How To Create Better Corporate Communications

Corporate organizations are more dispersed and fragmented than ever. So connecting the dots to create a more cohesive communication strategy has become a focal point for many big businesses. It's not hard to find studies positively linking corporate communication with employee engagement.

And to add to that the 2023 edition of the Edelman Future of Corporate Communications found that over 60% of businesses have flagged employee engagement as the most critical outcome for their communications strategy.

So, in summary?

If you want to ensure the best business outcomes; keeping employees engaged and improving productivity - its time to draw up (or improve) your corporate communications strategy.

What is a corporate communications strategy?

A corporate communication strategy is a plan for how the business communicates with employees, stakeholders and partners. While this might sound like it's a mostly one way internal communications channel, a good strategy can go both ways, giving employees the opportunity to have their voices heard.

Your corporate communications strategy can also include a broader approach to communicating with external stakeholders, customers and even the general public.

For most businesses, their internal communications usually revolves around company emails, departmental meetings, and occasional all-hands/town hall meetings, as well as using some direct messaging platforms or project management software for small business.

But how can you pull together all of these disparate tools and improve internal communication with your workforce?

Planning your internal communications

Most businesses already have an assortment of tools to connect, message, coordinate and share. But often these tools have been added to the comms stack less as part of an overall strategic approach and more as an evolving process of improving communication.

For many business managers, taking a step back to audit your existing tools and build a more strategic communication plan can yield better results.

The steps and processes involved in this include:

• Strategic objectives: Every corporate communication strategy must begin with clear, measurable objectives that support your business goals. This may include factors such as looking for ways to effectively communicate with different departments, or improving staff morale and reducing turnover or accidents.
• Audience analysis: Similar to mapping out the 'ideal customer profile', it's a good idea to understand the personas that make up your workforce. This way you can understand how best to communicate with them, what workplace issues affect them and when and where to communicate.
• Communication framework: Map out the structure of your information flow within the organization, including leadership communications, cross-departmental collaboration, and employee engagement initiatives. This should detail specific channels (like intranets, newsletters, town halls), frequency of communications, feedback mechanisms, and strategies for ensuring message consistency across all organizational levels.
• External communication channels: Your external communications also play a big role in many internal factors such as brand perception and even job satisfaction. Take into account your social media presence, customer communication platforms, marketing, and public relations efforts.
• The company voice: In corporate environments, it's easy for the communication to become very rigid and even inaccessible to huge sectors of your workforce. The company voice might not be the same internally as it is for external communications. Clarity and simplicity go a long way to improving communication - especially when it comes to important announcements or protocols.
• Content strategy and management: With so many options, having a clear plan for communication management can help to avoid overload, lost or conflicting messages. Draw up strategic initiatives for weekly, monthly and quarterly comms plans, and make sure to share relevant information in a timely and clear fashion.
• Evaluation strategy: Is your communication strategy landing? Do employees make use of work facilities, or has employee churn dropped? It can be hard to track how effective your internal communications are, but having a process to review employee engagement against certain metrics is a good way to check.
• Crisis communication protocols: Crises do happen. So have plans for managing communications during various types of crises, including scenario planning, response templates, emergency alert systems, spokesperson designation, and approval processes.

Read the full guide: The Internal Communication Strategy Guide.

Tips and tools to create a better communication strategy

Most large companies use at least five internal communication tools, including things like email or project management tools. So often it's not a problem of not enough tools, but ensuring the message is seen and understood, or even using the tools at all.

So if you're looking at creating a better and more successful communications strategy, here are our top tips.

1. Schedule your information delivery

Taco Tuesdays. End of week updates. Payday weekend. When people know what to expect and when, they're more receptive to that information.

This extends to your broader corporate communication strategy. If employees know that company updates are shared every Monday morning, or that performance reviews happen at the end of each quarter, they'll know to expect it and watch out for it. And in turn that information is more likely to be seen and digested.

2. Don't overcomplicate your communications

With so many tools and channels available, messages can easily get siloed in hidden Slack channels, or delivered via easily ignored email bulletins. In fact, workers spend an average of 3.2 hours a week trying to make sense of poor communication from their co-workers. (source)

So as part of a successful communication strategy, it pays to understand which is the easiest channel for people to access information, and how they are more likely to digest it.

This might sound simple, but in fact many of us are bombarded by content throughout the day - from our email inbox or desktop notifications, to our personal devices. This is one reason employees often resort to shadow IT; to manage communication in a way that's more familiar and less overwhelming.

With this in mind, delivering your important messages in a simple and engaging way, and in an accessible manner, is key.

This can include:

• Simple email updates with subject lines which summarise the contents
• Highlighted intranet posts
• Video presentations or meetings such
• Announcements on digital noticeboards (aka, information radiators)

3. Be direct and/or visual

People are 600% more likely to digest information visually rather than via text. In fact, studies have shown that over 60% of employees ignore work emails. And it can take employees more than 20 minutes to get back into their work routine after responding to an email.

There are many reasons why emails get ignored - from being too long or complicated, to simply getting lost in the inbox.

In short, if you need to get the message seen and acted on, email or a Teams channels isn't always the best option.

A direct form of communication, especially a visual or in-person format, is more likely to engage employees. Visual forms of communication can include:

• Video presentations (such as an all-hands/town hall meeting)
• In-person meetings or presentations
• Digital signage screen based displays

4. Create a two way channel

One way corporate communications is such a legacy approach. These days employees want to be heard and to be able to engage with their management. Both Gen-Z and Milennial employees value regular feedback and respond better to visual content. (source)

Whats more, a two way communication channel can help to improve the overall company culture and create a much more engaged workforce. If this sounds like a lot of effort, it doesn't actually need to be.

You don't need to create a direct line between leadership teams and workers, but you can use these processes:

• A monthly or weekly forum, often at the end of group meetings where staff members can have their say
• Quarterly or monthly appraisals between employees and line managers
• Regular online forums or surveys to collect feedback from team members

There are some interesting elements of workplace democracy which can be used to improve internal communication and company culture.

Check out our blog post about workplace democracy for more info.

5. Create a culture of transparency

Transparency can be seen as a buzzword, but is actually something that employees value, especially in a corporate environment. Many assume that transparency means sharing everything that happens or is happening across the business.

But actually, it just means being open and honest about what's happening and keeping people up to date with changes and processes.

This can mean things such as:

• Discussing company failures - as well as wins - in meetings
• Giving workers a say in changes that will affect them (Whether you act on these or not is a different story)
• Celebrating team and individual wins - and sharing them company wide
• Being open about how impending changes will affect workers
• Offering regular business updates

Using meetings, forums, email updates and visual company news such as intranets or digital signage displays are all strong plays when it comes to building a culture of transparency.

6. The right tools at the right time

When it comes to internal communications, it shouldn't be a blanket approach with the tools you use. Company wide announcements require a different delivery system to team or individual updates, although there can be a lot of crossover.

While there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to the best ways to communicate, some tools are more effective than others in specific situations.

Email

Email is often one of the most useful tools for both general and targeted messaging. However it can be easily ignored or messages missed, especially for teams who don't have access to a work device.

Messaging tools

Channels such as Slack or Teams are great for regular communication between departments and employees. Especially if your organization uses a lot of remote workers or multiple sites/locations. However, like email, it can be a blocker if you need to communicate with deskless workers.

Company wide meetings

The all-hands or town hall meeting is a great way to get important company news out to everyone - and to be sure that everyone has heard it. In multi-site locations, these are often done via a video presentation but can also be done as a series of in-person presentations too.

Departmental or team meetings

Helping smaller teams stay focused means having regular meetings. These are a perhaps the most effective way of sharing updates within a team setting.

Internal newsletters or intranet

Having a focal information platform such as an intranet or regular newsletter can be a great way to communicate effectively with your broader workforce. Again, they might need access to a work device, but these portals can also be accessed via personal devices too.

Digital signage displays

Screens in the office or workplace offer a cohesive and visible channel to share news and updates effectively. These screens can be also be an excellent tool to work deskless and frontline employees with important information.

Find out more about office digital signage.

How to make internal communications more engaging

One of the major challenges with any internal communications is to make sure that people pay attention and engage with the information. This can be as much about the presentation as the message being conveyed.

With a multi-site or global team, such as here at ScreenCloud, we know that content needs to be easy to digest and visible.

So to make sure that everyone is on the same page, we make sure our content follows these guidelines.

Deliver big news face to face

There is literally no substitute for a direct and vocal explanation, especially when it comes to big news. A company wide presentation means that everyone gets the news at the same time, and there is no excuse for not reading the email.

Regular communication

With so much happening in most big organizations, it can be easy to forget certain things. So visual reminders and updates can help to ensure that nothing gets forgotten or lost along the way. This could be messaging channel reminders, notice boards or even reminders in meetings.

Less is more

When trying to avoid communication overload, consider a cluttered noticeboard or overflowing inbox. People need to be able to find what they need easily. So, when it comes to useful information, keep messaging simple - especially when it comes to noticeboards or even emails.

Make it scannable

Another way to make sure information is digested readily is by making it easy to view and scannable. Bold text with short text summaries and eye-catching images can all help convey the essential points at a glance.

Uniting your internal communications with ScreenCloud

Digital signage isn't just another communication tool. It's the platform that unites all of your corporate communication, making it even more efficient and easy to roll out.

Big organizations use ScreenCloud across multiple fronts, from their head office, different locations and departments, to the logistics hubs and the loading bay.

Rather than being 'just another tool', ScreenCloud allows businesses to display everything from data and performance dashboards, company announcements, live streaming presentations, content from social media platforms and RSS feeds and much more. And, of course, corporate digital signage can also be used for your customer facing operations too.

And because digital signage screens are placed in highly visible locations, it makes it even easier to reach staff members with timely information.

If you're looking for a better way to communicate effectively, discover how ScreenCloud can help to level up your business communication.

Try ScreenCloud for free for 14 days - or book your demo today.