My opportunity in Executive Communications arrived as my company embarked on a new strategy in 2018. We needed to get the word out, and management wanted to have someone focused on the making it happen. The first question was "What is the word to get out?"
We needed to flesh out the story. The strategy had been conceived and refined by senior management and then approved by the board of directors. It would require investment and involved some risks, so there was a lot of discussion, questions, and thoughtful planning to come to agreement. One of the first audiences for communication was the employees. They needed to know how the strategy would impact them, create opportunities and expectations, and signal coming changes. They needed to buy-in.
The other important audience was the industry analysts and investors. Because the strategy shifted our position in the market and increased the business we could pursue (TAM), they would want to understand what we were doing, why we were doing it, and how this would impact our business results.
So these became the two story lines. Internally we created a communications campaign, elaborated and tracked action items, and facilitated a variety of executive touch points with the global employee community. We measured employee engagement, and adapted plans to address gaps. And provided a "strategy education kit" that included videos, documents, and links to content for employees to consume. Most important were the FAQs where the most common objections or points of clarity were addressed directly. It took over a year before we judged we had reached a critical mass of awareness and buy-in. And the process continues as the strategy actions evolve the organization and product offerings.
Analysts and investors were highly motivated to internalize the strategy and give feedback. Our financial communications executives, including the CEO and CFO, delivered the strategy reasoning, the changes, and the expected impact on business. There were initially a flurry of individual meetings to measure their response. And over time we see a return to the normal pace of communications via our quarterly earnings release and conference call.
In addition we refreshed our brand and began an external campaign to communicate the strategy and branding. We revised our corporate messaging and the brand visuals and voice. One of the assets I created was a position paper, aimed at the investor and analyst community. And over time I drove a series of executive articles, videos, and other assets that we collected together for on a Investor Relations Resources page. We use Uberflip so we could promote a single asset, and have the other assets easily discoverable.
In future blogs I will dig into the corporate messaging, brand visuals and voice.
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