By Filipe Andrade
I heard the other day from a communications professor that “integrated communication is redundancy”. Incredible as it may seem, his affirmation reflects the current dynamic of the market and form of communication.
In the 21st century, the age of information and the rise of social network, an organization doesn’t (or at least shouldn’t) only do internal communication or just public relations, for example. The companies, from present and future, must develop, above all, communication in a wider sense of the term.
In other words, nowadays integrated communication must be part of the daily routine of any organization. And, according to Marcelia Lupetti, author of the book “Gestão estratégica de comunicação mercadológica” (“Strategic management of marketing communication”), “planning [integrated] communication demands interaction, unification of messages, instructions, goodwill and involvement of all employees.
It’s important to highlight that this is not only about replicating a content for different audiences in several medias, but working out a single message through different tools, using the adequate speech for each of them.
Let’s start from the assumption that, in a company, every composing individual is also a spokesperson. For that matter, if a company direct its efforts exclusively to internal communication, it’s still going to have its message echoed externally – on social media or day by day among friends. An example is the Always campaign “Like a girl”, 2015.
On the other side, if the company chooses to work only with public relations, it runs real danger of not having its image referenced by its employees, for example, simply for they not knowing the strategies and goals of the company, because this scenario wasn’t worked out internally.
It also makes no sense investing in digital marketing, actions with digital influencers, if the company’s internal image, its organizational climate, doesn’t reflect what has been worked out externally.
Therefore, more than a differential, integrated communication becomes a must of any organization whose goal is transmitting efficiently its message to different audiences and reinforcing its image before society.
