December 12, 2017 at 10:45Missed opportunities for non-integrated communications
The topic with the integration of external and internal communications is not new, but there is still a lot of inertia. Only in 21 companies out of 100 * these types of communications are structurally integrated, and at HR conferences this is still referred to as a trend. At the same time, we all perfectly understand that the primary carrier of the brand is an employee. But right now, the amount of content is growing, but the quality is not so clear. For “historically”, “marketing sells, and HR spends”, personalities of managers and other corporate cultural studies.
* According to a survey by the Community of Internal Communicators in 2017
The main principle of integrated communications (IC) in companies is working with single sources, a coordinated approach and communication equality of all target audiences: customers, potential buyers, government, employees, potential employees. In this case, the company has a single manageable set of messages that are broadcast by professional communicators. Each for its own Central Asia, adapting other delights.
Rigid prioritization of CA often leads to communicative conflicts. Compete or ignore each other can HR department (= employees) and marketing department (= customers), HR department (= employees) and organizational development department (= employees), marketing department (= customers) and sales department (= customers) . All of them can give different meanings to one audience; not only in form, but often in content. Ideally, all communication processes of the company should have one head, and if several, then very friendly.
Example
This is an example of inconsistency in the work of external communications. And he is rather an exception. The most frequent “non-integration” of companies is HR and marketing communications. More about that.
On the one hand, historically,
very often the function of internal communications grows out of the HR function. Which, in principle, is logical: the internal audience is employees, and the personnel department works with the happiness of employees. Separately, HR lays down communications related to the brand of the employer, because this is about recruiting. Sometimes all this is combined into the structure of "HR communication".
And in a completely different direction, there are marketing communications that solve, roughly speaking, sales tasks, which logically leave the production and sales departments.
Accordingly, specialists hired for communication with a specific audience are hired in the departments, and in this form the “history” is being improved. And then everything rests on the inertia of large companies (usually large), for which structural changes are always resource-intensive projects with a variety of personal lobbies and traditions. And not every business leader is ready to stir up, in principle, working schemes.
In small companies, specialists in supporting functions are often multifunctional. And if at the first stage of the mailing for clients and employees one “well-writing” employee may well do, then the “history” is formed taking into account the spontaneous development of the business or the will of the management.
And on the other - there is no customer
The business value of HR is still from time to time disputed, so what about the function of communication. On the one hand, it is taken for granted, and on the other, it is incredibly difficult because it permeates all business layers of the company. In addition, the line between communication as a function of the company and personal skill is not always drawn. And she [the border] is really thin.
And, whatever one may say, the best customer for debugging such an end-to-end process is the head of the business. And he either does not see the value, or sees it as insignificant, or is confident in it, but does not see the person who can help him formulate a solution with all clear metrics. And this is understandable: being a “communication” deputy is a serious level of expertise at the level of the entire business.
As a rule, marketing communications are focused on sales tasks, therefore informing (inclusion, feedback, etc.) of employees about what coolness a company sells is done according to the residual principle. It is believed that the employee himself regularly monitors the external site and receives all the necessary information about the company's movement in the market, he downloads wonderful presentations and reports, he begins to talk about all this. But does a regular programmer regularly watch company news? 1 out of 10.
Example
HR communications see in their field exclusively an employee. Rarely - a former employee. More often (depending on the market) - a potential employee. And here a lot depends on the team. For example, the lack of marketing expertise may affect the quality of work with the employer's brand. In this case, a significant amount of information from which you can make excellent stories for external audiences remains inside the company or even inside HR departments.
Example
In the case of IR [integrated communications], information ceases to be split up at the entrance to different departments, and the publication filter no longer eliminates the fact that, as internal content, it can work for the brand of the employer or service.
What to do? Make friends, agree. To analyze whether changes in the company are possible “from below” - very often the business is open to the competent argumentation of changes and the “greed” for the sincere drive of the presenter. Go to the manual. Develop an information policy. To think how to unite as painlessly as possible. Allocate a single department of communication? Bring communications into marketing? Keep the previous structure, but work out the strategy together and implement it in the project teams? Structural options can be found in these speaker lists .
What can these changes give us?
1. Internal optimization of work
2. Improving the results of work
Example
If one team works with all audiences, the risks of such inconsistency are minimal. Yes, the team should have specialists with experience working in specific audiences or channels, but the center should be one. The leader is one. The ideologist is one. The original content is one. The content plan is one. The task of brand formation is one. Today Ivan Ivanov is an employee, tomorrow is a customer representative.
My text, by and large, is a call to see in a situation of separation of marketing and HR communications an excellent development zone. It is clear that each company will have its own.
But it is important to remember that every day the layer between corporate and external is thinning. An ideal internal portal is an external site with the ability to configure access levels. Confidentially? Or can it somehow work for our brand (give information, share knowledge, boast, relieve reputation tensions)? Integrated communications should answer such questions.
* According to a survey by the Community of Internal Communicators in 2017
The main principle of integrated communications (IC) in companies is working with single sources, a coordinated approach and communication equality of all target audiences: customers, potential buyers, government, employees, potential employees. In this case, the company has a single manageable set of messages that are broadcast by professional communicators. Each for its own Central Asia, adapting other delights.
Rigid prioritization of CA often leads to communicative conflicts. Compete or ignore each other can HR department (= employees) and marketing department (= customers), HR department (= employees) and organizational development department (= employees), marketing department (= customers) and sales department (= customers) . All of them can give different meanings to one audience; not only in form, but often in content. Ideally, all communication processes of the company should have one head, and if several, then very friendly.
Example
There are two departments in a large Moscow construction company: a sales department and a marketing department. The main message of the sales department - “The customer will buy what is” - is manifested, among other things, in person meetings with customers. At the same time, marketers follow their “marketing” line, and the entire external information campaign supports the idea of “We build houses that you need.” Yes, apartments are for sale, but the head of the marketing department changes once a year, not withstanding the pressure of the sales policy.
This is an example of inconsistency in the work of external communications. And he is rather an exception. The most frequent “non-integration” of companies is HR and marketing communications. More about that.
Why is it obvious but not done?
On the one hand, historically,
very often the function of internal communications grows out of the HR function. Which, in principle, is logical: the internal audience is employees, and the personnel department works with the happiness of employees. Separately, HR lays down communications related to the brand of the employer, because this is about recruiting. Sometimes all this is combined into the structure of "HR communication".
And in a completely different direction, there are marketing communications that solve, roughly speaking, sales tasks, which logically leave the production and sales departments.
Accordingly, specialists hired for communication with a specific audience are hired in the departments, and in this form the “history” is being improved. And then everything rests on the inertia of large companies (usually large), for which structural changes are always resource-intensive projects with a variety of personal lobbies and traditions. And not every business leader is ready to stir up, in principle, working schemes.
In small companies, specialists in supporting functions are often multifunctional. And if at the first stage of the mailing for clients and employees one “well-writing” employee may well do, then the “history” is formed taking into account the spontaneous development of the business or the will of the management.
And on the other - there is no customer
The business value of HR is still from time to time disputed, so what about the function of communication. On the one hand, it is taken for granted, and on the other, it is incredibly difficult because it permeates all business layers of the company. In addition, the line between communication as a function of the company and personal skill is not always drawn. And she [the border] is really thin.
And, whatever one may say, the best customer for debugging such an end-to-end process is the head of the business. And he either does not see the value, or sees it as insignificant, or is confident in it, but does not see the person who can help him formulate a solution with all clear metrics. And this is understandable: being a “communication” deputy is a serious level of expertise at the level of the entire business.
Non-integrated communications
As a rule, marketing communications are focused on sales tasks, therefore informing (inclusion, feedback, etc.) of employees about what coolness a company sells is done according to the residual principle. It is believed that the employee himself regularly monitors the external site and receives all the necessary information about the company's movement in the market, he downloads wonderful presentations and reports, he begins to talk about all this. But does a regular programmer regularly watch company news? 1 out of 10.
Example
From the most recognizable, diverse:
• “I do not know what my company is doing.”
• "Wow, they wrote there, if they knew what they really were."
• News on an external website in the "corporate life" section is updated every six months.
• The “unique selling proposition” of the employer's brand conflicts with marketing presentations.
• Activities for potential employees are not displayed in the external PR event plan.
• Hotline only works for customers and partners.
• Employees are not involved in marketing activities.
• Different levels of presentation materials for clients and employees.
• The internal event calendar is not an external PR tool.
• The company has two Facebook accounts.
• Marketing professional articles on Habrahabr ignored by HR
HR communications see in their field exclusively an employee. Rarely - a former employee. More often (depending on the market) - a potential employee. And here a lot depends on the team. For example, the lack of marketing expertise may affect the quality of work with the employer's brand. In this case, a significant amount of information from which you can make excellent stories for external audiences remains inside the company or even inside HR departments.
Example
HR internal information
• Company reviews based on a trial period or other assessment.
• Results of satisfaction survey and work plan based on results.
• Records from training, meetings, internal conferences.
• Annual / quarterly management reports.
• Expert opinions and the experts themselves.
• Invitations to internal vents.
• Career maps and stories, career advancement statistics.
• Domestic stocks / persons of interest to the city, potentially co-branded (for example, all currently popular healthy lifestyle movements).
How to use it externally
• Illustrate the openness of the company, growth statistics, production culture, quality of human capital.
• Support recommendation programs.
• Form an “educational field” around the company.
In the case of IR [integrated communications], information ceases to be split up at the entrance to different departments, and the publication filter no longer eliminates the fact that, as internal content, it can work for the brand of the employer or service.
Integrated communications
What to do? Make friends, agree. To analyze whether changes in the company are possible “from below” - very often the business is open to the competent argumentation of changes and the “greed” for the sincere drive of the presenter. Go to the manual. Develop an information policy. To think how to unite as painlessly as possible. Allocate a single department of communication? Bring communications into marketing? Keep the previous structure, but work out the strategy together and implement it in the project teams? Structural options can be found in these speaker lists .
What can these changes give us?
1. Internal optimization of work
- The cost of generating and publishing content is reduced.
- The problem of coordination between the communication departments of positions and tasks disappears.
- One center of competence is being formed (which means the most-most competent).
2. Improving the results of work
- The employee is systematically involved in external communications.
- The consistency of basic messages reduces the amount of information noise.
- Best communication practices scale to all audiences.
Example
In the news feed of the external site of one large IT company, news is published that a key partner of the company was bought by another large company. Mentioning brands is important for marketing, and for HR this is an occasion for unplanned conversations with employees who considered the risk of uncertainty in this news.
If one team works with all audiences, the risks of such inconsistency are minimal. Yes, the team should have specialists with experience working in specific audiences or channels, but the center should be one. The leader is one. The ideologist is one. The original content is one. The content plan is one. The task of brand formation is one. Today Ivan Ivanov is an employee, tomorrow is a customer representative.
Open mind
My text, by and large, is a call to see in a situation of separation of marketing and HR communications an excellent development zone. It is clear that each company will have its own.
But it is important to remember that every day the layer between corporate and external is thinning. An ideal internal portal is an external site with the ability to configure access levels. Confidentially? Or can it somehow work for our brand (give information, share knowledge, boast, relieve reputation tensions)? Integrated communications should answer such questions.