Opportunities for non-integrated communications
The topic of integrating 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 united, and at HR conferences this is still referred to as a trend. At the same time, we all 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 of the Communicator Community of Internal Communicators in 2017
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The basic principle of integrated communications (IC) in companies is working with common sources, a coordinated approach and communication equality of all target audiences: customers, potential buyers, the state, employees, potential employees. In this case, the company has a single managed set of messages, which are broadcast by professional communicators. Each is for its own Central Asian, adapting and other delights.
Hard prioritization of Central Asia often leads to communicative conflicts. HR-department (= employees) and marketing department (= clients), HR-department (= employees) and organizational development department (= employees), marketing department (= clients) and sales department (= clients) can compete or ignore each other . All of them can give different meanings to the same audience; not only in form, but often in content. Ideally, all the communication processes of the company should have one head, and if several, very friendly.
Example
This is an example of mismatch in the work of external communications. And he is rather an exception. The most frequent “non-integration” of companies is HR and marketing communications. Further - about it.
On the one hand, historically
Very often, the function of internal communications grows out of the HR function. That, in principle, is logical: the internal audience is employees, and with the happiness of the employees, the personnel department works. Separately in HR communications are lined up related to the employer's brand, because this is about recruiting. Sometimes it all comes together in the structure of "HR-communication".
And in a completely different direction there are marketing communications, which, roughly speaking, solve sales tasks that also logically leave the production and sales departments.
Accordingly, specialists harnessed to communicate with a certain audience are hired in the departments, and in this form the “history” is being improved. And then everything comes down to the inertia of large companies (as a rule, large ones), for which structural changes are always resource-intensive projects with a variety of personal lobbies and traditions. And not every business executive is ready to stir up, in principle, working schemes.
In small companies, however, specialists involved in supporting functions are often multifunctional. And if at the first stage of mailing for clients and employees one “well-writing” employee can do, then the “story” is formed taking into account the spontaneity of business development or the will of the management.
And on the other - there is no customer
The business value of personnel management is still occasionally becoming an object of controversy, so what can we say about the function of communication. On the one hand, it is self-evident, and on the other, it is incredibly difficult because it permeates all business layers of the company. In addition, the boundary 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 this end-to-end process is the business manager. But he either does not see the value, or sees it insignificant, or is confident in it, but does not see the person who can help him formulate a solution with all understandable metrics. And this is understandable: to be 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, so informing (switching on, feedback, etc.) of employees about what coolness a company sells is done on a residual basis. 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 tell about all this. But does a regular programmer watch company news regularly? 1 out of 10.
Example
HR communications see in their field only 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 within the company or even within the HR departments.
Example
In the case of IC [integrated communications], the information ceases to split up at the entrance to different departments, and the publication filter no longer eliminates what, being internal content, can work for the brand of the employer or service.
What to do? Make friends, negotiate. Analyze whether changes are possible in the company “from the bottom” - very often the business is open to a competent reasoning of changes and a “paddle” to the presenter's sincere drive. Go to the manual. Develop an information policy. To think how to unite as painlessly as possible. Select a single communication department? Bring communication to marketing? Leave the old structure, but jointly work out the strategy and implement it in project groups? Variants of structures can be found in these list of speakers .
What can these changes give us?
1. Internal work optimization
2. Improving performance
Example
If one team works with all audiences, the risks of such inconsistency are minimal. Yes, the team should have specialists who have experience in certain audiences or channels, but there should be one center. Head one. The ideologue is one. Source content is one. Content plan one. Brand formation task is one. Today Ivan Ivanov is an employee, tomorrow - a representative of the customer.
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 the corporate and the external becomes thinner. The ideal internal portal is an external site with the ability to customize access levels. Confidentially? Or can it somehow work on our brand (give information, share knowledge, boast, remove reputational strains)? Answering such questions should be just integrated communications.
* According to a survey of the Communicator Community of Internal Communicators in 2017
')
The basic principle of integrated communications (IC) in companies is working with common sources, a coordinated approach and communication equality of all target audiences: customers, potential buyers, the state, employees, potential employees. In this case, the company has a single managed set of messages, which are broadcast by professional communicators. Each is for its own Central Asian, adapting and other delights.
Hard prioritization of Central Asia often leads to communicative conflicts. HR-department (= employees) and marketing department (= clients), HR-department (= employees) and organizational development department (= employees), marketing department (= clients) and sales department (= clients) can compete or ignore each other . All of them can give different meanings to the same audience; not only in form, but often in content. Ideally, all the communication processes of the company should have one head, and if several, very friendly.
Example
In a large Moscow construction company there are two departments: the sales department and the marketing department. The main message of the sales department - “The customer will buy what is” - is manifested, including at face-to-face 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 sold, but the head of the marketing department changes with the frequency of once a year, not withstanding the pressure of sales policy.
This is an example of mismatch in the work of external communications. And he is rather an exception. The most frequent “non-integration” of companies is HR and marketing communications. Further - about it.
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. That, in principle, is logical: the internal audience is employees, and with the happiness of the employees, the personnel department works. Separately in HR communications are lined up related to the employer's brand, because this is about recruiting. Sometimes it all comes together in the structure of "HR-communication".
And in a completely different direction there are marketing communications, which, roughly speaking, solve sales tasks that also logically leave the production and sales departments.
Accordingly, specialists harnessed to communicate with a certain audience are hired in the departments, and in this form the “history” is being improved. And then everything comes down to the inertia of large companies (as a rule, large ones), for which structural changes are always resource-intensive projects with a variety of personal lobbies and traditions. And not every business executive is ready to stir up, in principle, working schemes.
In small companies, however, specialists involved in supporting functions are often multifunctional. And if at the first stage of mailing for clients and employees one “well-writing” employee can do, then the “story” is formed taking into account the spontaneity of business development or the will of the management.
And on the other - there is no customer
The business value of personnel management is still occasionally becoming an object of controversy, so what can we say about the function of communication. On the one hand, it is self-evident, and on the other, it is incredibly difficult because it permeates all business layers of the company. In addition, the boundary 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 this end-to-end process is the business manager. But he either does not see the value, or sees it insignificant, or is confident in it, but does not see the person who can help him formulate a solution with all understandable metrics. And this is understandable: to be 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, so informing (switching on, feedback, etc.) of employees about what coolness a company sells is done on a residual basis. 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 tell about all this. But does a regular programmer watch company news regularly? 1 out of 10.
Example
From the most recognizable, diversified:
• “I don’t know what my company does.”
• “Wow they wrote there, if they knew what they really were.”
• News on an external site in the section "corporate life" is updated every six months.
• The “unique selling proposition” of the employer's brand conflicts with marketing presentations.
• Events for potential employees are not displayed in the external PR event plan.
• The hotline only works for customers and partners.
• Employees are not involved in marketing activities.
• Different levels of presentation materials for customers and employees.
• The internal calendar of events is not an external PR tool.
• The company has two Facebook accounts.
• Habrahabr marketing and professional articles ignored by HR
HR communications see in their field only 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 within the company or even within the HR departments.
Example
HR inside information
• Reviews of the company following a trial period or other assessment.
• Results of a satisfaction survey and follow-up work plan.
• Records from training, meetings, internal conferences.
• Annual / quarterly management reports.
• Expert opinions and experts themselves.
• Invitations to internal vents.
• Career cards and history, statistics of career advancement.
• Domestic actions / persons, interesting to the city, potentially co-branded (for example, all popular HLS movements today).
How to use outside
• 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 IC [integrated communications], the information ceases to split up at the entrance to different departments, and the publication filter no longer eliminates what, being internal content, can work for the brand of the employer or service.
Integrated communications
What to do? Make friends, negotiate. Analyze whether changes are possible in the company “from the bottom” - very often the business is open to a competent reasoning of changes and a “paddle” to the presenter's sincere drive. Go to the manual. Develop an information policy. To think how to unite as painlessly as possible. Select a single communication department? Bring communication to marketing? Leave the old structure, but jointly work out the strategy and implement it in project groups? Variants of structures can be found in these list of speakers .
What can these changes give us?
1. Internal work optimization
- The cost of generating and publishing content is reduced.
- The problem of coordination between the communication departments of positions and tasks disappears.
- One competence center is being formed (and therefore the most competent).
2. Improving performance
- The employee is systematically involved in external communications.
- The consistency of basic messages reduces the amount of information noise.
- Best communication practices are scaled to all audiences.
Example
The news feed of the external site of a major IT company publishes news that the company's key partner has been bought by another major company. For marketing, mentioning brands is important, and for HR this becomes a reason 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 who have experience in certain audiences or channels, but there should be one center. Head one. The ideologue is one. Source content is one. Content plan one. Brand formation task is one. Today Ivan Ivanov is an employee, tomorrow - a representative of the customer.
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 the corporate and the external becomes thinner. The ideal internal portal is an external site with the ability to customize access levels. Confidentially? Or can it somehow work on our brand (give information, share knowledge, boast, remove reputational strains)? Answering such questions should be just integrated communications.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/344476/
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