Tips for your first job in corporate communication By Basil Mbuna

        
          Tips for your First Job in Corporate Communication



To be respected as a PR pro and a Corporate communication practitioner — you will need to develop some hard core skills and do it quickly. Start out with building relationships.
Spend most of your time getting to know your stakeholders. If you are in the communication department, there is no room for shyness and taking your time to gel in. If you are there, it is your responsibility to start working towards the company's perception management and image building from day one. 
Best way to do that is to first know what the image is, both internally and externally. So go around the floor, meet people and introduce yourself. Spend 20 percent of your time at your desk – to organize things, make notes and reply to emails.

Make a PR calendar

First of all, get your lists in one place. In most cases it will be a list of journalists and editors from different news organizations.
Spend some time to mark out the most important publications for your organization (ask for help from a senior).
Once you have the list ready, make a schedule to go see them. Call and request for an appointment. During the first interaction, introduce yourself. Remember and swear by this as a PR pro. Until you die, this person must receive a call from you at least once every week. This is part of your PR calendar.

Learn from the scriptures of the company

Usually the Corporate communication Department is good with keeping records. 
Since they are the company’s corporate information database – they should have a bunch of documents that they can share with you. Take out the previously released press releases, articles written and other information that you can grab. 
Ask for the material printed in the newspapers or the final drafts of Press Releases — in case of internal communication, an internal memo or email can do the trick. Go through these extensively.
Compare the draft prepared and the one printed in the newspaper. Find the link, make your own pointers on how it can be improved. This will help you learn how your organization’s messaging is prepared and what is the media’s expectation from your content. 
Remember — if you cannot write, this is not the right place for you. The good news is, writing is a skill you can learn – if your basic language proficiency is good. Make editing and proofreading a duty you must never fail. This is a very important skill in Corporate communication.

Let the communication tools in the company lead the way

Every company utilizes a set of tools to communicate with their internal and external stakeholders. 
These could be as simple as using an email or as modern as using corporate media. Learn about the tools available in your organization. 
Organizations use magazines, newsletters, communication portal, emails, videos, town-halls, meetings, blogs and other communication tools to interact with internal audience. 
They could be using press releases, conferences and events, online information dissemination services, videos, blogs or other tools to communicate with their external audience. Once you are aware of all the tools, find ways of using them more efficiently before you venture into bringing innovation into the department. And of course, if you have an idea to improve the process of communication, bring it to the table.



By 
       Basil.