It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that you will do things differently.
Warren Buffet
Introduction to Communication Consultancy
In a world where humans are constantly connecting, what to communicate, how to communicate and where to communicate is essential to ensuring that your message is received as intended. This is more so for businesses, politicians, celebrities, and people who cater to a wide human audience. The most successful public figures and businesses are the ones who have taken care to create meaningful relationships with their audience to build a positive reputation over a period to establish themselves as brands.
To build the desired reputation, it is important you are strategic in your communication efforts, and that presents the core function of a communication consultancy; to provide a host of communication support services to brands. This core function can be broken down into the core roles a communication agency can play on behalf of brands. These roles include Media Consultancy, Media Production, Research, Marketing and Advertising and Political Communication.
Types of Communication Support
In today’s highly opinionated world, the bigger a brand gets, the more it needs strategic communication. As a result, larger companies have large internal communication teams whilst smaller ones may have at least one person in charge of their strategic communications. Some companies outsource this role to Strategic communication firms whilst others choose to have both internal and external communication teams. However, it is essential to understand these three options before deciding which is best for your business or brand.
Why Hire a Communication Consulting Firm?
Internal communication teams can be expensive to manage. In an organization with a large communication team, the salaries and allowances and other financial commitments for the employees can affect the overall outcome of a business. Hiring a strategic communication firm can reduce businesses’ financial commitments to their in-house communication team. This is because businesses can negotiate and agree on a fixed fee and other flexible payment terms with agencies and transfer financial commitments to them. However, one may argue that a smaller firm may need to pay just one person and thus save on financial commitments. Whilst this may appear to be a cost-effective strategy, in practice, it deprives your business of the level of commitment and the advantage of having multiple perspectives that come with hiring an agency. Selecting a reputable strategic communication firm gives you access to three or more professionals to work on your account. This is because professionals in firms often collaborate, bounce ideas off each other and are also subject to supervision and revision from their superiors including the director of the firm. This ensures that your business receives the high level of attention it is due.
When you hire a communication firm, you hire their experience, their reputation, and their business connections. Top business firms bring to your disposal professionals with considerable experience and reputation in the field of communications. This reputation often comes with connections, especially in the media. These connections afford them privileges such as priority access to top journalists, top media houses, high-value media slots and television spots, and in serious circumstances, early access to damaging information about your organization or brand, thus, giving you ample time to strategize a response. In addition, hiring a communication agency gives your brand access to a wealth of human resources that may not be present in internal communication teams. Reputable strategic communication firms have a large workforce all highly diversified to execute specific public relations functions. Agencies usually have in-house creative writers, graphic designers, a photography and videography team, digital marketing professionals, and many more. This high level of a specification ensures every aspect of a communications strategy is in the hands of a professional specially trained to implement it. This ensures maximum efficiency in the execution of communication strategies.
The resources available to agencies are not limited to human resources and experience but also include access to strategic resources such as access to the global media database and tools for measuring and monitoring your brand’s performance. Agencies invest in strategic resources that maximize the efficiency of their services. This includes purchasing tools such as HypeAuditor, Analisa, and Crowdfire, among others. These tools help in using social media to your advantage. Also, access to the Global Media Database ensures they stay on the cutting edge of data and market intelligence.
Conclusion
In addition to giving you value for your money, hiring a communication consultancy firm gives you access to resources, expertise and commitment that is lacking in internal communications teams. However, to get the most out of such a collaboration, it is important to establish accessible lines of communication between your organization and the communications agency. In a situation where a business has both an internal communications team and an external communications agency, both teams must keep each other in the loop and collaborate to ensure the best results for the strategic communication goals of your brand.