RSS
STORE
Is "corporate communication" an oxymoron?
It's easy to believe that when you see as many employee publications and press releases as I do.
They all look the same. Generic headlines, horrific leads, cliched photographs, boilerplate copy, acronyms and buzzwords galore, and terrible quotes.
And I know why. As communicators we fight the same two battles over and over again when we create content. We fight:
1. The battle to make the deadline; and
2. The battle to get it through the approval process.
The constant, crushing deadlines don't leave us any time to do really interesting, creative things; and even if we did have time, there's no way that stuff would make it through the approval process.
So we concentrate on making deadlines and creating content that won't raise any red flags with executives, lawyers, sources, or anyone else who is going to see it before it goes "live."
And you know what? We win those battles. We make our deadlines (usually); stuff eventually gets through the approval process--scarred and changed, perhaps, but it gets through.
So we win those two battles . . . and by doing so we lose the war for readership. We create safe, sterile, generic "corporate" content that employees, reporters, and other audiences immediately dismiss, if they notice it at all.
But it doesn't have to be that way! There are communicators out there who are swimming upstream, fighting the good fight, raging against the corporate machine . . . and replacing the "corporate" in corporate communication with "creative."
They're challenging the "approvers." They're using techniques that work in the real world. They're throwing out the stuff that doesn't work and finding creative ways of reaching their audiences.
And they're doing it in all media--print, online, audio, and video.
I captured some of these folks and their work for my session at this year's IABC Conference. It was titled, "From Corporate to Creative: How to Transform Your Corporate Communication." The session was a hit (it ranked #3 out of 70-some sessions at the conference).
It was a three-hour session, and I ran out of time at the end. Which gave me an idea: If I have that much content, why not go to my buddy Shel Holtz and see if we could turn this thing into a Webinar.
So that's what we did. Starting Monday and running for five weeks, I'm going to be showcasing some of the most creative people in the corporate world. Shel's Webinars are great: you get to talk to all the other participants, share your work, look at great examples . . . all on your own time. Log in whenever you have time!
Sign up for the Webinar, and I'll see you out there.
Oh . . . one more thing. I've got more than enough stuff to fill five weeks (or ten weeks, for that matter) but I'm always looking for great stuff. If you have something you are proud of, I'd love to see it, and put your name up in lights. Shoot me an e-mail, at steve@crescenzocommunications.com.
You can register for the Webinar (or find out more about it) here:
http://www.shelholtzwebinars.com/
See you out there!
Subscribe to this blog's feed
Feels like Total Recall. Er, Philip K Dick?
Actually, with Steve's example it's a bit scary --- standing at the urinal...
Comments (7)
Steve...
Well said. The issue you raise reminds me of the old saying about "one who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." By submitting content that is cheap to approve, it often yields results of little value.
But it is not merely the content or the communication that suffers. What suffers is the communicator's estimation of him/herself (as a grunt instead of a leafer), his/her estimation of the company (they won't ever let me do anything important), and most troublingly, the leaders estimation of the communiator (nice person but no heavyweight).
Much is being discussed at the moment about the convictions a communicator does or should have. But this is much more about courage than it is about conviction. And I'd posit that the disease you describe is as much a function of communicators unwillingness to behave courageously with the editors and approvers as it is that "those mean people won't let us do our jobs."
Posted by Mike Klein | August 17, 2007 6:21 AM
Posted on August 17, 2007 06:21
Mike:
I couldn't agree more. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten into discussions in my seminars with people who insist that it's okay to run fluff---service anniversaries, recipes, classified ads, etc. 'It's what my employees read, and what they want," they say.
Then, later on in the seminar, it's always those same people who cry that they get no respect from leadership.
Of course they don't! And they shouldn't!
We have to make a decision: Are we going to be everybody's private publisher and social director, or are we going to fight for loftier status.
And it IS a fight. You said it best. It's about courage. It's about standing up for our copy, for our content, and for our dignity.
We would never try to do the lawyers' job, or the accountants, or the IT folks, or the marketers. Yet everyone thinks they can do ours.
They can't, and they need to be slapped down when they try.
But too many communicators humbly accept their fate . . . instead of raging against the machine.
Steve C.
Posted by Steve C. | August 17, 2007 7:41 AM
Posted on August 17, 2007 07:41
Steve, you just hit a hot button for me: service anniversaries. Aaaaargh! For years I tried to talk the big boys out of them, finally getting bold enough to say, "Look, all a service anniversary means is that the person hasn't quit, died, or been fired. Why are they worth a full newsletter page?" The answer, of course--although they wouldn't own up to it--was that service anniversaries were the ONLY time many of our employees got noticed or patted on the back. "Thank you for not quitting, dying, or making us fire you." It still makes me want to weep.
Posted by Jane Greer | August 17, 2007 11:10 PM
Posted on August 17, 2007 23:10
Steve,
Why haven't you been weighing in on the Classified Ads thread on myragan's Forum? Patrick W. and I seem to be the only ones standing up for no want ads, service anniversaries, fluff, etc.
We do an online daily and periodic print newsletters. And there's not a classified ad or service anniversary to be seen in either. We do announce retirement parties, however, partly because it keeps a department from sending a company-wide e-mail announcing the person's departure.
We've had several employees request we include classifieds to increase readership. We point out that we're the primary source for company news and information, not want ads (and our readership for the online daily hovers around 70-80 percent so obviously someone's reading our pubs). It's got to have a business connection or we don't run it.
That's a position that you've reinforced for me, Steve, in the various conferences and training sessions I've attended. Thanks!
Posted by Colleen | August 18, 2007 12:56 PM
Posted on August 18, 2007 12:56
Jane:
You're so right . . . it's the ONLY time anyone notices employees in many organizations, so they don't want to take it away. Also, employees always SAY they want them . . . but that's because it's all they've got!!
They would much rather see intelligent stories about interesting people doing cool things in the workplace (or, if not cool things, at least competent things) but that takes time. It's easier to just list names as long as everyone says they're happy!
The other reason is the old "We've always done it this way" mindset, which infects MUCH of corporate communication, and is the number one thing I'm fighting against these days, which is what the Webinar is about.
Steve C.
Posted by Steve C. | August 20, 2007 9:20 AM
Posted on August 20, 2007 09:20
Steve,
I apologize for sending you a comment that is not relevant to your original post, but I am having trouble subscribing to your RSS feed. When I click the link to subscribe, I get a page filled with HTML. I am not sure what to do at this point. Please forgive my RSS feed ignorance. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Posted by David Wise | August 27, 2007 4:37 PM
Posted on August 27, 2007 16:37
Dear Sir / Madam,
We are an on-line service provider for all journalism and publishing related activities - original articles, ghost writing, editing, magazine management etc.
Kindly visit us at:
www.mrwebedit.com
Reliability, maintaining confidentiality and strict adherence to delivery dates is sacrosanct to the organization.
We look forward to working with you.
Regards,
Manjula Ramakrishnan
CEO
www.mrwebedit.com
Posted by Manjula Ramakrishnan | November 30, 2007 9:55 AM
Posted on November 30, 2007 09:55