What is Strategic Communication?
“Good communication is the bridge between confusion and clarity.” – Nat Turner
Strategic communication – a term that gets tossed around and used interchangeably with various others like public relations, media relations, and crisis communications, to name a few. Why is that the case? It truly is an umbrella term, or as American University so eloquently says, “a broader field that encompasses an organization’s internal communication and external communication…” (Shout out to our founder, Julie, who obtained a master’s degree at AU.)
Often — arguably in best case scenarios — strategic communication includes or is connected to public relations, brand identity, media relations, crisis communication, corporate social responsibility, human resources, and marketing, including content strategy, social media, advertising, and so on and so forth. It’s the birds-eye, big picture view of an organization or brand’s message, ensuring it’s consistent and coordinated, tailored to the right audience(s), and on the appropriate channels. No matter how much technology changes or advances, we know this holds true: effective communication is how a brand clearly builds trust, manages relationships, and conveys who they are and what they’re about; it is “the bridge between confusion and clarity,” as Nat Turner said.
Internal vs. External Strategic Communication
Breaking down strategic communication starts by splitting it into two: internal and external strategic communication. Yes, you should have plans for both! Why, though? Let’s not overcomplicate it — your audience isn’t the same, channels look a bit different, and the messaging may need to be adjusted in certain cases.
Internal strategic communication is how you engage with your employees; it supports building and maintaining company culture and reduces/minimizes internal confusion. This cannot be overstated — a consistent tone, message, and method of communication is essential for your team (don’t forget about them!).
Then, external strategic communication includes all of the methods you use to connect with your audience, your community, and/or stakeholders. This is your public relations, media relations, marketing and advertising, etc. If we’re being honest, this is the part that everyone in our industry loves to joke: it’s the hardest job that everyone thinks they know how to do. But here are the critical skills needed to be successful at strategic communication:
Strategic thinker and planner (both short-term and long-term)
Strong storyteller — it’s clear and resonates with the right audience
Understands/researches demographics
General understanding (or further research again) of human behavior and emotional intelligence
Literacy of various channels and platforms
Crisis Communication
This third communication category overlaps with internal and external communications. For both, a crisis communication plan is needed, but again, the receiving audience is different, the channels change, and the messaging is likely adjusted.
This area of communication is crucial for managing your reputation (both internally and externally) and determining what the message needs to be. It may seem a bit doom and gloom, but preparing for different situations helps define workflows, develop templates, and train key team members on what to do and what to say. How you respond in a crisis scenario can be the difference between protecting trust and fallout.
Altogether, strategic communication is any organization’s roadmap, with each push pin marking a subset and guidelines for internal and external communications. It allows you to set realistic goals for your brand and outlines the best path forward to communicate with clarity. Just like any good map, an effective strategic communication plan will connect these dots for consistency and understanding, while outlining clear detours when needed.