What is the value of strategic communications?
Sola Abulu defines Strategic Communications as “the purposeful use of communication by a business or organization to achieve its objectives in measurable terms.”
Communication professionals build a strategic communication plan based on thorough research, they communicate with a variety of audiences in a range of styles, they develop and edit content, and they assess where and how to communicate and how to evaluate the results of their work.
The above excerpt describes strategic communications as a practice which requires professionals to be intentional. To be purposeful and intentional about communicating strategically is to ensure that all the processes involved lead the business or organization towards achieving a desired goal or outcome.
Read this article to understand how you can apply strategic communications effectively in an organizational context.
A communications strategist examines the business or organization’s goals, its size, audience before drawing a communications plan with the available budget in such a way that it delivers the desired results and achieves a return on investment for the brand.
The communications expert reviews the organization, and then determines what communications solution will best help the organization achieve its objectives. We will examine the different professional practices that strategic communications draws upon below. Every brand has its peculiarities, so, strategic communications is not a one-size-fits-all approach. To align with the overall business strategy, the communications strategist needs to understand what the brand goals are.
Strategic Communications Draws Upon 4 Professional Practices.
- Public relations
According to Sola Abulu, “public relations focuses primarily on stakeholders, relationships, perceptions and actions.” When the communications plan for a business or organization requires a physical/face-to-face event, public relations comes into practice. Strategic communications ensures that it is purposeful based on the desired outcome and the target audience. So, the activities of such event will tie to the business or organizational outcome.
- Mass communication
Here, the print media, TV, and radio broadcast channels alongside several outdoor communications channels are used. Below is a typical instance of how strategic communications determine how mass communication can be effectively used for brands. If a national brand that serves all Nigerians across different demographics needs to rebrand, the professional practice to be adopted is mass communications. This is because they serve a wide variety of people. Retail banks and energy distribution companies fall into this category because they are used by the everyday Nigerian. Meanwhile, a private organization that offers educational technology services, for instance, does not need this approach.
- Advertising
Before an advertisement is placed, the communications strategist weighs the campaign and business scenario to ensure that the advertisement cost generates a good return on investment for the business or organization. This thinking is attributed to a theoretical knowledge of strategic communications. The decision to advertise must be strategic and well-thought through. Some of the things to consider in making this decision is the choice of platform, target audience, budget and a relatively predictable return on investment. It is a professional practice that can be used only if it will achieve the desired result. Political communications often require a lot of advertisement
- Organizational Communications:
Organizational communications includes employee communication, business communications, marketing communications, etc. To integrate strategic communications into organizational communications, the communications strategist identifies the business needs per time, desirable behaviours that needs to be nurtured among employees and metrics t measure behaviour change. The strategic communications framework informs the communications campaigns that are needed per time.
3 Strategic Steps in Communications
- Identify your goals: What do you want to achieve from a communications effort? This should be clearly stipulated and linked to the business outcome and overall strategy
- Identify your target audience: Before communicating, you must first identify an audience from the pool of people existing. A target audience is not only identified by social status. In identifying a target audience, communications professionals will also need to identify the age group, interest, mindset, etc. This articleexplains in details all you need to know about identifying a target audience.
- Know their external content: In this step, you find out relevant information on what happens in their environment and how that can influence what you communicate and when you communicate.
Do you have a goal to invest in yourself as a communications professional? Then you should enroll for ourStrategic Communications Course on our learning portal with pre-recorded professional training courses that you can access from anywhere in the world for a period of 6 weeks and get a CPDSO-Accredited Certificate upon completion with 6 CPD credits attributed. Register here if you are an intermediate-level communications leader, business owner or human resource manager/consultant.
You can also enroll for the LIVE class happening in February by registering your interest here.
Early bird registration is still ongoing. You can secure a 15% discount from January 28 – February 12, 2025
Full course prices apply from February 13, 2025 till enrolment closes on Feb 25, 2025.
See our 2025 course brochure
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Sola Abulu & Associates is a strategy and communications training and consulting firm focused on enabling businesses, brands and institutions to achieve their desired objectives through strategic communications and reputation management.