Corporate Communications: Let the Sun Shine

“Let the sun shine” could have been the slogan for the The Conference Board’s 2018 Corporate Communications Conference, held June 26-27. More than 150 corporate communicators took home new ideas to effectively get their messages out. Here are a couple quick-hit concepts from our speakers from great companies like Hilton, BASF, Boeing, State Farm, Love’s Travel Stops, Mars, American Express, IBM, Aflac, Seattle City Light, UPS, Bank of America Merchant Services, DuPont, Bridge Consulting.

• Think about more than your corporate message Corporate communicators who perform well know that people (the audience) want to feel that you are serving them, not selling them. It is not just about your company. Know the perspective of your audience.
• Have a map Stop “random acts of marketing and communications.” Have a plan. Follow a plan. Provide context. Continually build on your message.
• Pull, don't just push Social media doesn’t just let you push out information. Thoughtfully done, it gathers information for the company. Example: A contest on favorite coffee flavors gave a retailer leads on what coffee to stock and sell.
• “Transparency is the new objectivity” This was just one of the good lessons about media and corporate communications from Bloomberg News Sustainability Editor Eric Roston.
• Strategically place executives in speech venues When senior executives are placed wisely in venues, and prepared well, new prospects and sales result. Lesson: Do not just send execs out; plan for real results from any event. Make your own luck. We heard examples of huge sales (real money) from well-placed (and well prepared) C-level executives.
• Build networks There is more than one network communicators need, and here's one of them. Communicators at one company built a network of “the smartest 50 people” in the company. "People who know,” and not a round-up of the likely suspects (read: executives). Why? To have a pragmatic network, spot trends, keep an ear to the ground—not get surprised. (Executives are often insulated and they do not have all the information a communicator needs.)
• Detour around the middleman Brand journalism sites can short-circuit the need to persuade news outlets to run your story. Go ahead, you publish it. Some guidance: Each brand journalism website should have an editorial policy to provide direction, define a personality, and maintain focus. (Check Longitudes from UPS)
• Multiply methods to communicate “Cascading” corporate communications cannot be the main way a company communicates. It is more than that now. No trickle-down messaging completely works.
• What bad news? Your company hasn’t been involved in some social controversy? Give it a couple of minutes. In our session “Navigating Sensitive Social and Political Issues” we discussed the need for companies to conduct an inherent risk assessment: What risks are unseen (for now), but in your business model? Assess and address those issues before they are brought to your attention in public.
• Communicators are businesspeople Finally, Robin Rotenberg, Chief Communications Officer from BASF, said communicators should speak up in their companies as business-people, not view themselves narrowly as communicators. Be a business adviser.

The last point was a thread for the whole conference. Communicators: Don't limit yourselves. Communicators have a duty to talk about more than communications. Communicators can catalyze openness, provide important alternative perspectives, open new doors for the company, and ensure that good ideas get heard. Communicators have a broad view of the company that few others have. Communicators can make sure that the sun can shine.