"Mastering technologies strengthens your communication and leadership within your own company." Epresspack president Antoun Sfeir explains how being open to change, and keeping pace with digitalisation specifically, is crucial for successful engagement, impactful leadership and reputation management.
The way information is generated has changed, and this is true all over the world. Lack of resources - both financial and human - is an issue faced by organisations while they are also increasingly concerned with increasing brand awareness and maximising brand story. Brands must fight harder than ever before to secure media coverage, with an increasingly fragmented media, greater competition from social influencers and the risk of fake news.
Media and information consumption has never experienced such upheavals before. Communications teams need to find ways to adapt to these increasingly challenging situations. Their future depends on the ability to develop a robust content strategy to build and preserve their reputation. Digitalisation is at the core of this success.
Let’s take a look at where things currently stand. In the United Kingdom, where communication budgets are much higher than in the rest of Europe, hopes of success are still low. We see too many communications teams use a mismatch of ageing and time-consuming tools that are a real hindrance when it comes to providing information to key audiences. Often audiences do not have the time or attention to engage with a brand’s story.
Effective technology-based solutions do exist. These tools enable the creation of content hubs that allow brands to establish and build a complete content strategy, and adapt their organisation in the process. A digital-first communications strategy has the potential to drive innovation and streamline processes within the company, to help maximise brand awareness.
Seeking to increase brand visibility while avoiding potential crises combines a communication manager’s two worst nightmares. An online brand newsroom - also known as a ‘media hub’ or ‘press section’ - aims to help media and other stakeholders remain informed about the company. This updated dynamic window is just the tip of the iceberg: the best solutions require global scalability. With a multifunctional back-office that allows instant creation and publication of responsive press releases and press kits boosted with embedded videos and images, these tools allow the communications team to target content and information based on the audience that they are attempting to influence. Furthermore, these tools allow communications teams to provide content with or without a subscription and to share content via social networks. The tools reinforce teamwork, drive efficiency and allow the communications team to identify a ROI in their communications activity. All these features form a single command centre.
Adopting a technology-led approach puts your audience just a few clicks away from your brand story. It also ensures better visibility for your campaigns. Finally, the technology paves the way to react quickly to the news cycle, which is all the more important when one news story chases the next in an ongoing crisis environment.
Global communications in conjunction with budget constraints does not normally allow “multi window” communications to promote varied subjects like innovation, HR, CSR policy or company results. One centralised hub allows for multiple subjects and stakeholders to stay informed. It is up to the communication manager to implement a steering committee gathering representatives of finance, CSR, HR and research and development departments to define appropriate audience, architecture, subjects and accessibility.
Mastering technologies strengthens your communication and leadership within your own company. Global communication and budget constraints have reshuffled the deck, giving no place for multi windows.
When it has proved increasingly difficult to give out visible and engaging content – the raison d’être of the communication manager - technology proves to be the solution.
With an established UK office since 2017, the multi-award winning Epresspack is the PR software and newsroom provider to support your PR and comms teams. Epresspack provides key solutions for content management and delivery for global brands including; Dove, Aston Martin, Ineos, Dorchester Collection, Icandy, Ascot, London City Airport, De Beers. Epresspack’s technology is a global solution that helps brands and organisations in nearly 40 countries manage their reputation and coverage. It brings together all the functionalities needed to manage and optimise communication campaigns and responds to the challenges of the digital transformation of communication practices.
For more information check out our 2022 Digest
