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Whether or not to implement a process for handling company-related communication is an issue facing many marketing teams. On the one hand, company information is not marketing-specific. But, company updates need to be communicated to clients. You likely don’t want others outside your marketing and communications team going rogue by sending communications that don’t meet your company’s brand standards.
We have a few tips for creating a new process that ensures consistency in communicating with your clients while not taking too much of your and your team’s time.
Tip 1: Take an inventory of your existing communication process
When deciding to implement a public and client-related communication process, the first thing to do is take stock of who is involved in the current process. Chat with your team about who they’d like involved in the new process and create an email distribution list to help keep clients and the public in the loop.
Next, you’ll likely need to create a list of the different types of communications currently being sent out. This list will be unique to your company, and the type of product or service offered. Some nuanced information to look out for includes:
- How often are new updates currently rolling out?
- Are there unique groups of clients that need to receive different sets of information?
- How often are issues that need to be communicated with clients taking place?
Answering these questions will help you understand your company’s current communication process and where you can improve it.
Tip 2: Assign a point person
Next, assign someone on your marketing team to be the point person for all company-related communication requests. Assigning a point person is helpful for a few different reasons:
- Team members become familiar with this person and are more likely to follow the proposed communication process.
- The point person will gain in-depth knowledge to prioritize different communication requests more efficiently. They will also be able to decide who the communications should go to and tweak the suggested copy to meet brand standards better.
- Selecting one point person avoids confusion among your marketing team when a new communication request is submitted.
Tip 3: Set guidelines
Your colleagues outside of marketing won’t understand the typical timelines to complete a communication project. It might be a good idea to initiate a lead time requirement for other company team members submitting requests to combat this. Be firm with this lead time so that everyone will honor this timeline in the future. Consider what other guidelines would be helpful for your unique communication process, and be sure to include these in your plan.
Getting started
Are you having trouble managing your content or communication plan? Let us help. Questions? Reach out to us, and don’t forget to keep an eye on our blog for more tips to jump-start your content marketing strategy.
Related: Four Reasons Consistency is Key in Content Marketing