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The term ‘corporate communications’ is something of a misnomer.
Corporations don’t communicate; people do.
Corporations don’t have ideas, make things or innovate, either; the individuals who work at them do.
People in business invest a lot of time and energy in making themselves sound ‘corporate.’ The understanding is that ‘corporate’ equals ‘respectable’ and ‘credible.’
In this way, corporate communications becomes a wall to hide behind, impersonal and undifferentiated. It might be safe, but it also shuts people out.
We see the role of corporate communications as the opposite: to enable the people who make up a business to communicate with other people in a way that they can relate to. To engage them.
Drop the Facade
This doesn’t mean abandoning formality or being unbusinesslike. It means stripping away the usual corporate word salad to become clear, concise and human.
Clarity, conciseness and humanity are important in nearly all situations but especially so when talking about the things that people really care about.
The things that are central to your reputation.
Such as the value that you bring to the table; what you stand for as a business; your ethical stance on X, Y and Z; your approach to diversity and inclusion; and what you are like to work for.
We understand that effective corporate communications starts with understanding the business, its people and its challenges. Getting into the weeds, so to speak.
Storytelling Matters
Whatever the sector, we see part of our role as behaving like journalists and asking difficult questions – ones that stakeholders will likely want to ask themselves. This is a valuable process, not least because it forces people to address important topics they might not previously have thought about.
Beyond that, effective corporate communications calls for a firm grasp of storytelling.
Components such as contrast, drama and levity are all as relevant in a ‘corporate’ context as they are in an entertainment one.
We have applied this understanding to good effect for a number of large deep tech companies that recognized the importance of showing their human side to hire the talent they will continue to need.
We told their stories from the perspective of people, not corporations. These weren’t just exercises in branding. They brought people in the door and helped build teams.
In corporate communications as in any other facet of communications, the results are what count. Our experience gives us the confidence to say that whether the goal is hiring and retention, executive presence building or building credibility in a new field of business, the un-corporate approach wins every time.