Guidelines to Manage the Communications in B2B

WARNING-Original content of Marilde Motta-ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this text and its contents can be utilized, reproduced, transmitted, shared by any means without my prior written permission. Constructive comments are welcome.

 INDEX

 FOREWORDS

AIMS OF COMMUNICATIONS

-promotional

-relational

-informative

-educational

RESULTS OF COMMUNICATIONS

-visibility

-recognition

-renown

-awareness

-image

-reputation

CONTENTS

-1-identification and analysis of publics

-reference publics

-relationship publics

-2-content management

-finding

-planning

-validation

-writing

-iconography

-calendar

-3-choice of tools

-text

-images

-proxemics

-4-distribution

-channels, touchpoints, media

--through journalistic media

--through non-journalistic players

--through owned media

-5-monitoring and analysis

FOREWORDS

Especially in B2B sectors, many companies give up the opportunity to communicate in a well-structured way (e.g. using a number of media and touchpoints, developing different contents) and in a wide way (i.e. reaching many well-defined publics) because they do not know where to find relevant as well as useful contents for their present and potential relations. Often, due to the lack of adequate researches, they even do not know what could be of real interest for their publics, so these companies confine themselves to a very limited number of topics (mainly technical), dedicated only to the economic partners and tightly linked to the functional commercial exchanges. In B2B, this type of basic promotional communication is no longer enough because each company is part of a large interconnected network. Besides, a company is much more than a simple pile up of employees, plants, offices, capital, patented innovations and so on. It is necessary to consider its culture, purpose, policy, social and environmental responsibility and other crucial elements establishing its unique identity. Tangible and intangible features need to be transformed in contents that enable, facilitate and empower connections, two-way communication exchanges, relationships with a wide range of publics for different aims.

The knowledge of the environment

A company is a “relational entity”, is an organism immerged in an environment (in the broadest sense) and, in connection with other players, gives life to this environment, as consequence each company needs to know and to be aware of the full extent of it environment:

---upstream, a company opens and manages relationships with raw materials and machineries suppliers, with financial services and others according to its specific sector

---downstream, a company interacts with many other subjects (logistics, commercial channels, etc.) down to the end-users (consumers or other companies according to B2C or B2B markets)

---there are also lateral ramifications as, for instance, contacts with local administrative authorities, trade associations, regulatory bodies, journalists and media, research centers, executive search firms and so on.

A company cannot be unaware of the many different publics, their roles and activities as well as their potential impact on itself. A company cannot underestimate the vital relationships with the other players in the environment (we shall see later on, in details, both reference publics and relationship publics).

Ruling the communications strategy

There is a mutual (direct or indirect) influence among all the players in the environment. Consequently, the deepest need of any company is to set a strategy and manage communications because, at each step of the relationship, a company puts at stake its identity, the knowledge of its products\services, the renown of its brands. When leading its communications, a company sets itself in a better position to seize opportunities, negotiate agreements, attract talented human resources, to be recognized as a champion … just to enumerate some advantages.

The goal of this article is to show the full process of communications for companies in B2B in order to help them to set an effective strategy.

AIMS OF COMMUNICATIONS

First of all, we think it is necessary to have a good knowledge of the disciplines of communications (e.g. corporate advertising, product\service advertising, financial advertising, promotions and loyalty schemes, direct marketing and e-mail marketing, sponsoring, public relations, incentive and motivation, etc.) in order to define a long term strategy, using the most effective tools and media, investing in resources that can deliver valuable results. It is also undeniable the contribution of advisors and communications agencies in planning and developing the strategy. They grant high quality creativity as well as efficiency in operations and in budget management. We wish to be of some help to companies in understanding four main types of communication aims:

--promotional

--relational

--informative

--educational

Then we shall examine how to design contents, linking them to the suitable tools in order to reach the targeted audience without dispersion of resources.

promotional aim

It is all about the launch of products, novelties (i.e. opening of new plants, achievement of certifications, attending exhibitions, etc.), added services, activities and events in the life of the company. It is a self-referential communication, it is aimed to keep updated clients and prospects; whilst the release of these topics towards employees pursues the goal of keeping them informed and aligned with the company projects. Although the largest part of contents in B2B are in the promotional area, not always this kind of communication is:

-easily available for different publics (for instance is posted only in the company web site)

-useful (the content does not add insightful information)

-adequate to the needs of other publics in addition to the direct clients (as for instance journalists).

In B2B, there are three main aspects: information, knowledge, trust a company should develop. Consequently, even if the contents are pursuing a promotional aim, they should be cleansed of emphasis, complacency and useless proud. When there are contents about technical or scientific innovations, it is necessary to have these contents validated or certified by third-part independent specialists. The same for any kind of benefits and advantages the company wants to show; everything must be proven, well demonstrated by independent and reliable researches. Promotional communications offer the opportunity to show a number of different aspects of the company, enabling a better understanding of its identity and offer. When the promotional contents are of quality (i.e. providing valid knowledge), they can really increase the level of confidence in the company. In B2B it is always of primary importance to reduce the margins of uncertainty and eliminate the doubts, so also for promotional communications is advisable to be very concrete, rational, pragmatic, honest without indulging in celebrating the company.

relational aim

With relational aim we intend two types of communications: the informal and spontaneous one is thought and released by employees, sent out to their personal contacts on social platforms (or communicated person to person in real life). The main topic is the company “interpreted” by them. Today, many firms encourage employees to share thoughts about some aspects of the company. Anyway, to avoid misunderstandings and true mistakes, it is advisable an orchestration of these informal relational communications. Consequently, the company could provide topics, or texts, photos, short videos, links to free webinars, podcast, etc. Ready-made contents deliver a well-defined and correct image of the company, without losing freshness and spontaneity because employees are free to add comments and re-elaborate some parts of the contents. What is important is to make always a distinction between the personal opinions of the employees and the official statements of the company. There is another kind of relational communication in B2B, it is the formal one aimed to take care of suppliers, customers and other crucial publics. In this view, the relational communications are dedicated to nurture the mutual exchanges and the dialogue with defined publics in order to solve problems, reinforce long-term engagement, help the exchange of information, facilitate conversations and cooperation. It is a structured communication using some two-way tools as we shall see in the second part of this article.

informative aim

This aim is about non-commercial and non-self-promotional contents. Informative contents are developed by a company in order to increase knowledge and share it with other players in the same filière. The contents are about: new norms, standards, export rules, disruptive technologies, problems about raw materials and many others according to the different sectors. The topics are functional to the professional updating, useful in providing researches, outlooks, ideas, solutions that can inspire. When we refer to informative contents, the perfect example is offered by professional and trade magazines. Anyway, companies that want to release informative contents must not copy the articles in magazines. Simply, companies have to draw inspiration from the way journalists search and deal with topics. A company could supplement clear examples, adding a specific angle of analysis, or complementing the topic with documents from other countries, just to provide an international view, or could share an original research that reveals a trend and be the first to lead the changes. When the topic is of primary importance for a sector, a pool of companies together could produce a white paper (or a company alone could take the opportunity to launch its own well-structured position paper). The sources used by companies must be qualified and reliable, there must be the opportunity to check facts and figures and any company’s comment or opinion must stay apart from contents. The informative communication is of great importance because offers a valuable contribution of knowledge and the company could be seen as a “leader of knowledge”.

educational aim

This type of aim is mainly pursued by internal communication programs; it is based on the assumption that a company is entitled to enhance the level of knowledge of its employees (also leveraging on external resources). The objective is to teach, update, train and drill. When the educational aim is towards a wide audience and is about contents regarding the full sector, the leading role in education is played by trade association, institutions, universities or specialized organizations. It is very rare a single company can provide educational communications to other companies, when it arrives, it is necessary the company receive the endorsement of an authority (for instance its trade association).

Each type of communication (promotional, relational, informative, educational) has precise boundaries because needs specific contents, style, tone of voice, the suitable tools in order to reach a well-defined audience and be functional to the aim. Each type of communication needs to be used separately, consequently it is necessary to schedule a calendar according to the communications strategy (further on we shall explain how to prepare a calendar).

RESULTS OF COMMUNICATIONS

As stated, companies invest mainly on the promotional type of communication and the relationship is much more developed with clients than with any other publics. This unbalanced activity compromises results in terms of:

--visibility

--recognition

--renown

--awareness

--image

--reputation

As far as it is possible, it is advisable to invest in all types of communication in order to contribute to the harmonious growth of the different types of results. Although these types of results are in mutual connection, not always there is a congruent dimensional ratio (that is, the visibility could be high, but the recognition low because the company does not manage correctly its identity, or the recognition be high and reputation low because of a problem). It is even possible to measure the contribution given by four types of communications and assess the effects on:

visibility

It represents the presence of the company in on\offline media, it is the consequence both of actions purposely deployed by the firm (as advertising, public relations, etc.) and by other subjects (as rumors, journalistic articles, comments on social media, etc..). Visibility offers quantitative data (for instance how frequently the company appears in on\offline media), but data must be closely related to the analysis of contents (positive, neutral, negative) in order to assess the qualitative aspects and have the full picture. Visibility is not only linked to frequency but also to persistence (e.g. how long a piece of news about the company lasts in media, or is re-shared, commented, endorsed; this is very important especially in case of negative news). Another element to be considered is the reach, we mean the kind of publics really reached by communication and the opportunity they have to see the content. The increase of visibility should go hand in hand with the positive contents, the high relevance and the favorable impact they produce on publics.

recognition

It arrives when in tests of identification, the name and the logo of the company are recognized and correctly linked to its field of activity. It is possible to launch researches also about company’s products\services, brands and other items and assess the level of unaided or assisted recognition. The correct identification of the company and its field of activity is independent from a positive or negative judgement. Recognizing precisely the identity of the company means that the firm has got a distinctive positioning and its identity is clearly shown. Recognition is different from renown.

renown

This measure points out how much a company is known. In general, researches measure the renown or popularity, or notoriety per geographic area, or sector, or categories of products, or technologies, or sustainability, or according to other items because it is also important to understand where, in which area a company is considered a leader. In researches, it is possible to define a ranking: from assisted notoriety to unaided, up to top of mind. Renown is a positive feeling about the company, it can be caused by long lasting success, built slowly in the years using communications. Renown is constantly evolving all along the life of the company, with progresses and demotions. A sudden crisis provoked by unexpected negative situations can turn the positive renown in negative, but the company can play an active role in regaining its renown.

awareness

This term is often misinterpreted and used with the meaning of knowledge, it is much more, it is the consciousness a person has of a company as a whole. Awareness of tangible and intangible features of a company is a deep and wide form of understanding that takes time to be developed, sometimes requires direct experience. It is much more then recognition. Today companies own and use many tools to make publics aware of their identity, values and purposes, quality system, responsibility goals (besides the range of products and service) because awareness is the deepest form of conscious knowledge and understanding, impacting on preference and trust, feeding a long lasting relationship.

image

It is the map of all the elements representing the company’s identity. The image is built by the company defining all the elements of its identity (deep and functional values, vision, mission, purpose, positioning, symbols, etc.). Then the company develops and uses consistent tools to make known its image (logo and payoff, company profile, documents, etc.). On the other side, there is the image as is perceived by the publics. Researches on image are useful to detect discrepancies and incongruities between the image conceived by the company and the one interpreted and understood by people (studies on recognition and awareness are paramount). The worst enemy of image is entropy, that is the decay of the elements of the identity. It arrives when these elements cannot keep the pace with the times. Some deep values constituting the company’s identity can live for decades and be understood by new generations, but companies need to renovate and update their identity, otherwise the risk is to be neglected, misunderstood and put aside by publics.

reputation

We could use this definition of reputation: “the in-progress consequence of the opinions and judgements of publics about the company”. It is a flux in progress, in perpetual evolution that it is possible to analyze considering a well-defined period of time. Reputation is the field of the judgement, of the ethical assessment as well as of superficial opinions, or well-built considerations expressed by different publics. Formal or informal communications sent out by the company or released by other subjects impact heavily on reputation. As renown, also reputation is unstable, ever changing. Reputation is mainly linked to positive\negative opinions on the ethical behavior, dependability, credibility, knowledge and competence, safety and other intangible items about the company (of course the intangible items must be well-rooted in tangible elements). Positive reputation is fragile and it could be twisted by negative events.

Displaying four kinds of communications enables the company to set a continuous flux of topics toward its internal publics (as employees, commercial sales team, permanent advisors, temporary managers, etc.) as well as the different types of external publics with the result to exercise a certain level of control on visibility, recognition, renown, awareness, image, reputation.

CONTENTS

Now let’s go into the operational details. There are five consequential and interlocked stages that is necessary to plan and manage. These phases set a functional and efficient methodology to organize work:

-1-identification and analysis of publics

--reference publics

--relationship publics

-2-content management

--finding

--validation

--writing

--iconography

--planning the calendar

-3-choice of tools

--text

--images

--proxemics

-4-distribution

--channels, touchpoints, media

----through journalistic media

----through non-journalistic players

----through owned media

--distribution

-5-monitoring and analysis

Following this sequence, now we examine in depth each phase.

-1-identification and analysis of publics

Knowledge of reference and relationship publics opens the path to understand their true needs and expectations. Consequently, the company will be in the position to define the suitable type of communication (promotional, relational, informative, educational), plan topics (appropriate to be received, understood and appreciated), choose tools and media that really can reach the selected public. Knowledge and understanding of publics and their needs are crucial in order to avoid to send out not only the wrong message, but also the unwanted one. It is important to be aware that publics are not willing to receive unrequested messages, or empty talks, or advertising that has nothing to do with their exigencies and requirements. The risk is to find the publics unavailable to receive the subsequent message and they will develop a negative opinion of the company. The analysis of the publics is tightly linked to the database management (and the way is organized). The first macro-partition is in reference publics and in relationship publics, according to these definitions:

--reference publics

In this category we include all the interlocutors, players, entities in the environment (as we have seen, an environment is made of upstream, downstream, lateral ramification and it is specific for each company). These publics not necessarily will enter into relationship with the company, anyway it is necessary to know each of them and assess their importance in the present time and in the next future. What is fundamental to appraise is their relationship potential. It is necessary to study whether a specific public (for instance a trade organization, a chamber of commerce, a research institute, a local authority, a newspaper, etc.) could enter into relationship with the company and what will be its behavior (neutral, friendly, or hostile), role (e.g. provide services), or impact (the consequence, the result). It is necessary to define a map of the publics, considering the full environment in which the company operates, in order to detect and identify each reference public. For this goal, it is necessary to start from the upstream considering the players. There are some criteria that are different according to the sector in which the company operates. Anyway, what is important is to carry out a census of all the publics. The same for the downstream. As for the lateral branches (for instance, entrepreneurial associations, media, tradeshow owner, etc.) it is a mistake to consider some publics marginal only because the company has never had the opportunity to speak with them. It is necessary to catalog and prepare a complete inventory of all publics. Four types of communications can really enhance the company and boost its renown opening unexpected opportunities. Consequently, mapping the different kinds of public is essential in all countries where the company operates. There are many software programs making easier the management of big databases, enriching the contents, scaling up the data. Of course, a public is made of people so, it is necessary to include (and protect) in the database their personal data, the role (when known also the job description) they have in companies or institutions, the list of topics they are most interested (easy to find via surveys, or when meeting them in some events). Besides, it is useful to list what are the preferred channels they use to search for information (just to intercept their demand), etc. A map of this kind will be of great help in optimizing the resources in case it will be necessary to transform an inactive reference public into an active relationship.

--relationship publics

In this category there are all the publics that had any kind of exchanges with the company in the past times, or have today. Besides, these exchanges and relationships are supposed to go on in the future. For instance, in this category we can enumerate clients, suppliers, researchers, consults, journalists, business angels and any other player in the upstream, downstream and collateral ramifications of the environment in which the company operates. These subjects are commonly included in the company database. It is possible to gather and re-classify the publics according to key words, or key features in order to match profiles with communication aims and contents. When planning a database it is vital to rely on its flexibility in re-organizing, up-date and managing data. It is necessary to point out that the more a relationship is open (enabling a real two-way exchange) the more it will be possible to have a feedback and consequently monitor and control its status, opening up the possibility to actively intervene. It is necessary to improve the goodwill and be open to reciprocate the exchanges of communications. The acceptance, the level of interest for each topic, but also credibility are won in the field day by day. The deep knowledge of each public (and its members) reveals also the key people in each public, that is, the key decision makers. The chain of decisions in B2B is sometimes long and structured, consequently it is necessary to know who can influence decisions and form opinions. This enables to set the correct range of topics for the key people. It is important to stress that to manage successfully four types of communications requires both a full time adequate internal team and an updated and efficient database founded on verified information. Activities (as content finding, writing, releasing, monitoring and analyzing the feedback, etc.) should be centralized in the company to have the full control. As for the relational informal communication sent out by employees to their personal contact, these contacts do not need to be included in the company’s database and remain a property of each employee.

-2-content management

There are some activities that it is necessary to organize and plan in this sequence:

--finding

--validation

--writing

--iconography

--planning the calendar

Let’s look into each of these items:

--finding

There is a very simple solution to find facts, data, figures that are part of a content to be released. The first step it to classify and record the sources, i.e. it is necessary to take into consideration all the sources internal to the company. In order to do this, it is necessary to list the departments of the company (as production, research and development, HR, marketing, finance, etc.), each of them could become a source because each has a range of activities. According to the dimension of the company, it is necessary to appoint a representative for each area. This contact-person is requested to find and send information to a centralized office (the communications office in the company, or an external agency). The frequency in finding interesting pieces of information depends on many factors and is very different from company to company, anyway the contact person plays a fundamental role in detecting what is really new, useful for some well-defined publics, or can be developed from a different angle to suit other needs. The representative should be trained in order to become skilled in finding what is valid for communication aims. There are also sources that are external to the company. Just to enumerate some: it is possible to contact clients and the wide range of suppliers about innovative project made together or using a product or a service provided by the company, or contact distributors in different countries to collect information on the local markets. Another source a company could rely on is a trade association in order to have surveys to be commented. According to the sector in which the company works, there are different providers of topics and contents. The importance of the materials found in the research phase must be weighted and correlated with the aim (promotional, relational, informative, educational) and with the benefit the company wishes to get for itself (in terms of visibility, recognition, awareness, etc.). It is necessary to appraise the actual value the company wants to convey to the publics, “actual” is according to the criteria used by professional people. So, it is necessary to monitor the feedback to assess whether the contents sent out have been received or rejected. The crucial point is the definition of the substantial value of the topics, or the utility value (for instance, the topic meets perfectly a need, increases knowledge, offers a wanted advantage). Anyway keep in mind the principle of reciprocity “do not send out what you would not like to receive”.

--validation

Before deciding the tools, it is necessary to check and carry out a close examination of contents. The first requirement is truth. A content could have consequences on opinions, on knowledge, on behaviors so it must be reliable, proven, correct. Besides, it is necessary to verify the relevance of the topic for the target-audience (as said it is fundamental to avoid spam), the interest the target could express, the affinity between the topic and the field of the target-audience. Among the other elements it is necessary to consider the recency of data, the developments (that is, whether the content could be progressively updated). For some topics also the exclusivity is important (i.e. to be the first or the only one to know the topic and spread knowledge about it). The principles of truth and quality must always be pursued. When the topic needs to be translated in some languages, it is necessary to pay even more attention considering the different cultures and traditions of the recipients. Contents must be signed and the author mentioned. RACI (R=responsible or recommender, A=accountable or approver, C=consulted, I=informed) is the matrix of responsibility assignment and we recommend to use it in the communication process because many managers and external contributors are involved in communications management.

--writing

*-when the tools, that will be used, are the ones about written texts, we have to take into consideration: the vocabulary (the glossary in case of special terms), the style, the narrative development, the length of the text and the needed time to read, the necessary level of attention and the requested competence. All these elements must be tightly related to the aim. It is very important to consider the fruition (how and when the text is read), a text seen on a screen of a smartphone “on the go” has not the same level of effectiveness of a text read on pc, or on paper in a quiet moment. The level of readability is different as well as the dedicated attention.

*-when the tools are in the proxemics area (as for instance, events) it is necessary to define a concept and develop it in a key-message (as well as in other elements according to the kind of event: the script, the set design, etc.).

--iconography

Besides the texts, there are other solution to express, or enrich, or embellish a content, just using photos, video, slides, drawings, visual storytelling, infographic, etc. It is possible to tell about a topic using images and graphic signs instead of words or according to the words. There are extremely synthetic symbols as emoji, throw-up, pictograms that are already part of the common way to communicate. Anyway, these symbols should be used with parsimony. When using images as well as videos or other kinds of images it is necessary to quote the name of the author (and the copyright and licensing agreements, terms and conditions), or use the expression “courtesy of..” (when the image belongs to someone that allows the use).

--planning the calendar

As four kinds of communications (and related aims) are different from each other, the research of contents, their organization, the electronic storage, the records and the consequent use (though different tools and channels) need to be adequately planned in order to reach the defined audience. When the calendar is set (per month, target audience, communication aims, etc.), it will be clear how to organize the search of contents and topics, when have texts and images ready and set a dead-line for any other operation. The planning is not only according to special moments or needs decided by the company as the launch of a product, the inauguration of a new plant, the offer of a free webinar and so on. It must include events defined by others (as a trade-show, a request of interview, the presentation of a new material invented by a research center, etc.). A calendar is very important because a specific public could be the consignee of different types of communications from the company in a short period of time, consequently it is necessary to ascertain how many times each public is reached (the reason, the topic, etc.). As far as it is possible, the communications sent out should be of two-way type, or give the opportunity of some forms of structured answer, or at least allow to send a signal that the communication has been received. As said, it is important not only the monitoring of the feedback, but also give the opportunity to start a conversation. We have to consider that there are also the personal informal messages sent out by employees, just to avoid an overlapping the planning is crucial.

-3-choice of the tool

There are three macro-types of tools:

--verbal (that is based on words as written texts)

--visual (that is based on images, photos, video, etc.)

--proxemics (the personal direct contact when attending any kind of event).

As there are many tools, it is possible to choose the most appropriate to the content, the channel, the public, the situation, the aim. The wide range of tools offers great economic efficiency (in terms of cost\benefit) and effectiveness in bringing a well-defined message to the chosen target-audience. Each tool has its own specific characteristics and can be used only for some aims, consequently it is necessary to know well each tool. The following is an extensive but not exhaustive list:

§-written tools specific for media

-press release

-press pack

-dossier

-official statement

-opinion requested on a topic

-comments requested on a topic

-exclusive interview

§-written tools suitable for all publics

-company profile

-company monographic book

-catalogues

-annual report and other financial documents

-corporate social\environmental sustainability report

-position paper

-white paper

-dossier on a specific topic

-anniversary book

-house organ

-news letter

-direct emails

-calendars (with both texts and images) and other booklets

-handbooks

§-visual tools suitable for all publics

-visual storytelling

-drawings, sketches, graphics

-photos and photographic reportages

-video

-webinar

-official website

§-proxemic tools specific for media

-press conference

-press briefing

-press day

-media event

§-proxemic tools suitable for all publics

-company museum and archives

-company\product exhibition

-pop-up store or temporary store

-stand in tradeshows

-flash mob

-massive mob

-freeze mob

-silent rave

-human mirror

-pow wow

-artistic happening

-experience exhibition (through virtual reality, augmented reality)

-fashion show

-food&beverage tasting

-inauguration

-vernissage

-roadshow

-guided tour of the company

-training meetings (workshops, teambuilding, etc.)

-forum

-round table

-congress, symposium

-convention, kick-off

-official ceremonies

-awards

-artistic\cultural festivals promoted by the company

-4-distribution

After having chosen the publics (and related clusters of people) according to well-defined parameters suitable to the aim of communication, after having selected the contents (concept and key-message), after having decided the most performing tools, it is time to plan the distribution. So, let’s examine on\offline:

channels, touchpoints, media.

Some of these are owned by the company (as website, blogs, forum, accounts in social platforms, but also, touchpoints as packaging, shops, showroom, etc.). Others are owned by journalistic media (as on\offline newspapers, radio, tv and webtv and so on). Still others are owned by non-journalistic players (as influencers, blogger, institutions, etc.) using website, blog, podcast, social platforms, etc. So, when the company wants to distribute contents there are some options:

--through journalistic media:

we are referring to media that have a publisher and an editorial staff composed of professional journalists and are registered at the Court (in Italy). The sector of journalistic media (in Italy) is regulated by law and by the Order of Journalists. We are referring to on\offline media as newspapers, magazines, trade specialized magazines, radio and tv news services and so on. Contents are selected by journalists according to some well-defined criteria. When a company wishes to offer contents, the editorial staff checks them and then decides to accept (and in which form, for instance via an interview), or to reject. For promotional aims on journalistic media there are different solutions as advertorials, and other paid ads. When the article dealing with the company is published or broadcast, not all journalistic media allow the re-launch or sharing it on social media, so it is necessary to be aware of the rules of the journalistic media.

--through non-journalistic players:

*-as for instance websites and blogs owned by bloggers, influencers, celebrities and other non-journalistic players. In this case, contents of the company are mainly promotional. When these non-journalistic players speak of a company is because the content has been agreed with the company and the company pays the endorser for the service. The contents can be shared and re-launched according to a detailed and agreed program.

*-as for instance, social platforms, search engines. In this case, social platforms (as Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube and many others) and search solutions (provided by Google, Yahoo, Baidu and a lot of others) offer the possibility to promote contents (using solutions as native advertising, branded contents, boosted post, and so on). In both cases, it is necessary to plan a content strategy and a calendar (aim, target-audience, message, timing, and so on).

--through owned media:

as said, a company today has many opportunities to distribute contents through owned media, with the advantage to have a total control on the message. Let’s look into some:

*-online:

-website is the most important owned media because it unlocks many opportunities. It is a kind of control room for the use of all digital channels. The website could include blog, forum, news room, webinar, podcast, e-commerce and many other solutions to comply with the communication needs of the company. The website should be a kind of one-stop shop, a supplier of information, services, knowledge and even entertainment. The responsive web design will help the fruition through different devices (as tablet, pc, smartphone). Well-planned user experience will offer an easy access to the different website sections, enabling the user to find what he\she needs. The result will be a positive perception and feeling for the user and a good opinion of the company. Programming contents (to be used in pull\push ways) can really meet the demand of four communication aims.

-social media accounts offer the company the opportunity to post original topics and to see them re-launched and shared by followers. The social platforms are fit especially for the promotional as well as the relational communications. Often the collaboration of employees is of great help in spreading contents. On social platforms a feedback is always useful to measure the quality and quantity of reactions (as comments, “likes”, request of further contents, availability to re-share, etc.).

-digital database marketing is an effective way of communications both when the database is owned by the company or is owned by others (for instance: magazine, associations, etc.). It serves both the promotional aim and the informative aim (for instance in the form of newsletter with qualified contents). Today it is very rare a company becomes publisher of paper magazines. In the past, especially in ‘50s and ‘60s, big companies used to publish well-conceived paper magazines, with important contents written by famous writers and journalists, with wonderful photos, great graphic solutions. Today the newsletter tries to solve the same informative aim of these magazines, but the outcome is not the same both in terms of variety and quality of contents and in terms of impact on the company image.

*-offline:

-touchpoint means a tangible point of contact owned by the company (as the packaging of the product, the paper handbook of a machine, a showroom, or a shop, or an event and so on). We have already enumerated some in the section about tools. Touchpoints are different according to the sector where the company operates, but each can be personalized and becomes a distinctive hallmark of the company. A specific touchpoint is the stand at trade-shows, it offers a great opportunity to present the whole company and deliver many contents (promotional, informative) as well as it gives impulse to the personal relationship among the company’s managers and visitors. Events provide effective opportunities to develop two-way exchanges and can be considered an excellent tool to spread the communication aims. Little known is the possibility to interact with some touchpoints as physical signs, billboards, banners of large dimensions (for instance painted on a wall of an industrial plant). In this case too a certain level of interaction is possible through beacon and smartphone. Third-level packaging (as pallets) for the logistics of industrial products can be branded and become a kind of touchpoint.

Contents, tools, distribution should be planned, for each target-audience, in a yearly calendar. Besides the normal flow of contents (according to four aims: promotional, relational, informative, educational), there are special occasions, unexpected events, even crisis situations, that require to be tackled. When a calendar is well structured there is the immediate opportunity to see which are the target-audiences that need more attention both considering the amount of the different communication types already received and the role these audiences could play for the reputation of the company.

-5-monitoring and analysis

There are many different on\offline techniques to monitor the understanding of contents, the liking, the acceptance, the utility the target-audience shows (and the related negative, neutral, positive level). Analysis should be frequent because interests and needs change during time and it is important to catch the changes to be ready to meet the demand. There are some criteria (as reach, coverage, frequency, market penetration and many others) that are always useful and can be used together with the most recent solutions for the online analytics. There are also surveys and qualitative\quantitative researches. Panel and focus group can be used to analyse the contents in order to be sure they are clear and easy to be understood. Consensus and involvement are important both to understand cognitive and emotional reactions. Besides monitoring each action in the short period, it is important to consider the accumulation of the communication programs over time, gradually these projects impact on recognition, awareness, reputation. Every 3\5 years some in depth researches are necessary to detect the changes and the direction of trends in audiences. Any type of researches should be considered a fundamental resource to manage a continuous quality improvement in communications.