If you work in corporate comms, you’ll know that people often get it confused (both internally and externally) with marketing, internal comms, crisis comms, and media relations. In fact, many people lump them all into the same vague marketing and comms stream, when in reality they’re all specialist skillsets.
Corporate communications is quite simply the way in which businesses communicate with both an internal and external audience. That includes stakeholders, employees, customers, and the media.
While marketing is often sales driven, good communication uses language that resonates with your target audience to help them understand the product or service you’re promoting or selling and helps create brand awareness.
Here’s seven golden corporate comms rules:
- Be authentic: If your CEO is the face of your brand, let them be as authentic as possible, but make sure you educate and media train them as often as possible.
- Tone of voice: This is how you create impact. Who are you as a brand? Who are you speaking to? Why should they listen to you?
- Avoid jargon: No-one cares about or understands your acronyms externally.
- Use clear and concise language: Get straight to the point. Don’t waste time or overthink it.
- Admit your mistakes: If you do something wrong, own that narrative and apologise with empathy.
- Honesty and transparency: So very important. Share both your successes and your shortcomings. This helps people relate to you and your brand.
- Be relatable and reliable: Have your key talent media trained and ready to go and never say no to an opportunity. This is your chance to shine.
And when it comes to media:
- Commit to continuous improvement: Always keep learning, never assume you know everything. The nerves show you care. Do it even when you don’t want to.
- Get yourself out there: Consume media, participate in it. Just like a muscle, the more you use that skill, the stronger it gets. The more confident you become, the more your brand is elevated.
At Media Stable we can help support your Comms team on our Pro Package.
If you’re under resourced (and which Comms team isn’t in 2025?) we can be your secret weapon. An extra added resource that sits alongside your in-house comms team and is available to write your comms and internal comms, media train your key people, be a trusted confidante to support your team on internal issues, connect you to the media, and prepare and brief your team on crisis comms if required.
We can also help you educate your executive team to understand communications and the media, and why it creates essential brand awareness in the digital age.
Contact us today and let us support your Comms team to thrive in a constantly evolving media landscape.
