Talking strategy – Key Communications Considerations for 2023

Published On: February 3rd, 2023Categories: Black Vanilla, PRBy

Where did January go? The first month of 2023 flew by, full of conversations with clients and new contacts about the year ahead.

Over the last four weeks, we have spent time reflecting on the strategies and tactics that we deployed last year for our clients and making adjustments to stay ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving field of communications.

Here are a few themes that we have been talking to our clients about over the last month:

Use LinkedIn more effectively

LinkedIn has become an increasingly important platform for personal and corporate branding. LinkedIn engagements increased by 25% last year; that means people are actively using the channels and having conversations.

Organisations can, and should, use LinkedIn to build relationships, establish thought leadership and promote their brand.

Here are some ways organisations can use LinkedIn more effectively:

  • Build a strong personal brand by establishing yourself as a thought leader in your industry. Try using Creator Mode if you are serious about producing thought-leader content and remember to always make your content valuable.
  • Ensure your company Page includes information about your products and services, company culture and job opportunities.
  • Use LinkedIn to find and connect with potential clients, industry leaders, and media contacts. Social media is increasingly being used as search tool.
  • Measure success by using analytics to make data-driven decisions about your content strategy. Think about when to post and use the new LinkedIn scheduling tool to make it easy to post at the right time, even when you are busy.
  • Make sure your use native (in channel) content which offers something of value to your contacts and be yourself!
  • Use video content to tell your brand story, share knowledge and connect with your audience. LinkedIn now autogenerates video captions, which can also be edited to ensure they are 100% accurate.

Improve stakeholder communications

A two-way communication model is essential to build trust and engagement with stakeholders. It’s important to listen, respond to their feedback and involve them in the decision-making process.

Be transparent, authentic and responsive with your stakeholders and encourage feedback and open communication.

By using targeted key messages and storytelling across multiple channels, you can connect with your different audience segments in a relevant way.

Be aware of greenwashing and ‘wokewashing’

As consumers become more conscious of environmental and social issues, it’s crucial to be aware of the potential for greenwashing or ‘wokewashing’. Be transparent and authentic about your company’s actions and values and avoid making false or misleading claims.

Be honest about your company’s environmental practices and performance, and be wary of making claims about a product or service’s environmental benefits, unless you can prove it with science or data.

  • Understand what your organisation can genuinely talk about.
  • Focus in on measurement and reporting.
  • Stay informed about the latest developments in sustainable business practices.
  • Fact check and ask the difficult questions to help ensure you are not making false claims.

By being transparent, authentic and responsible, you can help to build trust and credibility with stakeholders and contribute to a more sustainable future.

Review and update your strategic narrative

Work with your PR team to review and update your strategic narrative to make sure it aligns with your company’s purpose, values and goals, and is still relevant to your audience.

Here’s the best way to do this:

  • Assess your current narrative and evaluate how well it is resonating with stakeholders and how well it aligns with the organisation’s goals and objectives.
  • Conduct research and gather feedback from stakeholders and the wider audience
  • Identify key themes that align with your organisation’s mission, values and strategic goals.
  • Make sure any changes to your brand narrative are compelling and authentic and resonate with stakeholders.
  • Compare your messages and narrative with your competitors. Black Vanilla creates ‘messaging landscapes’ which help us to identify the ‘blue water’.
  • Communicate this new narrative to stakeholders.
  • Measure the effectiveness of this new narrative.
  • Continuously monitor the narrative and the feedback from stakeholders and adapt it accordingly.

Be human and authentic

In a world where artificial intelligence and fake news are becoming more prevalent, being human and authentic is more important than ever. Show your personality and be honest about your company’s actions and values.

  • Embrace transparency by being open about how technology is being used to enhance, rather than replace, people in your value chain.
  • Prioritise human-to-human interactions whenever possible.
  • Try using AI to support humanising the brand, by using its capability to personalise communication and interactions with stakeholders.

Review your social media strategy

The social media landscape is constantly changing, so it’s important to work with your PR team to review and update your social media strategy.

Assess performance before identifying goals and target audiences. Leverage video and visual content and be aware of any changes in the social media platforms as they bring in new features, capabilities and limitations that may affect your strategy.

You can improve your practices in 2023 by setting and achieving specific objectives with your PR team. Building your personal brand on social media, leveraging technology in a human way, reviewing and updating the strategic narrative, and focusing on stakeholder communications are just a few of the strategies that we are discussing with our clients.

If you would like to discuss any of these strategies or want to professionalise your PR this year, do get in touch.

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