Our Campaigns Methodology
Through utilising our extensive experience base and network we are able to bring a variety of different perspectives to bear, essentially covering or augmenting the roles of several people under our ‘Campaigns Methodology’. We deploy a comprehensive and unique approach to planning and service delivery at Lexicon Dynamics.
The Campaigns Methodology essentially means that every Marketing, Corporate Communications, Internal communications and Public Affairs initiative, tactic, or output should contribute to a strategic aim or campaign. This naturally means that multiple campaigns will run at the same time, many of which will be mutually supportive of others. This is to be expected entirely and actually provides a range of opportunities for harnessing messaging, collateral and content of all varieties in order to amplify the effectiveness of any single product, so to speak. It also enables more timely and accurate measurement and adjustment of any tactics within a campaign.
Most organisations that seek any public profile will aim to punch above their weight in reputational terms. Equally this may be true in market share, talent development, Customer Experience, products and services, technology and innovation and a wide range of other factors. However, this is not always the case and indeed some companies historically have been known to punch below their weight. There are some famous examples of this happening when billions have been wiped off a market cap, due to what is often described as poor communications.
In an airline for example, Customer Services issues or complaints, which can be raised as a result of any part of the air transport experience, regularly appear in the mainstream media. These normally fall under travel, tourism and consumer affairs reporting and frequently make their way into social media channels, which in themselves often provide increased impetus for further mainstream media and trade media coverage.
The reason for highlighting this as an example, is that Customer Service dialogue is not typically intended for the public domain, though naturally has the potential for reputational risk. Some companies choose to be very low profile, while others have preferences for particular channels or tactics which are normally budget and resource dependent. We can work in a number of capacities to help organisations optimise their capabilities across all areas of risk and opportunity in reputation management.
Internal Communications
Our own leadership philosophy is to get the best from people, rather than the most. When people are inspired to be their best it’s a little like taking water from a well that naturally replenishes itself. When organisations take the most from people the well runs dry and employee churn increases costs, poor morale reduces productivity and the customer experience suffers, resulting in loss of revenue.
Inconsistent or insincere internal communications can result in fragmentation, reduced ROI and disenfranchised employees amongst many other problems. Tensions over social media presence often prevent employees from being key advocates and short termism often undermines a culture of innovation, efficiency and continuous improvement in organisations.
We have developed a leadership style that creates a positive, unified atmosphere where people have an enjoyable and purposeful experience, which enables them to be innovative while delivering results.
We believe that Internal Communications is a leadership discipline and that messaging in this era with multi-generational and sometimes multicultural audiences is an art form not a science. It is therefore essential that Internal Communications is treated as a campaign that underpins everything else in an organisation.
It is difficult for some leaders to come to the realisation that their Internal Communications is suboptimal or indeed that their leadership style may not be perfect, but we take the view that there are a number of pain free mechanisms that can be deployed to ensure the well doesn’t run dry.
Crisis Communications
A PR crisis and Crisis Communications are not the same thing, though in most companies understandably there will be a large degree of overlap, as there is naturally a reputational impact on the organisation for either scenario. We have experience throughout our careers of both scenarios and have adopted a methodology for Issues Management, PR crises, and Crisis Comms which includes training and preparedness. Issues management and Crisis Communications have been pivotal to our contribution to businesses, through handling some highly complex reputational challenges, often reactively though with many issues having been anticipated and built into Business Continuity Planning strategies.