PRPOI Webinar : Crafting a career in Corporate Communications

Communications, over the years has evolved tremendously. In reality the change has been faster and profound in the last five years, in comparison to so many decades. And this change could be attributed to the advent of digital era and newer technologies.

A conversation with Sujit Patil, VP and Head Corporate Brand and Communications, Godrej Industries Limited and Associate Companies, gave immense insights into the world of a communicator on our PRPOI Live session.

Sharing key takeaways from the session that will help you craft a successful career in corporate communications.

Understanding the landscape:

There has been a wonderful paradigm shift for communications to gain a prominent place in the industry, and in the corporate boardrooms. Unarguably, it’s the best time to be in PR and communications, considering that you have in your hands everything that you need to communicate.

Today as a communication and a PR professional, the potential to impact the number of stakeholders – customers, advocates, employees, government, NGO’s, the academia – the evolution has been amazing in terms of touch points, the way one communicates and in terms of the enablers of communication. The change has given an impetus to different ways you communicate with your stake holders, with the multi-way communication platforms that have increased today the demography of communication.

Increasingly, we are witnessing there’s a focus on the impact of communication. Today we have an impact on say employee branding, an impact on sales, impact on stock market and stock valuations, the market caps of organization. Communications today is beyond just mere media relations, it’s about brands storytelling. The common thread that binds and the correct answer is we tell stories. We have moved from simply printing innumerable copies of newsletters, which took months earlier. To now putting together a newsletter in few days, with the help of technology.

People need to understand that align yourselves to the business goals and business objectives. Keep your eye on objective setting because this element is what assists in impactful measurement.

Evolving market needs, that are shaping communication teams:

PR if you see today is a great combination of earned media and earned social media. This has opened up a whole plethora of opportunities as well as the need for teams to enhance their skillset.

1. Data driven and research driven analysis and content creation: In current times, when the attention spans are less and you need to have snackable content and data is most important for that. So the capability of creating research driven narratives within the organization was important.
2. Building trust and authenticity in the minds of consumers has gone up. They want to only align themselves with brands which have a purpose, brands that are authentic in their communication strategies and believable.
3. Next came in Experiential Engagement: When people experience your products, they feel for it they touch and feel and they actually see then they create content which is more believable authentic for their followers.
4. The need for online reputation management. Gone are the days when there is a crisis and next day early morning in the newspaper you read them. Today information reaches probably before the crisis occurs, because the speed of delivery of negative is so high you need to be constantly listening and respond in an agile manner.

Essentials to upskill and build a career path:

What we do it’s just the thoughtful manner and in a manner which is impactful. It’s all about people, it’s all about being there on time, it’s all about writing well it’s all about you know being able to empathize with the customer or the stakeholders.

1. Functional as well as Behavioural aspect–an individual needs to have a huge level of empathy for teammates, for external stakeholders and for the organization. Because its all about collaboration and collaboration comes when you really understand
2. Understanding of branding -need to understand the nuances of branding, understand your competition and business understanding
3. Knowing employee demography– your target audience demography is something which really will help you communicate to them in an effective manner
4. Campaign planning– how do you holistically plan a campaign using your paid on earned media strategies, create a 360 capability in your minds to actually run these campaigns.
5. Design thinking– right design thinking is not only for architects or product developers, but for communicators to think and plan effectively
6. Search Engine Optimization – absolutely strategic in today’s digital world how can you actually figure out how it is getting measured
7. Understanding of finance– professionals coming into the field, need to brush up their skills
8. Content curation – you know content curation again is a trait for a corporate communication along with writing skills. One should be capable of doing blog posts, compile case studies, curating content using the phone camera, managing surveys

Changing role of a communicator and new competencies:

1. The Aligner – ensure alliance communication as a strategy to the business goal
2. The big picture painter – who are able to paint the bigger picture for a sales person or a marketing person or for any stakeholder
3. The community organizer – we are the ones who actually create communities of influencers or bloggers, of key opinion leaders and we need to ensure its done effectively
4. The advocacy scout – figuring out people who can talk for you and managing alliances we can make for brands
5. Social media coach – today more than ever leadership teams still need to catch on the ropes of social media. Same need-gap could probably exist at the grassroot level for other teams.
6. The innovator – who are the people who can actually scout for newer technologies to adopt them to actually enhance communications
7. The media storyteller – we’ve been telling stories always, just need to design them better, keeping in mind the markets and audiences

The above is by special arrangement via a collaboration with PRPOI