to be formulated through various channels
depending on the organizations preference e.g.

a) Radio adverts

b) News papers & magazines adverts

c) T.V adverts

d) Film ads

e) Bill board ads.

f) Internet ads

g) Alternative/Traditional media ads

X) Traditional/alternative media-Town crier

As organizational communications experts all info related to advertising that arises from your
organizations must be vetted to ensure that they have the following professional communication
attributes:

1) Selected channel or media - Must have the highest reach effectiveness.

2) The adverts must not contain any false info.

-Advertising info must be sensitive to the legal & ethical values of your target audience.

Preferably ads should be punctuated with graphical designs, artistry & figurative language so as
to attract attention & persuade target audiences.

The marketing function of organizational communication

This involves formulating information that is conveyed to strategic persons & audiences with the
aim of creating satisfaction with the org on a long term basis.

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Public relations functions of organizational communication

-Involves using communication for purposes of creating mutual understanding between an

organization & its publics such functions may include;

a)Publicity, customer relations, employer employee relations, media relations, financial relations,
community relations, social responsibility, crisis management etc

Organizational development function

-This involves using communication for purposes of enhancing organizations growth &
prosperity especially for development research i.e. having a progressive continuous and
systematic system for collection of crucial info within & without the organization that is used for
organizational decision making.

Within organizations, formal communication can be conducted in 3 ways

Downward communication

This happens when communications within the organization originates from management or
senior staff & is conveyed to subordinates or junior staff.

Methods used for downward communication within the organization include official letters,
meetings, briefings, email, telephone calls, memos, notices

2) Upward communication

This happens when subordinates or junior staff within the organization communicates with
management or senior staff

Methods used include-Official letters, reports, meetings & suggestion box

3)Horizontal/lateral communication-This happens when people at the same rank in a org

communicate to one another method used include phone calls, meetings, memos, reports, official
letters.

Informal communication within organization

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Informal communication can also be referred to as grapevine.

Informal communication is not used for officials functions of an organization but information
arising from the grape vine can be used in making important decisions in the organization.

Channel for conveying informal organizational communication include:

a) Gossip

b) Rumor

c) Heresy

d) Anonymous phone calls

e) Unconfirmed reports

f) Gutter press reports

g) Leaflets

Types of cooperate communications

Corporate advertising is a promotional strategy that is designed to not only interest consumers in
products and services offered by the company, but also to cultivate a positive reputation among
consumers and others within the business world. The focus of corporate advertising is on the
company itself, with the attention to the products produced by the corporation being a byproduct
of the advertising effort. This type of corporate marketing is often employed along with
advertising campaigns that are directly focused on the goods and services produced by the
company.

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The main function of corporate advertising is to generate and enhance a sense of confidence and
appeal among vendors and consumers. Depending on the exact nature of the corporate marketing
approach, the advertising may also be developed with an eye of enhancing the reputation of the
company among its peers in a community or within a given sector of the marketplace. In any
application, the idea is to build the most agreeable public image for the corporation as possible.

It is not unusual for a company to engage in corporate advertising as a means of dealing with
some incident or factor that has damaged the reputation of the company. Factors may include
unsubstantiated claims made about the business practices of the company, or some aspect of the
quality of the products produced by the corporation. Corporate marketing campaigns may also
help to restore consumer confidence when a takeover or merger involving the company takes
place. From this perspective, a well-crafted campaign is a powerful tool for use in damage
control situations, and may be capable or restoring confidence after the public perception of the
business has been tarnished in some manner.

While corporate advertising does include some mention of company products, the object of this
type of advertising is not directly aimed at generating sales. Instead, corporate ads focus on the
strength and reliability of the company as a whole, the integrity that the business employs in all
its business relationships, and how the company seeks to better the circumstances of the
geographic locations where it operates. As part of this process, it is not unusual for one or more
of the leading products to be mentioned, but there is usually no mention of pricing or upcoming
discounts of products found within corporate advertising campaigns. Those are left to product
advertising efforts that focus specifically on the goods produced for sale.

Corporate advertising

Larger corporations which tend to be more diverse use corporate advertising to establish a
coherent reputation out of a variety of activities, products and services. Controversial companies
like cigarette companies, oil companies and pharmaceuticals use corporate advertising to deal
with their image problems. A good corporate advertising can clarify and enhance a company’s
reputation.

In summary, companies use corporate advertising for three major reasons:

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 1. to increase sales
2. to create a stronger reputation
3. to recruit and retain employees

Objectives of corporate advertising

1. to create awareness about the existence of the company and purpose for which it was
established
2. to give it a recognizable identity
3. to give a sense of belonging to the employees and the internal publics
4. to project an image of the organization amongst the external publics as one which is
helping to ensure a fair distribution of vital but scarce commodity.

Corporate PR

Companies face a very real challenge in establishing a coherent perception in the minds of stakeholders.
This can be especially perplexing for large multinationals and corporations grown through extensive
mergers and acquisitions. But creating a strong corporate brand that speaks with one voice is worth every
bit of the effort. A company’s reputation, which reflects its capacity to show a human face to the world,
has become increasingly interdependent on its brands. Meanwhile, today’s business environment
demands open, honest and transparent communications. Building, sustaining, defending and advertising
companies’ corporate assets is the corporate PR . Our global solutions include award-winning consulting
and management capabilities in corporate advertising, corporate identity, corporate social responsibility
crisis and issues, financial communication, interactive, internal communications/change and public
affairs.

Analysis of communication in corporate organizations

Corporate Reputation

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Reputation is an important intangible asset for organizations of any kind. Reputation is the
general estimation in which a person is held by the public, or the state or situation of being held
in high esteem or, a specific characteristic or trait recognized to a person or thing: a reputation
for courtesy.
Weiss, Anderson, and Maclnnis (1999) defined reputation as the extent to a company is held in
high regard or esteem. Fombrun (1996) and Roberts and Dowling (2002) defined reputation as a
perceptual representation of a company’s past action and future prospects that describe the firm’s
overall appeal to all its key constituents when compared to other leading rivals. By simple
definition, reputation is the mindset of stakeholders toward the firm as it could be good or bad.

Advertising

Advertising has become one of the most important weapons for any organization in today’s
competitive environment. A hybrid from of advertising is common today. Advertising helps
firms to develop strategic positions that are differentiated from their competitors and that provide
them with a measure of goodwill from consumers and other stakeholders.

For the reason, the advertisement is a communication tool to keep an organization’s customers
well informed from time to time about the organization’s new products or service launch in the
market. Besides that, many companies have started using issue advertising to meet the challenges
of what was perceived as the antibusiness media. While managing a corporate reputation
involves many factors, research suggest that a company’s reputation can be established in the
public’s eye by the success or failure of their advertising choices.
Public Relations
Companies can build their meaningful PR through the different ways. For example, “The typical
public relations measurement focuses on counting clipping, circulation figures, and doing some
message analysis. Given the high proportion of public relations activities that is still focused on
media relations and publicity, media content analysis is one methodology or tool for evaluating
public relations. Media content analysis can provide valuable insights into what is likely to be on
the public agenda in the future.
PR is a necessary tool for corporates. To prove that, “Public relation (PR), the predecessor to

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the corporate communication function, grew out of necessity. Although corporations had no
specific strategy for communications, they often had to respond to external constituencies
whether they wanted to or not. For example, the Public
Relations Society of America‟s monthly broadsheet, Tactics, publishes how to and best practices
articles on a range of communication activities such as media relations, internal communication,
and web communication.

Corporate Social Responsibility

This is a concept that embraces responsible and ethical corporate behavior and recognizes that
this extends to corporate actions to the environment and to society, it is viewed by scholars and
executives as being most important for attaining good media coverage. They also see an
alignment, to a lesser extent, between CSR and business objectives such as increased sales and
an enhanced stock price.
In other words, CSR can lead to build a corporate reputation. Beside this, “companies are
increasingly often asked to demonstrate that their actions and policies meet various
predetermined social and ethical criteria. Doing so can help build reputations; failing to do so can
be a source of reputational risk.
CSR is a kind of competitive advantages of the company. To prove that, “Numerous prizes and
awards are given to companies each year, some of which focus on CSR. Therefore, CSR can lead
to attract public attention or lead to build a corporate reputation. “Much like Hollywood‟s
„Oscar‟, which are designed attract public attention to specific movies, so CSR awards draw
media attention to winning companies and create intangible benefits from CSR activities. More
and more researchers have realized that CSR is the most important factors to form corporate
reputation. “The developments depart from the more voluntary forms of CSR favored in the
USA and are having a significant effects on the reputation building strategies of global
companies in many countries.”

Relationship between Corporate Communication and Corporate Reputation

Quite a lot of studies confirm the expected benefits associated with good reputations. “Research
shows that reputation has an impact on the perception of the management style as well as on

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purchasing decisions. It attracts qualified staff and it deepens relationships, it guides investors
through investment decisions or builds trust. Reputation ultimately becomes an essential criterion
to differentiate between organizations. Since services, products or performances in general
increasingly resemble each other, reputation is a significant competitive factor, too. Although the
value of reputation has been widely discussed and analyzed for organizations, its positive impact
may be transferred to non-economic organizations as well. Therefore, a company acts to manage
its reputation. An entity with an unfavorable reputation may engage in actions that enhance its
reputation and even a company with a good reputation may engage in actions designed to
maintain and enhance its reputational effect. “Companies engage in the explicit reputation-
building activities such as advertising or public relations in order to improve their companies‟
reputation.” Communicating believable and consistent messages across all corporate platforms is
essential when building a strong corporate reputation and trust through media or other monitor.

STRATEGIES FOR ORGANIZATIONS

Much is said and written about strategic communication and communication planning. The
essential question is what can a communicator do in order to be considered a strategic
communicator? The short answer lies in the communication plan she develops. A good plan
embodies all the necessary components of strategic communication

Strategic communications helps an organization share a clearly defined message with everyone
involved with that organization -- internally and externally. It is an intentional process that looks
at what each audience within the group needs to hear from you. Learn how to write a strategic
communications plan so that your staff and customers not only stay informed, but stay engaged
as well.
1. Define your message.
There needs to be a clearly defined message you want to send during your strategic
communications campaign. Whatever that message is, keep it simple. Try to condense it into
a short phrase or sentence. This will be the big idea you keep coming back to. There are
several situations for which you need to define a message via a strategic communications
plan.

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  Reinforce a current idea. Help staff members connect with and support your
organization's vision and mission statement.
 Introduce an organizational change. Communicate the problem or challenge and its
planned solution.
 Integrate new leaders into the company by announcing them and creating multiple
opportunities for staff and customers to hear from them via one-on-one or departmental
meetings.
 Re-brand your organization. Give customers a new impression of what your company
stands for.

2. Analyze your target audiences.

Communication needs to be shaped to each audience in order to communicate clearly and
effectively. As you identify each group, perform an audience analysis to determine what
information they need to know. Look at basic demographic information, as well as personalities,
your relationship with them, and how your message will affect them.

 Your internal audience involves your staff members. However, you may need to define
messages even more specifically for different levels of staff: leaders, middle
management, and standard-level employees.
 External audiences include your clients, business partners, and the general public.
Though information may overlap, each audience will need a well-defined message.

2. Define your goal(s). Communication needs to be tailored to each group. Identify what
you would like each audience to do in response to your message. Some strategic
communications plans aim to raise awareness, while others are structured to bring about a
change in thought or behavior.

4. Explore communication outlets.

There are many options available to organizations. As you consider different outlets, there are
several things you will want to keep in mind.

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  Choose communication mediums your audiences will connect with. This might include
social media or an online video, both popular with younger generations. It might also
involve face-to-face communication, more popular with older crowds.
 Identify any current communication outlets. These provide a natural outlet to
communicate important information.
 Look at your budget. If you have a smaller budget for your communications plan,
consider using cost-effective mediums, like email and social media. If you have a larger
budget, you have more opportunities to utilize other options, like radio and television ads,
a direct mail campaign, or posters.
 Consider using multiple outlets for each audience. People tend to remember information
better if they receive it in various forms.

5. Create a time frame.

Decide when you will first share this message and how you will continue sharing it over the
course of weeks or months. Be intentional. Realize that this time frame is tentative and may need
to be modified as you implement your strategic communications plan.

 Consider how often you want your audiences to hear this message. Repetition helps them
understand the message and adopt it as their own.
 Recognize that change is a slow process. People's beliefs and actions will not change
overnight. Be realistic in your time frame and give people enough time to adjust to your
message.

6. Identify ways to get feedback.

Feedback is important throughout the entire strategic communication process. You want to make
sure your message is getting across clearly and that there are no misunderstandings. You also
want to see if your message is effective.

7. Get approval.

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After you have written a draft of your strategic communications plan based on all your research
and fitting the needs you devised, run it by anybody who needs to approve it, such as upper
leadership or board members. Accept feedback and suggestions, and continue re-writing until
you get a strategy everyone is comfortable with.

8. Implement the strategic communications plan.

Delegate responsibilities to different people on staff. Keep an eye on how your message is being
received. Adjust your plan as needed to make sure it is effective.

MEDIA RELATIONS

Media relations involves a company’s interactions with editors, reporters and journalists. The
media can be newspapers, radio, television and online. The goal is to communicate a client’s
newsworthy message, story or information. In media relations, a company may need only one
person to work with the media. A company can also choose to hire a team or work with outside
companies to fill the role.

Media relations specialists usually connect with the media world on a daily basis. Professionals
work to develop and design the media plans that can become a blueprint for what the company
hopes to accomplish at the local, national or international level. Business strategies are designed
to manage and create positive perceptions of the company.

As an effective media relations specialist, it is essential to work with, and not against, the media.
A strong relationship can provide to journalists, bloggers and content writers who may be eager
to hear what you have to say.

While an invisible line is drawn between public relations and media relations, professionals in
both fields have to be experts in mass communication to be successful. Trending information has
to anticipate well in advance, and it has to be quickly accessed.

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Everything has to be carried out in a way that places your company in a positive light.
Individuals should possess at least a bachelor’s degree in journalism or communications.
Extensive knowledge of the Internet and social media are additional skills to own.

STRATEGIES OF EFFECTIVE PUBLIC RELATIONS

Narrow down your audience

The first step to any successful public/media relations effort is to ask yourself one key question:
who am I trying to reach?

Are you hoping to spread the word to existing customers or generate new relationships? Are you
trying to connect with government agencies?

Decide who you want to speak to, why they're an important audience for you and what you hope
to gain by reaching them.

Get to know the people you want to reach

You need to know your audience inside and out, if you're going to reach them effectively
through public or media relations.

What do they read? Major daily newspapers? A certain section of the local paper? Industry-
specific trade publications, websites or blogs? Do they attend trade shows or are they members
of a certain organization (like a group for financial executives, etc.)?

From searching the Internet to browsing the magazine rack, you need to build a clear list of
publications and/or media that your audience turns to for information. And then you've got to
insert yourself in those media.

 Conducting market research

Learn more about market research, how it can improve your business decisions, and how
to conduct a market research campaign.

 Sales and customer relationship management

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 Looking to increase your sales and manage relationships with your customers and the
public? Learn how with these useful resources.

Decide what you need to say

Once you've established who your most important audiences are, it's time to decide what you're
going to say - and plan to say it well.

Whether you're trying to communicate a new product or service offering to potential customers,
or build credibility by sharing a strong point of view on a certain topic, you must clearly identify
your key messages before you talk them up.

Decide what story you want to tell. Then plan out the top three or five key messages that feed
that story. Think of a newspaper. Most articles are structured in the inverted pyramid style-most
important information right off the top, and supporting points to follow.

Once you know what story you're trying to tell and who you need to share it with, you've got to
determine the best way to communicate.

 Online marketing

Online marketing techniques like social networking, emailing and blogging are useful and
involve little to no direct costs.

Position yourself as an expert

Whatever story it is you want to tell, remember one thing: you already know the beginning,
middle and end.

You are a specialist in your own field and you have valuable information to share. Taking out an
advertisement in a major newspaper can create some buzz. But nothing compares to the third-
party credibility you gain when a trusted trade publication positions you as a specialist in front of
the very people you're trying to reach.

You know who you want to speak to, you know what you want to say and you know where
they're going to hear you.

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Make lists of journalists who cover your topic and specifically reach out to them to pitch your
story ideas. You need to make sure you're picking the right people for your story and that your
pitch stands out from the crowd. Make sure you have a clear idea, point of view and reasons why
this matters to the readership.

Contact editors of the publications that matter to you most and build relationships. Offer to
contribute articles on your key area, or opinion pieces on issues that matter to your industry or
sector. Get your name in print on pages where your audience will see you - even if it means a
simple Letter to the Editor.

Join organizations where your audience circulates and begin attending their networking events.
Simply making a connection and exchanging a business card at an event is a step in the right
direction.

Look for events that your audience will attend, and broach the organizers with ideas for content
you could present or lectures you could give. Prepare extensively and share your story.

The last word

Building your profile takes time, creativity and an in-depth knowledge of the people you want to
reach and the messages you want to share. If an audience continues to hear your name and
associates you with strong information, you'll be top-of-mind when they're in a decision-making
position.

In order for any Public Relations Campaign to be effective, you need to:

 Be focused — make sure you are contacting the right people instead of cold calling as
many people as you can. Improve the chances of getting your message heard rather than
having it thought of as spam.

 Be interesting — you are fighting for time and space, and the competition is fierce. Be
punchy, bold and intelligent.

 Be prepared — even the most seasoned executives still warm up before an interview, plan
their speech before they deliver it, and make notes on who they’re meeting at an event. Be

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 ready to make the most of every opportunity that comes along. The better prepared you
are, the more interest you will generate, and the more visible you will become.

 Be confident — You need to believe in your abilities and in your offerings, and project
that in your communications. By doing so, others will also have confidence in you.

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