Course Summary:

Public Relations and Communications are at the heart of business performance. Modern methods, tools, and channels have greatly increased the speed in which communications can be experienced, from local to global.

Targeted Competencies:

• Planning, organizing and leading
• Controlling and evaluating
• Written communication
• Public speaking and media handling
• Building rapport
• Providing and receiving feedback

Course Objectives:

At the end of this course the participants will be able to:

• Set Corporate Affairs in strategic anticipatory and effective context
• Develop an understanding of stakeholder programs for regular, focused communication
• Examine the development of Corporate Affairs tools
• Understand the development of strategy/plans/tactics and coordinating these
• Evaluate and the use of research
• Learn the tools and techniques required to manage reputation in a complex media environment
• Manage knowledge within the business for effective media management
• Shape external perceptions of their organization by first-class corporate internal communications
• Develop a strategic approach and a clear plan of action

Course Outline

Unit 1: The Power of Communication:

• Goal setting
• Corporate Affairs and Public Affairs approaches
• Corporate identity and image
• Corporate communications overview and strategy
• External reputation management Communication as a change agent
• Communication as a goal for all managers

Unit 2: From the Inside Out: Crafting Consistent Messages:

• Internal communications
• Family and friends as Stakeholder
• Measuring emotional capital
• Communications channels mapping and monitoring
• Setting internal communications goals
• New media for rapid interaction
• Champions, opinion formers and incentivisation
• The place of the company magazine/newsletter
• The multinational internal communications program
• Commitment from internal decision-makers

Unit 3: Risks and Threats: Their Identification and Management:

• Single issue politics
• Special interest groups
• Whistleblowers and the rules of disclosure
• External opinion formers
• Cause-related PR and core values
• Campaigns, their design and planning
• A crisis management toolkit
• Stakeholder interest inventories
• Opinion former networks

Unit 4: Corporate Affair/PR in the Corporate Mix:

• PR in the communications mix
• PR in the marketing mix
• Direct response PR
• Financial PR
• PR and strategy
• Brand PR
• Persuasion measurement techniques
• Integrating PR/Communications and marketing plans
• The art of leveraging
• Corporate affairs and customer relations

Unit 5: Powerful and Persuasive Action Planning:

• Measurement of performance: bottom-line impact
• Translating strategy to tactics
• Horizons for PR and corporate affairs development
• Tools and Techniques summary: a tactical inventory
• Recruiting allies: a networking approach
• Justifying the plan and convincing top management
• Making the most of other disciplines to maximize results
• Individual and group consultancy
• Further sources of help and information