Tag: Marketing Communications

Audi Global Marketing Communication

Title: Audi Global Marketing and Communication Strategy. Audi is an automobile manufacturer based in Germany that distributes, markets, produces, engineers, and designs luxurious vehicles. The manufacturer was founded in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany and is part of the Volkswagen Group. Throughout the globe, vehicles that are Audi-branded are manufactured in nine production facilities. The organisation’s origin dates back to the early 20th-century when engineer August Horch teamed with two other manufacturers in 1932 to form Auto Union. The mid-20th century (the 1960s) saw the commencement of the modern day Audi when Volkswagen acquired Auto Union from Daimler-Benz (Audi, 2019). The Audi brand was relaunched in 1965 by introducing the Audi F103 series to the market. After the relaunch, Volkswagen decided to merge NSU Motorenwerke with Auto Union in 1969 to form the modern day structure of the organisation.

The organisation’s name is a German translation of founder’s surname – Horch. The Audi logo has four rings that signify each of the four automobile manufacturers who merged to establish the organisation’s predecessor, Auto Union. The company’s slogan “Advancement through Technology” implies that the organisation uses the latest technology to manufacture its car (Audi, 2019). In the United States, the organisation’s slogan was “Truth in Engineering” up to the year 2016 from the year 2007. Together with the Mercedes-Benz and the BMW, Audi is among the world’s most sold luxurious automobile brand. The key intent of this report is to look into the global, local and glocal strategies of Audi with regard to price and distribution; additionally, the report will select and discuss the primary target market of the organisation.

Audi marketing mix

Due to the element of globalisation, the concept of marketing has evolved immensely over time, and if companies are not able to keep up with the dynamism, they risk being overtaken by their competitors. One of the major dynamics in the marketing concept evolution is the Marketing Mix strategy that an organisation chooses to adopt (Svend, 2017). Audi being a major player in the automobile industry has managed to keep up with the dynamics in marketing by adopting different strategies in the local, international, and glocal market. It is vital to note that as Audi customers look for relevant and consistent experiences in the organisation’s products whenever and wherever they interact with them, the company is under pressure to find creative and innovative methods of marketing. Additionally, these marketing strategies are supposed to remain relevant locally while they maintain a sense of consistency in owning a global brand.

Glocal pricing and distribution at Audi

Audi recognises the fact that the digital marketing landscape is being taken over by glocalisation. As a result, the organisation has undertaken the initiative of strengthening the global brand of its products with a customised approach and flavour for the global market. However, the organisation faces a major challenge of ensuring that the global marketing campaigns of the organisation are in sync with the tastes and preferences of the local audience (Awan, 2014). In setting the prices for its products and choosing the distribution strategies as relates to glocalisation, the organisation acknowledges the fact that the major customer priorities with regards to these aspects differ from one market to another. Therefore, it is critical that these priorities are taken into consideration to establish an effective pricing and distribution strategy in the glocal market. To effectively penetrate the glocal market, Audi has incorporated hyperlocal and social geo-targeting in its overall marketing strategy.

In employing social geo-targeting in its pricing and distribution strategy, Audi can develop a deeper engagement with its customers, and it can get speedy feedback on its services, releases, and ideas. Through hyperlocal geo-targeting, the organisation can use the most recent mapping and communication technology to deliver the relevant content to their clients across the world. Therefore, this form of geo-targeting has opened up a new world for the organisation’s product pricing and distribution strategies. To ensure that the company’s brand identity is relevant while making certain of the effectiveness and relevance of the local campaigns, the organisation assesses its brand from the customer’s viewpoint, (Feurer, Schuhmacher & Kuester, 2018). This helps in ascertaining whether the company cars and other automobiles are in sync with the local demands. When the brand identity does not resonate with the local demands, the organisation takes the initiative to incorporate these demands in the local brand identity.

In ensuring that the glocal pricing distribution strategy of the organisation is successful, their staffs, working in both the local and the international sphere, has created a close association with the customers and the vision of the brand (Hinterhuber, 2017). The senior leadership of Audi is elevated within the automobile industry, and they are recognised as the face of the brand. Additionally, the staff of the organisation ensures that the local communities get the global concept of the demand, hence, making sure that they recognise with it. This way, Audi creates essential relationships with major local markets in the industry. The Audi brand has done a tremendous job in synching its global brand with local demands by using local ambassadors, sponsorships, and local partners.

Global pricing and distribution

In the global market, Audi cars are considered luxurious by all of its clients. Hence, in cashing its brand in the international market, the organisation uses the premium price strategy. Note that the automobile industry is quite competitive with Audi getting major competition from brands such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz (Sonderegger, 2011). Therefore, the pricing in the company’s marketing mix strategy is majorly founded on the competitive pricing of other manufacturers of premium cars. The company has high brand equity, and all its showrooms are filled with a variety of high-quality automobiles.

To enable customers to buy their products with ease, the organisation has a global and innovative financing option referred to as Audi Finance. Here, the clients pay for the cars using debt financing but at a cheaper rate. Additionally, the organisation has optional pricing strategies whereby its existing clients in the international market can purchase car accessories such as navigation and sound systems, and Audi Bang separately. Note that, the global prices of the organisation are also depended on the economic conditions of a particular country and geographic locations of certain markets.

In understanding the distribution and placement strategy of the organisation, it is vital to note that Audi is one of the largest automobile brands that provide luxurious cars in the world. Although the headquarters of the organisation are in Germany, its production facilities are situated in nine places across the globe. In distributing its products, the organisation explores other markets that have not been discovered by other major players to increase its customer base. As a result, the organisation has made major investments in countries such as India and its market presence in Asia has grown exponentially over time.

The brand’s presence has been established and maintained by putting up an exclusive dealership network and centres that provide after sale services (Steenkamp, 2017). The distribution channel used by Audi in the international market involves producers who supply to distributors who sell to wholesalers than to dealers and finally to the customer. Since the organisation is driven by the urge to satisfy the requirements of the customers, its production proves uses the latest forms of technology. The global vision of the organisation is to become the most successful premium brand.

Local pricing and distribution

In the UK a new Audi A1 costs roughly 14,000 GBP whereas the same car costs 19lac rupees in India; this indicates that the local pricing strategy employed by Audi is the skimming price strategy. Although the price is high, it is justified by the quality of the cars manufactured and the organisation’s brand image. This pricing strategy in local markets is particularly important for effective brand positioning of Audi (Svend, 2017). The reputation of the organisation is good in the international market, and it is reflected on by the number of cars that are produced annually. However, in recent years, the company has experienced poor performance in some local markets, and this is majorly attributed to the increase in rates of foreign exchange.

Audi Global Marketing Communication
Audi Global Marketing Communication

The local distribution strategy of the organisation is to establish dealerships in various locations. Taking the case of India, Audi has twenty-eight dealerships in eleven states, and this has increased its sales exponentially over the years (Talke, Müller, & Wieringa, 2017). For instance, there was an increase in sales by 81% in 2014 in comparison to 2013. By establishing connections with local dealers, the organisation can push its brand to local customers, and this has enabled it to achieve some of the set long-term objectives.

Audi Target Market

Of the four common bases of market segmentation, Audi utilises three of them, and they include psychographic, demographic, and geographic segmentation. In geographic segmentation, the organisation’s decisions are based on which cars to sell and in which location (Xia, Xiao & Zhang, 2012). For instance, the organisation’s market research shows that Canadians drive larger cars as compared to Europeans. Thus, the cars sold in Europe are smaller in size as compared to those sold in Canada. With regards to countries like India, the organisation geographically segments the market into urban and rural areas. People in rural areas are more likely to purchase the Audi A3 model more than the new Audi A8.

With regards to demographics, the organisation segments its market into age, gender and income. With regards to age, the younger generation is more likely to buy the Audi A8 because it is flashy while the older generation gives little concern to the make or level of technology used in manufacturing the car.

By gender, some Audi models are more preferred by either gender because of their make or design. Income is a major determinant of whether one can afford an Audi car or not due to its prices that are considered to be high; therefore, the organisation has taken the initiative to produce cars for various individuals of different income classes (Xia, Xiao & Zhang, 2012). Finally, psychographic segmentation groups buyers according to personality traits, lifestyle and social status. As an organisation, Audi acknowledges the impact of these aspects on the purchasing decisions that are made by individuals. Since the organisation is famed for making luxurious cars, the major target market based on psychographic segmentation is the upper middle class to high-class individuals.

Conclusion

This report aimed to look into the global, local and glocal strategies of Audi with regard to price and distribution. Also, the report intended to select and discuss the primary target market of the organisation. From the essay, it has been established that Audi was founded in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany and is part of the Volkswagen Group and its slogan is “Advancement through Technology.” Being a major player in the automobile industry, Audi has managed to keep up with the dynamics in marketing by adopting different strategies in the local, international, and glocal market. To effectively penetrate the glocal market, Audi has incorporated hyperlocal and social geo-targeting in its overall marketing strategy.

In the global market, the organisation uses the premium price strategy to keep up to speed with the competitive pricing set by its key competitors. The distribution strategy of the organisation in the global market involves producers who supply to distributors who sell to wholesalers than to dealers and finally to the customer. In the local markets, the organisation uses the price skimming strategy. This strategy helps the organisation in growing and establishing its brand in the market. Locally, the organisation distributes its cars by establishing dealerships in various locations. Finally, with regards to target marketing, the organisation segments its market into psychographic, demographic, and geographic groups.

References

Audi. (2019). About Us.

Awan, M. (2014). International Market Segmentation: Exploring automobile Market of Young Adults. International Journal Of Trade, Economics And Finance, 5(2), 151-154.

Feurer, S., Schuhmacher, M., & Kuester, S. (2018). How Pricing Teams Develop Effective Pricing Strategies for New Products. Journal Of Product Innovation Management. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12444

Hinterhuber, A. (2017). Implementing pricing strategies. Journal Of Revenue And Pricing Management, 17(1), 1-2.

Sonderegger, S. (2011). Market Segmentation with Nonlinear Pricing*. The Journal Of Industrial Economics, 59(1), 38-62.

Steenkamp, J. B. (2017). Global Brand Equity. In Global Brand Strategy (pp. 243-273). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Svend, H. (2017). Global Marketing. England: Pearson Education M.U.A..

Talke, K., Müller, S., & Wieringa, J. E. (2017). A matter of perspective: Design newness and its performance effects. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 34(2), 399-413.

Xia, Y., Xiao, T., & Zhang, G. (2012). Distribution Channel Strategies for a Manufacturer with Complementary Products. Decision Sciences, 44(1), 39-56.

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Marketing Plan Essay

Marketing Plan

In this essay the discussion focuses mainly on the importance of a marketing plan and the role it plays for the development of businesses. In due course the nature of a marketing plan and the key elements of it are also discussed. Whether the elements of a marketing plan are linked or independent? This key issue is discussed elaborately explaining the links between different elements of the marketing plan.

A marketing plan is different from a business plan and these differences are also highlighted in this essay. The essay would not be considered complete if the misconceptions about a marketing plan are not discussed. There are some misconceptions prevailing about marketing plan and they are discussed briefly in the essay. The essay has been concluded with a brief summary of the discussion made here.

Role and nature of marketing plan

Before discussing role and nature of a marketing plan it is important to understand what is marketing. Marketing is a function of an organization which involves several processes of creation, communication and delivery of value to customers and management of customer relationship in such a order that the organization as well as its stakeholders are benefited.

In other words, it is a process to identify, anticipate and satisfy customer with profit. It is science and art to create change in the market for the benefit of the organization. Understanding the need and want of the market and to earn profit is called marketing. Marketing is done with a strategic plan (Hatch & Schulz, 2003).

A marketing plan is a written document describing the external and internal business environment, aims and objectives of the organization, its strategy, plan of action and control. Marketing plans for different companies vary according to the requirements and the strategy of the company.

Occasionally some companies have only one plan and they call it a business plan but a business plan includes plans of all the functions performed by a company like Research & Development, Production, Financial Management, Human Resource Management, IT as well as Marketing. Hence, a marketing plan is only a part of a business plan (Einwiller & Will, 2002).

 A marketing plan is built on the strengths of an organization to exploit it for the maximum benefit of the organization. An integrated and well coordinated marketing plan makes an organization proactive and not reactive. It successfully communicates the purposes and the intent of the senior management. It sets the objectives for actions and it is target oriented. A written plan provides the scope for adjustments (if needed) and monitoring of marketing activities.

Besides these reasons marketing plans are used for understanding the needs and wants of the customers for their satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is the prime objective of any marketing plan and that can be measured by meeting their needs and wants efficiently. Needs and wants change with time. Hence, a satisfied customer may be dissatisfied tomorrow with the change in need and want. This makes marketing a rigorous and continuous process. (Ferrel and Hartline, 2005).

A marketing plan is based on the information and data from various sources and lack of reliable data is one of the biggest difficulty in making a marketing plan. Complete firm’s picture, product line, present and future of the situation, internal and external environment and customer satisfaction are the key features of a marketing plan. Structure of a marketing plan vary from company to company. (Mathewson, 2009).  Generally a marketing plan is structured in the following manner:

Executive Summary

Challenges

Situation Analysis

  • Customer Analysis
    • Concentration of customer base for particular products
    • Decision Process
    • Value Drivers
    • Type
    • Numbers
    • Company Analysis
      • Focus
      • Strengths
      • Weaknesses
      • Market Share
      • Goal
      • Culture
      • Climate
        • Economic Environment
        • Technological Environment
        • Political and Legal Environment
        • Social and Cultural Environment
        • Collaborators
        • SWOT Analysis

Following environmental factors are needed to be organized for the SWOT analysis of a business environment

  • Strengths and weaknesses of the organization should be considered as internal attributes or internal environment
  • Opportunities and Threats are to be considered as external attribute or external environment
  • Competitor Analysis
    • Market Share
    • Market Position
    • Strengths
    • Weaknesses

Market Segmentation

  • Segment 1
    • Description
    • Sales percentage
    • Wants of the customer
    • Way of using the product
    • Support
    • Way of reaching them
    • Price
    • Segment 2
      • ABC

Alternative marketing strategies

Selected marketing strategy

Product

  • Brand
  • Quality
  • Scope
  • Warranty
  • Packaging

Price

  • Price list
  • Discounts
  • Terms of payments
  • Financial options
  • Options for lease

Distribution (Place)

  • Channels for distribution as intermediaries, distributors, retail and direct
  • Motivation of channels
  • Evaluation of channels
  • Locations
  • Logistics as supply, transportation, warehousing, etc.

Promotion

  • Promotional programs
  • Public relation
  • Advertisement
  • Budgeting
  • Estimating results of promotions

Marketing Plan Dissertations
Marketing Plan Dissertations

Long term and short term projections

Conclusion

Appendix

Exhibits

Recommended reading

In some cases the structure of the marketing plan of a company is not as detailed and extensively elaborated as above and it is short and simple but focused. It depends on the size and the need of a company. Even a simple marketing plan should be structured as follows:

Summary of Strategic Situation

Objectives and Targets

Positioning      

Budget

Sales projections

Strategy for product

Strategy for price

Strategy for distribution

Strategy for communications

Market research

Conclusion

A marketing plan is used to serve the end result of building a customer base and creating an environment which could lead a company to success. It serves other functions as well such as a marketing plan is used for introduction of a new product into market, for exploring new markets for a product, for setting up gals and targets and achieving it and for establishing, directing and coordinating between sales and marketing efforts of a company. The potential differences between different structures of marketing plans depend on the nature of the business of the company and their requirements. The end results are same for all the marketing plans.

Elements of marketing plan and links between them

The key elements of a marketing plan are Executive Summary, Challenges, Situation Analysis, Market Segmentation, Alternative marketing strategies, Selected marketing strategy, Product, Price, Distribution (Place), Promotion and Long term and short term projections. These elements are interdependent and complementary to each other.

Executive summary is the brief overview of the content of a marketing plan. It describes the objectives of the plan. It has the description of the strategies of the company for marketing, Before discussing the plan and the strategies for marketing in detail the marketing managers prefer to discuss the challenges which may come across in marketing or the challenges of the market for the company. The business world is changing very fast and the growing competition in the business world is reducing the margins of the businesses and extensive marketing is required to meet this challenge which is again very expensive. Challenges can only be tackled in favorable situation which further requires situation analysis (Hatch & Schulz, 2003).

Situation analysis is done to understand various situations or it can be said that situation analysis is of several types like customer analysis, company analysis and climate analysis. Customer analysis involves factors like number of existing customers and expected number of new customers, types of customers, decision process of customers, value drivers for customers and finally the concentration of customer base for particular products (Einwiller & Will, 2002).

The end result of a marketing plan is satisfaction of customer and customer analysis is a very important. Analysis of company means study of strengths and weaknesses of the company, the market share of a company for a particular product, the culture of the company because the output of a company also depends on its culture, the goal of the company and the focus the company has to achieve that goal. Then comes climate which means environment of different types like economic environment, political and legal environment, social and cultural environment and technological environment. In some marketing plans they are also analyzed as external and internal environment (Ferrel and Hartline, 2005).

Collaborators are also called as stakeholders by marketing managers. Stakeholders may have stakes in the company in different ways that is why there are different types of stakeholders. Stakeholders range from customer to the top management of the company which includes workers, employees, suppliers and many others and a good marketing plan must not overlook their stakes. The company keeps the required data about its stakeholders for various purposes including making a marketing plan (Mathewson, 2009).

SWOT analysis means study of strengths and weaknesses as well as study of opportunities and threats. A good marketing plan must analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the company, product as well as customers. Similarly it should analyze the opportunities for the company, product and the opportunity of the market. Opportunities never come without threats and it will be mistake if the threats are not analyzed in a marketing plan. For SWOT analysis information are needed to be collected from both the internal sources of the company and from the market (Freeman, 1984).

There is hardly any business without competitor and the success of a marketing plan substantially depends on the proper analysis of the competitors. Marketing managers must know the position of the competitor in the market, the market share of competitor for a particular product or different products and strengths and weaknesses of the competitor.

Marketing mangers divide the market into different segments and the process is called market segmentation. Needs and wants of all the markets are not same and the market managers have to analyze which segment of the market is useful for a particular product. The factors needed to be kept in mind for market segmentation are the percentage of sales in that segment, description of the segment, what do the customer need or want, how do they use the product, how to reach them, whether the price is suitable for them, etc. They need to collect the information from the external sources. (Mullins, Walker, Boyd and Larreche, 2005)

Every plan should have an alternative plan which can be used if needed. Efficient and experienced marketing managers always ready with an alternative marketing plan. The plan which they execute is called selected plan. Marketing plans have detailed description of the factors like product, price, promotion, distribution, etc (Mullins, Walker, Boyd and Larreche, 2005).

Product is the key factor of the marketing plan and it revolves around it. Ultimately product is the tool through which the company reaches to customers and wishes to satisfy them meeting their needs and wants. It is the responsibility of the marketing manager to ensure branding f the product and to analyze the quality of the product and the scope for it in the market, Proper packaging of the product with genuine warranty adds value to it. After all it is the product only which decides the success and failure of a company.

Price is another key factor and it should be relevant to the market, customer and the competitor. Customers always prefer quality product at affordable price. The marketing managers offer some options for the market to make the offers attractive. They offer discounts, different payment options, financial support and sometimes options for lease. All these information should be provided clearly in the pricelist (Jones, 2005).

Distribution ensures the success of a product and alternatively of a company. All these efforts of marketing will go waste if an adequate system of distribution is not set up. Distribution of products is done by various methods like making channels for distribution such as distributing through intermediaries, distributors, retail or direct. These network need to be evaluated regularly for its proper functioning and the stakeholders associated with the distribution network must be kept motivated. The selection of location for the network should be done carefully and proper care of regular supply, transportation and warehousing must be taken (Dickson, 1996).

Last but not the least another key factor of marketing is promotion and promotion is done by following promotional programs, making public relation, advertisement, budgeting and finally estimating the results of promotion.

Some elements of a marketing plan are interlinked while others are independent. For example, challenges can be estimated by understanding the situation and pricing can be done by valuing the product and the promotion of the product is done (Freeman, 1984).

Assumptions

There are many misconceptions about marketing plan. The most common misconception of customers is that they generally think that the companies make marketing plans to manipulate things and the aim is to deceive. In fact, a marketing plan is made to ensure satisfaction to customers. The aim of a marketing plan is to reach to the customer to satisfy his needs at the affordable price. The advertisement sometimes becomes illusionary and creates confusion (Jones, 2005).

The most common misconception of companies is that a marketing plan and its implementation is an expensive and difficult to measure process to evaluate the return on investment on it. Actually a perfect marketing plan ensures tangible return on it. A marketing plan is made by marketing manager after extensive research and it is aimed to ensure success and earn profitability for the organization. Companies think that investment in marketing plan can be made only if the cash flow allows for it. In fact, marketing plan is the factor which ensures the cash flow and projects in advance the rate of cash flow if planned and implemented efficiently (Dickson, 1996).

Conclusion

A marketing plan is a key to success for any business but unfortunately many businesses confuse marketing plans with investment on advertisements with no assured returns. A marketing plan is a simple act of bringing products and services to market and providing right message to right person at right time. Actually marketing plan can only assure the success of a business by guiding businesses to follow the processes required for its success. Those processes include how to analyze marketing environment, how to decide marketing segment, how to choose the marketing mix. Marketing mix includes five important Ps of a marketing plan. They are Product, Price, Promotion, Place and Process.

References

Hatch  M. J. & Schulz, M. 2003. Bringing the corporation into corporate branding. European Journal of Marketing, Vol 37(7/8), pp; 1041-64.

Einwiller, S. & Will, M. 2002. Towards an integrated approach to corporate branding – an empirical study. Corporate Communications, Vol 7(2), pp; 100-9.

Ferrel, O. and Hartline, M. 2005. Marketing Strategy, 3rd Edt.Thomson

Mathewson R. 2009. Misconceptions about Marketing, Maple Marketing

Dickson, P.R. 1996. The static and dynamic mechanics of competition: a comment on Hunt and Morgan’s comparative advantage theory. Journal of Marketing | October 1, pp; 102  –

Freeman, R. 1984.  Strategic Management: a stakeholder approach, Boston

Jones, R. 2005. Finding sources of brand value: Developing a stakeholder model of brand equity. Journal of Brand Management, Vol 13(1), pp; 43-63.

Mullins,J., Walker Jr, O., Boyd Jr, H. and Larreche, J. 2005. Marketing Management: A Decision-Making Approach, 5th Edt, McGraw-Hill / Irwuin, Sydney

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Corporate Communication Strategies

Corporate Communication Strategies

Discuss the purpose of corporate communication strategies

Corporate communication is the overall effort of an organization to communicate effectively and profitably. For the achievement of set goals of an organization, it depends largely on character and organization’s relationship with its stakeholders such as community, employees, clients and suppliers. Thus, it is a strategic tool for an organisation to have competitive advantage over its competitors. It is used to motivate, inform employees, lead and persuade the clients. Corporate communication strategies should be aligned according to different organisation members who may not necessarily be having the same interests. Below are the purposes of corporate communication strategies. Public information: here communication is described as dissemination of information through the media such as bronchus and newsletters. Two ways symmetric: here is a dialog rather than a monolog, communication efforts are seen in terms of its research based and the use of communication in enhancing understanding with stakeholders. Press a gentry: it tries to gain coverage from mass media. Here information is given and no more information is collected from the stakeholders.

Assess how corporate communications link to corporate objectives

Significant relationship between corporate objectives and corporate communication is evident. The top management should ensure that the corporate objectives are clearly communicated to the lower management through the middle. Lack of effective communication may lead to poor or no strategy implementation. Percentage growth, market share in the market, future revenue targets as well as creating more values for stakeholders are examples of corporate objectives, which helps in running of the organization. This makes the organisation have a strong link between the corporate objectives and the corporate communication.

Analyze the relationship between corporate communication and corporate branding

There is a great relationship between the corporate communication and corporate branding. Corporate branding is the symbol used by corporate to identify itself to its audiences or clients. Corporate branding is important as it helps in creating awareness and act as a reminder of the existence of an organization. It is through effective communication in an organization that will enhance corporate branding. In addition to corporate branding, we need to consider the corporate image, which is the perceived sum of organization such as plans and objectives. It includes management style, services, products and communication activities.

Section 2

Demonstrate how you would plan an internal corporate communication audits

A communication audit is an indicator of a corporate current communication practices and their effectives. A communication audit can cover internal and external communication as separate or both depending on the desired outcome and the objectives of the corporate. An audit points out problems such as information blocks, information duplication and misunderstanding. When planning for a communication audits, formal and informal strategies should be used. For instance use of surveys which is a form of quantities research, use of interviews (qualitative research), analysis and reports and action planning. A communication audit is important in that it helps in highlighting current practices as well as possible lacking elements in an organization.

Explain how you would conduct an internal corporate communications audits

Here we have to consider various steps in corporate communication auditing. Determining key areas to audited. By considering both the internal and the external communications; consider everything from your standard branding pieces such as logos and business cards.

Choose research method. When conduction a corporate communication audits you have to select from a variety of research methods such as online survey, interviews and focus groups. This helps in collecting relevant information.

Collect and evaluate your past communications. Here you have to consider all the types of communications and information passed from the management to the middle and lower management. You need to ask questions like; who were our key audiences? Key messages? Did we reach our clients with the correct information? This helps you in knowing where to start with your corporate communication audits.

Look outward. This is where you focus on the customers and your community. Use questions to analyze your communication from your community and customers point of view. Try to find out what is their perception about your organization.

Look inward. Staffs and volunteers are the most important consideration in this stage. You need to collect their views about your organization’s communication. Ask, what are your reactions of communications during the past year? What could be improved? Did internal documents serve your needs? This helps you to have an overview of what is required of you, Put together a plan for future communications. You need to use your research as the starting point for making a corporate communication audit for your organization.

Corporate Communication Strategies Dissertations
Corporate Communication Strategies Dissertations

Critically evaluate the effectiveness of the current levels of practice in your organisation

In evaluating the level of effectiveness, you need to consider the commitment of the organisation. In terms of commitment, the organisation should be effective in that it ensures that all the objectives of organization are achieved through proper communication.

Another effective practice is the human resource. Through effective communication in the organization, various functions such as section, recruitment, in-services training are taken care off. Administration and finance control. In the running of the organization through effective communication of the set objectives, the management is in a position to control how the finances are used.

Explain how you would conduct an external corporate communication audits

An external communication audit is an indicator of current communication practices in an organization. It gives an organization’s information to the external stakeholders such as the local community, the government, the media, clients and suppliers. When planning for an external corporate communication audits you should consider various factors such as the target audiences. This will help in knowing the type of information you are going to pass from your organization to the target audience, thus enhancing the effectiveness of communication.

Demonstrate how you would conduct an external corporate communication audits

When conducting an external corporate communication audits, you have in use things like signage, posters, newspapers, voice messages and bronchus. The following steps are used in achieving it.

Understanding strategic communication practices. This helps in measuring your communication efforts. You need to ask questions that will help you determine strategic communication practices such as what is your communication vision. In addition, how does it relate to your organization’s mission? Are your communication goals well defined and measurable?

Identify the level of practice. There are various levels of practice such as institutional practices that are routine and improved over a time, Optimized practices are continuously evaluated and improved over a considerable period with sufficient resources.

Access the current performance. Here you need to know the levels of your organization performances through interviewing your audiences, use of focus groups. This helps in understanding where to start and what information to change about your organization.

Identify the areas for improvement. Getting feedback from your audiences, you now have an idea of where to change or improve in the organization. This enhances how communication has been done in the organisation. Here you need to ensure that media coverage is taken care off to pass the relevant information to the target audiences. After all this is done, you need to plan for future communication. This increases the effectiveness of your organization.

Critically evaluates the effectiveness of the current levels of practice in your organisation

As a result of effective communication in the organization there is a great change in practices such as community relation. This is as a result of corporate communication branding and imaging in the organization which helps the organization to change a lot. Through enhancement of communication with the local community; the organization has known the tastes and preferences of the community. Program management is another sector that is effective. Due to communication done with various departments in the organization, programs are run effectively thus enhancing the relationship

Financial management: It is through effective communication in the organization that budget administration is taken care of by knowing what the target audiences need you are in a position to budget well.

Demonstrate how you would plan the development of a corporate communication strategy

Having in mind what you need to achieve, you need to know what your communication plans are by asking yourself the following questions; do you want to improve your organization reputation? Do you want to generate more online or offline news coverage? You just need to lay down your organization objectives. The objectives need to be SMART: specific, measureable, achievable, realistic and time.

In planning your strategy, you need to define how you will achieve you objectives. Your strategy should include a profile start such as; do you want to generate maximum or minimum coverage? By having this in mind you are in a position to have an effective corporate communication strategy in your organization.

Selecting the audiences to influence with a corporate strategy

When selecting audiences to influence your corporate communication strategy you need to consider both the internal and external audiences in your organization. First consider how employees who are the internal audiences influence your communication strategy. What information about your organization do you want to pass to your employees? Consider the external audiences such as the media, suppliers’, clients and how they influence your communication strategy. The information about your organization passed to the audiences should be clear information in order to protect the image of your organization. Both the internal and external audiences influence your communication strategy as you need to know how to deal with them.

Plan appropriate measures to monitor a planned corporate communication strategy

Participatory monitoring and evaluation covers any process that allows all stakeholders – particularly the target audience – to take part in the design of a Project, its ongoing assessment and the response to findings. It gives stakeholders the chance to help define a programme’s key messages, set success indicators, and provides them with tools to measure success. They include problem ranking, surveys and mapping. This helps in monitoring your communication strategy.

References

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