Smoke Signal, A Public Relations Podcast - A Public Relations Podcast: Smoke Signal Episode 31 - A window of opportunity: The future of corporate communications with Geren Raywood

A Public Relations Podcast: Smoke Signal Episode 31 - A window of opportunity: The future of corporate communications with Geren Raywood

12/09/21 • 44 min

Smoke Signal, A Public Relations Podcast

The global pandemic has fundamentally reshaped the communication profession, with communications becoming more materially important to the C-suite than ever before. So, as we look ahead to 2022, what does this mean for the role of corporate communicators?

Research from Edelman in the US looks at exactly this question. The report – The Future of Corporate Communications – was based on a survey of over 200 Chief Communication Officers across the US. In this episode, I am joined by co-author Geren Raywood, who gives us her take on some of the key opportunities, and challenges, facing communication professionals in the year ahead.

On the role of Comms today: The strategic positioning of corporate communications within the organisation has fundamentally changed. The pandemic pushed the discipline forward in the way that any good crisis does - communicators had to be in the room to be able to help the c-suite to help maintain stakeholder engagement and brand reputation through the global pandemic. It provided a lot of opportunities to elevate the role of communications.

On employee engagement: Employee communication has moved way up the agenda and this is not just a passing fad. The underlying issue is the social contract between employer and employee is changing... the fundamental expectation that employees have for the work experience, how an organisation treats them and how an organisation engages with the outside world is changing and the power dynamic is shifting.

On organisations taking a view on societal issues: It is here to stay. 73% of CCOs say societal issues have changed their communication agenda in the past 12 months. That is huge.

On measurement: There is increasing expectation from the business to prove results. Communicators are moving from counting the volume of communication or basic channel performance to measuring the impact of communication on behaviour. Are they moving audiences – whether external or internal – to do a certain action?

On the role of the communicator: There’s been an expansion from just media relations or internal comms skills to teams needing to have advanced digital, advanced multimedia, brand PR, and increasingly today, data and analytics skills – the demand for communication has never been stronger.

On CommsTech: The first challenge of CommsTech is defining CommsTech - The tools, tech and data that allow communicators to precisely target, measure and shape perceptions and behaviour at the individual level... Using AI, analytics and Natural Language Processing to mine insights and then apply those insights into communication strategy to reach an audience where they are.

On the opportunity in 2022: The pandemic, for all its hardship and tragedy, has created this moment for communication to take centre stage in the organisation and claim its position as fundamental to business performance and business success. The number one item on the agenda in the coming year is not to lose that momentum – how do you institutionalise those changes made during the pandemic.

On organisations taking a view on societal issues: It is here to stay. 73% of CCOs say societal issues have changed their communication agenda in the past 12 months. That is huge.

Previous Episode

A Public Relations Podcast: Smoke Signal Episode 30 - Measurement Month: A golden age for PR M&E with Professor Tom Watson

In this episode I speak with Tom Watson who is both an academic, currently emeritus professor in the Faculty of Media & Communication at Bournemouth University in England, and an esteemed author, writing about measurement and evaluation of communications for the past 30 years, including being co-author of three editions of the seminal textbook Evaluating Public Relations.

Tom takes us back to the origins of PR measurement and evaluation; way back in fact to the first President of the United States, George Washington, who wanted to know what people thought of him – not too different to the goal of every politician today.

Tom describes the global pandemic as the biggest ever communication measurement and evaluation scenario ever –the greatest data collection on behaviour change and attitudes we have ever seen. In many ways a golden age for communication measurement and evaluation because the outcome of communication has become so vitally important.

Communication professionals are very good at words, narrative, creation of stories but in Tom’s words, we have to grow up and become adept handlers of data how to gather it, how to process it, and how to express it.

“Gather the data anyway you can because any data is better than guesswork.”

Tom points practitioners in the direction of a German Model called Communication Controlling which has at its core a goal to show the business value of communications – what was the impact on the strategic and financial targets of the organisation. To this end, Tom warns practitioners off using the term ROI, referring his research with Ansgar Zerfass -when management talk about ROI they are talking about return on employed capital, when communications talk about ROI we are talking to intangibles that can’t be added to the balance sheet. Even if we have one number – an AVE, for example, (which Tom describes as being a classic example of the statement of easy, simple and wrong) – it isn’t an amount that actually exists.

Tom puts it simply - the idea of one metric is not reality. We have to have a portfolio of measurements – being both tangible and tangibles.

This is the latest in a series of podcasts released during Measurement Month. Catch the other podcasts on this blog, on iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Next Episode

A Public Relations Podcast: Smoke Signal Episode 32 - Journalism, Media, and Technology Trends and Predictions 2022

PR and journalism have a long and deep symbiotic relationship. So in this first episode of Smoke Signal for 2022 I thought it timely to take a deep dive into the current state of journalism and predictions on how the media industry will continue to evolve in the year ahead.

The past two years has seen news media rise in importance and relevance as audiences turn to trusted sources for health and economic information. As we look forward to 2022 the question becomes what’s next?

Senior Research Associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Nic Newman has studied trends in media and journalism for over a decade. He has just released his latest research paper, Journalism, Media, and Technology Trends and Predictions 2022 which looks at the state of the profession and the key challenges, and opportunities, for the year ahead.

The research encompassed 246 senior editors and publishing leaders from over 52 countries, including a number of senior leaders in Australia. Here’s a few highlights from the report that we discussed in this podcast.

Revenue models continue to evolve

In recent years revenue models have substantially changed. Where it used to be advertiser-focused it has shifted to be much more reader-lead in the form of subscriptions, memberships, donations and events.

The wider adoption of subscription formats for music (i.e. Spotify) and entertainment (i.e. Netflix) has paved the way for news media to more actively adopt this model. However, there is a limit to the number of subscriptions people are willing to pay for, and Nic believes we are getting towards that limit.

Generational divide

A real challenge for publishers is being able to engage audiences of all ages. 95% of all digital news subscriptions are paid by those over 30 years old.

Younger audiences consume news in very different ways. For example, those under 25 are unlikely to have brand loyalty; are more likely to be spending their time on social platforms like Tik Tok and Instagram etc; and they want convenience.

The role of journalist becomes ever more challenging

There’s a lot of noise on the media industry being in crisis, but in fact 60% of media leaders in the survey said revenues had increased over the past year. Only 8 per cent said revenue had fallen. That reflects the rise in subscriptions revenue and the bounce back of digital advertising as advertisers look to back trusted media brands.

Journalists on the front line are facing burnout - the relentless 24/7 news cycle; needing to work across ever more formats and outlets; and then on top of that the global pandemic and associated stress – addressing this is high on the media leader’s agenda for 2022.
Big tech and media

You can’t talk media without talking big tech. While there has been much made of the recent revenue sharing agreements that Google and Facebook have made with publishers around the world over the past year, the trouble with these according to Nic is that there is not much transparency around the deals and it was mostly the big media companies getting the lions share of the money.

This is not necessarily good for audiences; not good for innovation; not good for local news; and not good for competition. You also want to ensure media companies aren’t overly dependent on income from platforms as they need to be independent enough to robustly report on these same platforms.

The take-out for comms professionals

Smart brevity. In this world where there are so many different choices and people are short of time, how can you get your point across quickly, effectively. Using the right format at the right time.