Communications as driving force for tech companies

Leveraged strategically, marketing communications support business goals and organizational performance through corporate brand management and brand positioning to internal and external audiences.

Communications are primary driver of brand positioning through corporate reputation management and the critical brand elements for technological companies of trust and credibility – trust in brands that can address customers’ challenges and credibility to deliver on brand promise. As such, marketing communications are the foundation of corporate reputation, one of the most important factors for brand consideration by decision-makers and influencers in the complex enterprise purchasing decisions process. Another important aspect of corporate reputation is industry leadership through business performance. People perceive successful leaders reliable to deliver on their promise and communications are instrumental in constructing this perception.

Trust is a personality trait and as people trust people tech companies need to leverage leadership communications and align internal and external communications for corporate brand substance. Authenticity is the primary amplifier of messaging around performance and organizational behavior and communications nurture and deploy authentic brand ambassadors and thought leaders.

There are two crucial determinants of technological companies’ competitiveness – innovation and marketing communications. As most technological companies compete on commodity-type products, they deploy marketing communications for competitive advantage.

But trust, credibility, or even innovation, are basic brand elements for the tech companies. There could hardly be sustainable tech business without these. Therefore, organizations need to discover their unique differentiating brand elements and strategic communications are instrumental in this process. Identifying and communicating such distinguishing, often emotional, brand facets could be a game-changer in industry with often hard to differentiate tech offerings.

Lastly, strategically leveraged communications, based on robust planning process, could greatly enhance marketing’s effectiveness and efficiency. Communications could cost-effectively expand reach to and strengthen brand positioning among different stakeholders. Strategic communications take advantage of unique communications assets like CEOs, senior executives and employees for powerful thought leadership and brand positioning and utilize c-level reputational equity and leverage it for brand domination though earned media.

The state of media

Too many media. Too much content. Trust in record lows. Yet, great opportunity for organizations to establish credibility with strong, authentic message.

Modern media are constantly growing in number of formats and channels with digital upending the traditional centralized media model, dominated by limited number of leading platforms. Today, communications professionals need to command decentralized media and overcome enormous amounts of generated content for right messages to reach their audience.

While overall trust in media and spokespeople decreases, most recent research shows that business organizations and traditional media are more trusted than social media. Data also shows that people still look for credible media and organizations and leaders with authentic communications could reap enormous gains for their brands. Decreasing trust in media and spokespeople, together with trust in organizations as guardians of information quality, has given rise to brand journalism and presents opportunities for the organizations which strategically deploy c-level reputation and leadership communications.

Technology, a hugely important business and societal topic, has expanded coverage beyond specialized media to business and general news media. Often, even to lifestyle and entertainment as tech leaders have become increasingly involved with the societal challenges and exploring celebrity status.

This has presented challenges for organizational communications as one simple technological message would not work for all the various media, but also creates opportunities – the ones who adapt messaging beyond specialized and tech media, would reap most benefits.

Communications are most powerful when deployed in an integrated way, taking advantage of the distinct strengths of owned (blog, social, web site), shared and earned media though PR and media relations. Yet, one result of the rise of digital media is that some practitioners are pivoting too far in the opposite direction, focusing on owned media at the expense of earned media. And while blogs and other owned media allow organizations to have unfiltered outreach channel to their stakeholders (partners, developers community, customers), earned media is still most powerful for brand relevance and positioning through trusted corporate reputation.