The Rising Power of Research in the Boardroom

Reputation risk has become an increasingly important item on the boardroom agenda. Conscientious and/or beleaguered company directors are turning to research for a sense of the health of their world and, in turn, the measure of the responsibilities they must assume. Like a ‘wellperson clinic,’ objective and independent research is increasingly being used to test perceptions and expectations and monitor the weak signals or murmurs that may either support them or destroy them in the years, if not months, ahead. For the reluctant directors out there, new-style regulation is ensuring that being pessimistic is no way to run a company. Beyond tarnished personal reputations, the penalties for poor risk management and oversight can range from unlimited fines and censure to imprisonment.

Macleod, Sandra. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Research

Risk Communication: A Critical Component in Every Crisis

Having been deployed as a crisis communicator to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, immediately after the New Orleans levees failed last year, I am frequently asked to talk about the experience and my opinion of why so much went wrong so quickly in the aftermath. My quick response is "Too little too late."

Alvey, Robert J. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Risk Communication>Crisis Communication

RSS, Search Engine Visibility and Brand Perception

Branding has been called the most powerful idea in business, yet few companies consciously craft and promote their brand. Making a brand visible to an online audience can be an additional challenge. Studies show that searchers regard the companies that are placed on the first page of search engine results as the major players in the field. So how do you get the coveted page-one positioning? New technologies like RSS feeds are one way to accomplish this and make your brand more visible in the process.

Falkow, Sally. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Web Design>XML>Search Engine Optimization

Secrets of Communicating with Four Generations

When you see a gray-haired, three-piece-suited executive talking to a twentysomething with multiple body piercings, it may seem that the generation gap in the workplace is bigger than ever. But people of all ages essentially want the same things—even if they look or behave differently. A recent study conducted by the Center for Creative Leadership discovered that many of the assumptions made about each generation were exaggerated or untrue. Instead, the so-called generation gap is, in large part, the result of miscommunication and misunderstanding.

Deal, Jennifer J. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Business Communication

Seven Steps to Employee Portal Nirvana (Or at Least a Portal That Really Works)

Confusing. Frustrating. Underutilized. Time-consuming. If you are like most communicators, these are just some of the words that come to mind when thinking about your organization’s employee portal. Intranets and employee portals have long been plagued by numerous challenges, including limited funding, poor navigation, content overload and changing technology. Add in growing user expectations, disengaged executives and differing opinions about what portals are and how they deliver tangible value, and it’s no wonder they are such sore spots for communicators.

Rudnick, Michael. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Web Design>Intranets>Business Communication

Shaping Reputations Online

We are living in a new media world where public conversations bring together people from all over the globe. Thanks to the Internet, individuals from every continent are able to create a buzz that can introduce new heroes or ruin an organization’s reputation in minutes.

Gallardo, Luis. Communication World Bulletin (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations>Online

The Shoestring Inferiority Complex: How Trying to Keep Up Can Get PR Pros Down

One Saturday afternoon not long ago, I found myself gawking out my front window as my neighbors carried in their new plasma TV. I felt that wistful pang of envy. Why can't I get a plasma TV? PR departments working on a shoestring budget are largely represented by the public and not-for-profit sector. For these organizations, the feeling of having to make do and having to do without is a fact of life.

Austin, Lisa. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Financial>Public Relations

Shoestring Public Relations 101: Ideas to Get Your Creativity Flowing

Whether you work for a nonprofit, a corporation or an agency, you've likely at some time been assigned to a PR project that has next to no budget. When this happens, you may feel you are up against the impossible, but don't despair. You can deliver a highly successful campaign on a shoestring—but it requires some creativity.

O'Brien, Cathy-Anne. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations

Should Businesses Embrace the Blogging Phenomenon?

When news reports announced that Apple Computer was suing unnamed individuals (presumed to be employees) who had allegedly leaked information about a prototype Apple product to several blog news sites, it raised a number of questions. What does the lawsuit mean for freedom of expression and the role of journalists who serve an information-hungry audience? How will the courts balance the fundamental right of freedom of expression against a company's claims that trade secrets have been violated on a blog?

Blackshaw, Pete. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Web Design>Business Communication>Blogging

Should You Really Say That in a Corporate Blog?

Has your communication department considered starting a blog about your company, or even getting the CEO to start his or her own blog? There's another department that usually frowns on such endeavors: the legal department.

Fernando, Angelo. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Management>Legal>Blogging

Six Rules for Transforming Your Brand: The Carter Holt Harvey Experience

Australasia's leading forest product company, Carter Holt Harvey (CHH), transformed itself in under three years from slumbering giant into a high-performing, innovative business leader based on values of performance, leadership and innovation - and won an IABC Gold Quill award in the process. Here's CHH's story in brief and rules learned along the way.

Stuart, Dellwyn. Communication World Bulletin (2003). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing>Case Studies

Smoldering Crises: Controlling Risk Through Prevention

The recent Sago Mine and Firestone tire debacles, while different in nature, were both smoldering crises. Good risk management would have likely prevented both from destroying lives, damaging reputations and costing companies millions of dollars. The Institute for Crisis Management (ICM) defines a smoldering crisis as a problem or issue that starts out small and often internally, and that is ignored or not recognized until it blows up into a public crisis.

Smith, Larry. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Risk Communication

Social Media Is Changing Everything

When Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwarz needs to communicate with the world, he doesn’t necessarily call a press conference, issue a press release, or even convene a webinar or videoconference. He blogs. His online diary gives him an unfiltered channel leading to the employees, customers, analysts and resellers who represent the first wave of perception formation regarding important company products and service initiatives. Sun is leading a transformation of the communication profession, as the Web transitions from an information repository to a platform of collaboration and community building.

Gronstedt, Anders. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Web Design>Community Building>Social Networking

Social Networking for Business: Measuring the Results

The online world is abuzz with talk about social networking. With companies such as Facebook seemingly constantly in the news, 2007 has been the year that social networking took its first adolescent steps beyond being the sole purview of, well, adolescents, and started to become a tool that is getting noticed in the business world. But with all the hype out there about online social networking, how can organizations begin to better understand the tangible business impact of their forays into this area?

Carfi, Christopher. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Web Design>Community Building>Social Networking

The (Staggering) Cost of Information Overload

Recently, I was waiting for a meeting to begin at a 500-person professional services firm. An item on the bulletin board caught my eye. It was a memo from the CFO. If everyone in the firm could spend an hour less per day managing e-mail, he said, it would make a difference of US$2 million a year to the company.

Boyd, Bill. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Business Communication>Management

Starting the Journey Toward Corporate Social Responsibility

The growing emergence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the marketplace begs the question: What does it take to get there? How do companies make the leap from deciding to embrace the values of CSR to creating a culture around it? Read comments from several CEO's who discuss actions that companies have taken in order to incorporate CSR within their agendas.

Cunningham, Cori. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations

The State of Corporate Citizenship in the U.S.

The Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce teamed up to deliver the first survey of American businesses of all sizes on "The State of Corporate Citizenship in the U.S." This survey was designed to gain a baseline from which to measure biennially the progress and state of corporate citizenship first in the U.S. and then globally. It is the first corporate citizenship survey in the U.S. to include small and medium-sized businesses and the first to gather information on business efforts in low-income communities.

Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations

Story Scrapbooks: Tools for Engagement

Thank heavens for big sisters—especially mine. I was over at Franca's house sipping hot chocolate and catching up on life. While we spoke, she was assembling another one of her family scrapbook masterpieces. We started talking about her work—she is an international marketing and publication relations consultant. As we discussed the internal communication challenges one of her clients was facing, I had a flash of brilliance. What if we helped the client put together a story scrapbook and then used it to facilitate conversations around the organization?

Gargiulo, Terrence. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Content Management>Knowledge Management>Business Communication

Storytelling and PR: A Novel Way of Telling Your Tale

Once upon a time, a former CBS newsman devised a new strategy for telling a company's story: classic storytelling. Robbie Vorhaus founded his own public relations firm based on this principle. He shares the story of how it works in this interview with About Public Relations.

Vorhaus, Robbie. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Communication>Public Relations>Rhetoric

Storytelling Photos

Anyone can relate the facts of an event, just like anyone can hold a camera up to a scene and document it. But bare facts and badly composed images make for poor communication. It takes skill and talent to write a good story, one that will inform and entertain. The same is true for photography. Images have always been storytellers. A good image can relay large amounts of data in a format that is pleasing and quickly absorbed by the viewer. That makes photos potentially more influential than a massive amount of words.

Salvo, Suzanne. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Graphic Design>Photography>Visual Rhetoric

Structuring Employee Communication

In the 21st-century workplace, efficiency and speed are demanded, change is the norm, time is at a premium, and stress levels are high. Management has big expectations for what employee communication can accomplish in support of its goals, believing it can play a significant role in solving problems, achieving employee engagement, and building momentum for change and growth. Building an effective employee communication department that can rise to meet expectations and deliver results is no easy task.

Hess, Ron. Communication World Bulletin (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Management

Strunk and White Were Wrong: In Speechwriting, Personality Should Not Remain in the Background

A speech generally needs personal language because it is delivered by a live human being whose words should not sound, as Wabash College Professor William Norwood Brigance put it, "like an essay standing on its hind legs."

Tarver, Jerry. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Presentations>Rhetoric>Minimalism

Study Shows How to Get Bottom-Line Results from Internal Communication

Over the years, numerous studies have boasted the connection between internal communication and bottom-line results. These studies, though valuable for establishing a connection, do not delve into the important question of how. How does communication impact the bottom line? Which communication practices add the greatest value? Can communicators do to make their internal communication programs contribute to organizational success?

Vogt, Peter. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Research

Style Guides? Dictionaries? Who Cares?

You should! Whether you're a corporate or a freelance communicator, a style guide and a dictionary are among your most important tools. And all the departments in your company or your client's company should be using the same ones, designated by their communication departments.

Canavor, Natalie and Claire Meirowitz. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Writing>Style Guides

Sustainability Reporting: Daring to Hold Yourself Accountable

As the corporate social responsibility movement continues to gain momentum worldwide, corporations need standards and measures to define responsible business practices. One such standard—sustainability—has emerged as the international benchmark for corporate citizenship. Sustainability is defined as the "triple bottom line"—the measure of an organization's economic, environmental and social performance.

Savitz, Andrew. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations