A Fast-Growing Tech Company Gets Staff Cleared & Aligned
Problem
A microchip company was scaling fast, doubling employees and gaining customers faster than ever.
The marketing communications team, more marketing-trained than public relations, recognized that to get senior leaders more aligned, focused and confident talking about the areas of the business that matter most to a variety of different audiences (employees, news media, potential clients and more) they themselves needed the training to facilitate that. Once leaders were clear and supported with media training, it would be much easier to bring their growing global staff along as well.
Solution
ThinkBeyond first grounded the marcom team with strategic communications planning so they would have a clear four-phase framework that relied on input from a range of staff to highlight gaps in communications, uncover opportunities, and direct resources where they would be most needed.
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Identify and prioritize key audiences
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Develop cross-departmental messaging everyone could buy into
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Establish communications goals in alignment with business goals
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Identify the ideal channels and activities they could realistically engage, nurture and complete
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Assign roles and responsibilities to get the work done, including everything from outsourcing support to creating an approvals process
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Determine budget needs early on
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Get the work on calendars to ensure more successful implementation
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Establish meaningful, relevant metrics to gauge the success of their work
A strategic corporate messaging intensive rounded out the training for the marcom team. By learning how to apply ThinkBeyond’s signature six-phase messaging framework, they would always have the knowledge and skills to get company leaders and staff clear, aligned and consistent in the way they talked about the brand, products and services at both a macro and micro level, internally and externally.
Finally, company leaders received media training, complete with pre- and post- interviews, so they could better understand what is and is not newsworthy, confidently speak about the business, ensure they were aligned and consistent with one another, track their progress as spokespeople, and self-correct.
Result
The marketing communications team successfully facilitated a structured messaging session with leaders and staff that defined how the brand would be positioned, which aspects of the business were most critical to share with key stakeholders and who those key stakeholders should be. They even secured a commitment from staff that they would embrace and incorporate the messaging into all communications. Company leaders are currently successfully conducting media interviews, communicating with staff, leading live webinars, and speaking at events.
The training has transformed how I manage messaging in my organization. Our leaders loved the process and employees appreciated that they were intimately involved in defining who we are as a company. Jennifer ' s tailored guidance and training was crucial to helping me and my colleague adapt what we learned to the unique needs of our organization.