The three quotes below from well-known and respected
executives at FedEx, Cendant, and Dell show in concise terms, how important strategic
communication is to the success of a company.
I don’t know about you but I would not argue with a “shoot, move,
communicate” strategy and thus, am in full agreement with the findings of
Argenti, Howell, and Beck (2005) on the characterization of communication as
part of an organization’s overall strategy.
Without communication, both internally and externally, employees would
not know how to do their job, customers would not know which products are available,
and investors would not know about news within the business. Without a strategic approach to these
communications, the messages necessary to disseminate would not be clear and
actionable.
- “Shoot, move, communicate.” – T. Michael Glenn, CEO, FedEx (Argenti, Howell, & Beck, 2005, pg. 84).
- “Tell the truth. Tell it all. Tell it now.” – Henry Silverman, CEO, Cendant (Argenti, Howell, & Beck, 2005, pg. 86).
- “Dell Direct.” – Michael Dell, founder, Dell (Argenti, Howell, & Beck, 2005, pg. 85).
Kevin Rollins, CEO at Dell, states, “The job of a senior manager
is to determine which elements of the overall strategy you want to communicate
to each constituency” (Argenti, Howell, & Beck, 2005, pg. 86). He goes on
to state, “We break messages into pieces and try to give the right piece to the
right audience” (Argenti, Howell, & Beck, 2005, pg. 86). The communication
channel and message must be tailored to each individual constituency, however
the overall communications strategy much be cohesive in order to be
successful. This is where social media
comes into play as a channel through which to communicate to all or groups of constituencies
depending on content and strategy. Each “piece”
as Rollins describes it, is part of the overall IMC strategy which encompasses
advertising, marketing, strategy, communications, public relations, and
investor relations. All of those “pieces”
must work together to enhance the overall corporate strategy as any outliers
could damage relationships and ultimately sales and company success. T. Michael
Glenn, president and CEO of FedEx Services sums it up perfectly in that, “Communication
is at the center of everything. You can’t execute strategy if you can’t
communicate about it” (Argenti, Howell, & Beck, 2005 pg. 84).
In
reference to social media, the hard part is knowing which social media channels
to use for which communication strategies and constituencies. The infographic below, The CMO’s Guide to: The
Social Landscape, is a helpful resource for a CMO or CCO to determine which social
media outlet(s) to use for each communication objective.
Click here for a digital PDF of The Social Media Landscape.
As you come across the need for strategic communications in
your own work, keep in mind the five lessons in strategic communication according
to the findings of Argenti, Howell, and Beck (2005, pg. 88-89). They stress integrated communications, and
management experience and involvement in order to be successful in your communications
strategy.
- Senior managers must be involved.
- Communications must be integrated.
- Structural integration is not the only choice.
- Communications must have a long-term orientation.
- Top communicators must have broad general management skills. (Argenti, Howell & Beck, 2005, pg. 88-89).
References:
Argenti, P.A. Howell, R.A. & Beck, K.A. (2005). The Strategic Communication Imperative. MIT Sloan Management Review.
Retrieved February 3, 2014 from https://www.dartmouth.edu/~opa/communicators/fall08/reading/Sloan_MIT_Strat_Comm_Imp.pdf.
CMO.com. (2010). The CMO's Guide to: The Social Media Landscape. CMO.com. Retrieved February 3, 2014 from http://www.drewsmarketingminute.com/files/CMO-SOCIAL%20LANDSCAPE-R5.pdf.
CMO.com. (2010). The CMO's Guide to: The Social Media Landscape. CMO.com. Retrieved February 3, 2014 from http://www.drewsmarketingminute.com/files/CMO-SOCIAL%20LANDSCAPE-R5.pdf.
Meagan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for being timely with your post! The graphics and links do a great job drawing you in and the set up of the overall text is concise and easy to follow (greatly supporting your stance on the topic). The "Social Landscape" infographic is hard to read on the blog itself as the fonts are small, but your link to the PDF version allowed me to open and zoom so that I could see the information it provided. Your title is catchy and I cannot wait to see how the conversations grow!
Courtney
Meagan,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed that you began by discussing the different types of people that a company can use effective communication on. Most people realize that companies need to communicate effectively with customers but many overlook the internal communications with employees. It can be easy to forget the core things that make organizations tick, people. I also liked that the quotes you used all illustrated exactly what the author was trying to argue. The quotes all showed that many executives understand the importance of effective communication.
You also brought up a good point about knowing which kind of social media to use in different situations. Most of the time this is decided by both the content and demographics of the target audience. You also brought up that communications has to be a cohesive strategy. I am glad you brought this up because as we are learning in this course there are a seemingly endless number of places to post. Before this course I knew very little about blogging but after learning more about it, I realize how time intensive it can be to create meaningful content. Because of that I could see why these CEOs think about communications as much as they do. It is a big enough job to dedicate an entire position within a company to. Generating relevant content is hard enough, but creating content across several different forms of media and keeping the message consistent is an incredibly daunting task. I liked the consistency of the message in this post, which is the message that communications is important and at the center of every business.
Hi Ian,
DeleteI think we both agree that communication is key but also that content is key. To your point about content for marketing blogs, where do you think marketers can pull content from in order to keep engagement and interest level high? With social media sites and millions of blogs, it seems as though any given topic may be saturated so the difficult task is coming up with new topics. I've been thinking a lot about this myself so wanted to get your thoughts and ideas on content creation.
Thanks!
Meagan
Meagan,
ReplyDeleteThe subject of internal communications using social media is becoming more prominent everyday for organizations. According to a Bussiness2Community article, “internal interactions are pivotal when upholding the momentum of employee relationships and, ultimately, the profitability of a company” (Varney, 2014).
Where I work full-time, we do not utilize any social media for internal communications. I find this hard to believe, but there are no real internal communications efforts besides email and discussion boards. I believe we are missing out on a huge opportunity to bring “positive results that occur through employee interactions, such as a higher retention rate of staff and the creation of brand advocates who are passionate about their work” (Varney, 2014). I truly believe that if implemented strategically it would have a huge impact on the overall moral of the employees at my organization. Discussion boards are great, but in this day, it may not be enough. On the other hand, in education, you need to be weary of getting involved because of privacy issues. The other big concern is monitoring, who is in charge of this? As mentioned in the same article, I completely understand the fear of “ regulations and the release of sensitive data has meant that many companies have avoided external communications to occur without strict rules in place” (Varney, 2014). Do you know of any monitoring tactics that can be helpful to and organization?
How might your organization utilize social media internally? What platforms would enhance employee communications in your organization? I am not quite sure of what platforms to leverage in the education setting between faculty and staff.
References:
CMO Council. (2014). Direct marketing: facts and stats. Retrieved February 6, 2014, from CMO Council: http://www.cmocouncil.org/facts-stats-categories.php?category=direct-marketing
Varney, C. (2014, January 14). The role of social media in internal communications. Retrieved February 6, 2014, from Business 2 Community: http://www.business2community.com/social-media/role-social-media-internal-communications-0747961#!uAlp6
Hi Becky,
DeleteI love the subject of internal communications because, as your quote mentions, a good internal communications plan results in higher retention, more satisfied employees, and thus more satisfied customers. However, you are right in that the rise in social media usage inside and outside of companies open them up to a whole new realm of risks.
Ernst & Young, one of the "Big 4" accounting and audit firms, released a report on social media strategy, policy, and governance. They outline the biggest risks as potential employee leaks of information, criminal hacking, employee misuse of social media sites while at work, damage to company brand or reputation by employee posts, and a resulting loss of revenue from any or all of the above (Ernst & Young, 2012).
Ernst & Young (2012) recommends strategic listening programs that use real-time analytics that can pull out key conversations and that can also monitor conversion behavior like website visits and purchases as a result of social media interaction. Not surprisingly from an audit firm, they recommend ongoing social media audits of sanctioned or un-sanctioned activity by their employees. This audit could also assess the effectiveness of established social media company policies and room for improvement.
References:
Ernst & Young. (2012). Social media, strategy, policy, and governance. Ernst & Young. Retrieved February 7, 2014 from http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/Social_media_strategy_policy_and_governance/$File/Social_media_strategy_policy_governance.pdf.
Meagan,
DeleteHow would you implement these tactics and strategies into your organization? How could the organization collaborate with internal departments to establish a consistent IMC strategy? How will the rise in social media effect your targeted audience?
Hi Meagan,
ReplyDelete“Shoot, move, communicate.” (Argenti, Howell, & Beck, 2005, pg. 84) might be the most socially irresponsible quote that I have heard. To me, this basically says let's deliver a message to the masses, disseminate it across multiple platforms and media, then address the outcomes with the audiences as they happen.
I'm not sure that that strategy even makes sense from any type of marketing or PR initiative. Strategically, there will no consistency with message development, no target demographic and certainly no preparation for anyone monitoring and managing the consumer reactions from the platforms. Truthfully, any type of social content delivered via this method is sure to end up in crisis control management, which a good portion of companies are not staffed properly for.
It is rare that we see well branded organizations push out simultaneous initiatives containing different messaging. The reason for that being is because it is tactical to adhere to one message at a time, ensuring that an audience receives the intent of the communication without bombarding them from several different angles. Have you seen or heard of any organizations who duplicate efforts to try to maximize efforts, when in fact, end up hurting their own brand?
Nicely done!
References:
Argenti, P.A. Howell, R.A. & Beck, K.A. (2005). The Strategic Communication Imperative. MIT Sloan Management Review. Retrieved February 3, 2014 from https://www.dartmouth.edu/~opa/communicators/fall08/reading/Sloan_MIT_Strat_Comm_Imp.pdf.
Hi Brianna,
DeleteI agree that the "shoot, move, communicate" (Argenti, Howell, & Beck, 2005, pg. 84) strategy is a bit of a harsh one taken from military training but I took it to mean more that FedEx is aware that they need to communicate both internally and externally after every sharp move in order to keep constituencies updated and informed. I do think that communication strategy needs to be more proactive rather than reactive or else they will end up with a firestorm of issues.
To your point, I think it is good to be repetitive through different channels but only to an extent or else you risk oversaturation and annoyance. People choose to get their information from a wide variety of channels/resources so spreading out communications across multiple channels will reach the most people.
Thanks!
Meagan
References:
Argenti, P.A. Howell, R.A. & Beck, K.A. (2005). The Strategic Communication Imperative. MIT Sloan Management Review. Retrieved February 7, 2014 from https://www.dartmouth.edu/~opa/communicators/fall08/reading/Sloan_MIT_Strat_Comm_Imp.pdf.
Hi Meagan,
DeleteIn looking at some further research to try to undrstand "shoot, move, communicate" from a military standpoint, it appears to be a "detect, disrupt, and defend against the enemy and
immeasurably adds to its survivability and maneuverability" (The Black Vault, p.1). Inevitably, this appears to coorelate back to marketing and PR by means of crisis management.
From that prespective, the slogan makes sense. A social/marketing/PR professional must always be ready to put out fires caused by two-way engagement, inconsistent messaging and brand interference.
When thinking about social media, the idea is that it rewuires action or a reaction by its users in order to provoke discussions and feedback. Unlike typical and traditional media, the only reaction would be for the consumer to go out, visit the store and purchase the product or service. With the development of social media, people are now using peer recommendations greater than before, posting to receive feedback. This two-way engagement between consumers, not always the organization, can lead to consumers generating inconsistant messaging or causing a bad reputation for the organization. Consumers now lead conversations on social media and can interfere with an organizations communication strategy.
References:
The Black Vault, (2011). Army Field Manuals. Retrieved on February 7, 2014 from The Black Vault: http://www.theblackvault.com/searchKeyword.php?keyword=mp+manual
Hi Meagan
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I like the clean layout of your blog. It's easy to read and navigate. I also like the photo you used as a background, did you take that? I'd like to go there now to get out of this crazy winter weather!
I also liked the infographic you shared, and how it shares the levels of benefits for each platform. It does a great job at showing that you do truly need to engage your consumer in multiple places, as they each serve a different purpose. When you personally are looking for information on a company or brand, where do you usually turn?
I find it interesting that digg has the most benefits across the board. I am just starting to get into digg, have you used this platform at all? I'm curious to understand how the site helps with brand exposure. I'll have to do some "digging" (ugh, terrible pun but I couldn't resist!).
Great job!
Hi Sabrina,
DeleteI wish I took that picture but it was from one of the Blogger layouts! I could use a beach right now with this cold weather and snow!
I'm a bit old school and still turn straight to the company website when looking for basic information. What I do turn to social media for when researching a product is reviews. I think company social media sites are great for reviews and to see any recent issues before you purchase.
I have never actually used Digg but I believe it is a compilation of trending news stories. I'd be interested to see how brands use this platform for exposure but I would assume it operates similar to other sites in that companies can pay for their articles or news stories to show up at the top of the list.
Thanks!
Meagan
Hi Meagan,
DeleteMy primary source of information on a service business is Yelp. As an active user, I like supporting local businesses that go above and beyond. Anecdotally, I noticed my favorite nail salon had received some unfair and negative reviews, in my opinion. I decided to post a very positive comment, especially praising my favorite technician and why I felt she was the best in the business. Unfortunately, this effort has backfired – she is now the most requested technician and it’s almost impossible to get an appointment with her! She does make exceptions to get me in. However, I feel more connected to this thriving business, and appreciate the special treatment I receive on behalf of the two minutes it took me to write the review. Have you ever experienced anything like this?
Hi Meagan,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post. I love your use of the CEO 's quotes. I definitely saved The Social Media Landscape infographic as it is packed with very useful information for someone that might not be too familiar with certain social media platforms. I think so far everyone agrees with the CEO of FedEx's quote because that is the one I have seen consistently throughout this week's discussion. On the topic of strategy and communication his quote seems to put it all into perspective. You can't have one without the other. I too think it is very important to communicate with your target audience via the appropriate platform as well as using the same language they use. It is useful to know how your target communicates with each other so that the company knows how to effectively convey its message for the appropriate communication platform.
You also mention the "overall IMC strategy" in your post. Larry Percy touches on this in the Preface of his text 'Strategic Integrated Marketing Communications'. Percy states, "
...the principles of IMC can and should guide marketing communication planning and execution...At its heart, IMC is really all about planning, and what it takes to deliver a consistent and effective message. A consistent message especially in terms of visual feel, is what helps build positive associations in memory that are quickly and easily linked to the brand...Ensuring this will happen follows from effective strategic planning.
-Percy, 2008
Best,
Damaris
I really found your social landscape guide helpful. It really provides a great visual to support to channeling the message and tailoring it to target a specific audience. I like how the chart gives specific guidelines to how to better use each application. It's nice to see how these can work together. I am still struggling a bit terms of blog content and structuring, but your blog was very helpful.
ReplyDelete