TRANSPARENT CORPORATE COMMUNICATION is the clear and candid information sharing between an organization and its stakeholders. In todays climate, communicating effectively requires subtlety; in other words, utilizing strategic delicacy.
The technological evolution of the art of corporate communications has garnered an imbalance in the fluidity of information sharing. What was once an outpouring of selective announcements and operational insight is now an open conversation with aggressive stakeholders and interested parties.
As an organization operates to achieve its objectives, stakeholders will demand an explanation of methods used through their continual public auditing. Audits can be formal inquiries by government or ethical agencies, or an informal monitoring of aspects such as equality and ethical standing, focusing on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and other rights to include labor, civil, humane and judicial.
Stakeholders hold business entities accountable through the analysis of all information shared through the many channels of communication available.
WHY SO SUBTLE?
Communication transparency cultivates relationships built on brand loyalty and strengthened corporate reputation. The key to such relationship development lies in the level of subtlety applied to information’s transparency.
When designing an organization’s framework for strategic communication with a diverse assortment of stakeholders, there must be profitable yet subtly transparent appeasement tactics tailored to both preemptive and reactionary situations.
Active engagement with economic tastemakers, stakeholders and crowd casting influencers provides a necessary element of discussion of what matters to each and, on occasion, successful ideas organizations can use to become more in line with mutually beneficial actions.
Resources like sponsored content, recurring articles and newsletters, journalists from multiple media outlets and social media campaigns can be strategically capitalized on for both increasing transparency and engagement.
Nowadays, returns on investments (ROI) are dependent on how much transparency is provided and how it is used to trigger interactions and conversions.
TRANSPARENCY WITH DIVERSE AUDIENCES
Developing a results-driven strategy of corporate communication by implementing a communications plan focusing on stakeholder engagement founded on subtle transparency is an ideal course for the contemporary organization. Capitalizing on engagement with consumers and varying audiences consists of reputation management and tonal and transparent communication.
While internal stakeholders are the main ingredient in ensuring the believability and strength of an organization’s foundation, mission, and main objectives, maintaining a solid level of excellence in the eyes of its stakeholders allows the strengthening of market placement. This is achieved with well-communicated brand activity.
Since not every stakeholder is going to respond to the same approach as dissimilar audiences, in a period where so few actions go unquestioned, the achievement of subtle transparency lies with the content used to battle the potential fragmentation of contexts, negative crowd casting interactions and other challenges to an economically admirable corporate identity.
FEEDBACK AND ENGAGEMENT
Gone are the days when consumers take what they can get without question or stakeholders take passive backseats to the overall achievement of corporate objectives. As the world goes further down the rabbit hole of governmental influence and sovereignty, systems of checks and balances are tested and pushed to the limits not only by the organizations, but also by the public. To some degree, transparency is monitored on a governmental level, but it is the duty of stakeholders to hold organizations accountable when laws get skirted or lobbied under the table.
Constructive criticism is a valuable engagement tool when honing operational strategies. Strategic communication must guide engagement using subtle transparency through the strategic disclosure of information and effective communication with multiple degrees of stakeholders.
Even when communication is meant to be only informative, engagement and feedback should always be welcome to enhance brand identity and customer satisfaction. As the interaction between audiences and organizations has changed over time, reactions to corporate communication have become more of a two-way conversation on a global scale. One wrong decision and crowd casting ensues, viral sensations take up verbal arms for or against a brand and things like CSR and equality adherence take center stage. It is vital to every business to steer the conversation in their favor through tactics of subtle transparency.
BUT, WHY?
With respect to the resources available to organizations, it is the strategically subtle transparency of ample CSR activity that today’s audiences care about. Transparency can even be the primary reason for a business’ success thanks to legitimacy strengthening.
As transparency is controlled by many levels of accountability sought after by every form of stakeholder, the best way for an organization to have long-lasting market positioning is to cultivate stakeholder engagement through numerous channels of communication.
The best way to capitalize on effective engagement is to deploy a communication plan where information is shared proactively, strategically and, of course, subtly.
