“Ending Hidden Hunger” can help our client’s food fortification program address multiple issues. Our goal is to educate, inform and entertain. And to make sure its messages to suppliers, customers, employees, and shareholders are consistent, correct and support its vision, mission and values.

Communication Strategy

Communications is the process of proactively identifying and managing the ripples that might turn into waves which can hurt your company.

Communication is the tool that each company uses to control its image. Since image related activities are dynamic, they require constant monitoring and adapting to current conditions.

Effective communications means more than just “spin” what you put out to the media. Your corporate communications must reflect genuine actions, practices and commitment to ethics.

A communications team should develop a comprehensive communication plan which supports a company’s business plan, and marketing objectives. Any successful communications plan starts with research and seeks ongoing feedback from its various audiences.

A communications strategy is required not only to deliver the right messages to the right people at the right times but also to enable the creation of a culture of two way communication and openness with your various audiences.

Concepts of identity, image, and reputation.

Our client’s corporate personality. Its image among its employees. Its image in the communities where it operates.

Many companies involve in food fortification have been working on their corporate identity and reputation for several years. What benefits seem to have accrued to the company, their customers, and other stakeholders?

What is the nature of a corporate personality? Why is this significant for its communication strategy.

Consider the idea that image and reputation may arise from corporation, product, or person. How does this differ from the concept of brand?

How does marketing communication impact upon brand name?

Identity represents a distinctive, complete impression of your company that stands out in all facets. With unique characteristics that set you apart from others

Corporate identity is mainly composed of three parts: corporate design, corporate communication, and corporate behavior, all must coincide with each other to create a seamless, single identity.

Corporations need a strong visual identity so they become memorable to consumers. Their image and reputation are linked to this as well.

A corporate image should take into account a company’s voluntary codes of conduct which range from vague declarations of business principles applicable to international operations, to more substantive efforts at self-regulation with an increased emphasis on corporate responsibility. Smart marketers realize that corporate responsibility is linked with financial success. They tend to focus on the impact of business in two main areas: social conditions and the environment.

Our client’s food fortification program corporate image should emphasize the company’s position as a founding member of the Global Compact. An initiative challenging the international business community to help the United Nations implement universal values in the areas of human rights, environment and labour. The Global Compact has been well received by the corporate community and, at minimum, gives added momentum to the growing recognition that markets require shared values and institutionalised practices if they are to survive and thrive.

Reputation is considered by a growing number of communication managers to be an intangible asset that enables the enactment of relationships between a company and its customers.

Among many factors contributing to a corporation’s success, none is more crucial than reputation. It affects the way management makes decisions and the positions it takes, and how it takes them, on critical issues. A good reputation is also a signal to the market, one way that stakeholders will know that a corporation is successful.

A good reputation is its own advertising and quality seal. It can engender loyalty in customers that can cross several generations and time zones. A good reputation can bring in more customers in the good times, and be a protective buffer in the bad times.

International Marketing Strategies

International marketing is the whole business seen from the point of view of its final result, that is from the point of view of the international customer.

Extensive research into the marketing strategies of multinational companies indicate that many managers view marketing strategy as a local problem, one that should “be left to the local management in each country.”

This nationally oriented view of international marketing has received wide acceptance. However, the evidence indicates that international headquarters in a great many companies plays an active marketing role, quite distinctive from that carried out at the national level.

The success of a company’s international marketing strategy brings about the acceptance of its products in different countries. The role of international headquarters in developing international product policies arises in the areas of product standardization, product development, and product safety and quality.

We have a tendency to personify things: it’s a way to build a relationship with our surroundings and belongings. By unconsciously establishing a personal relationship to a company and buying its products we build a foundation for loyalty.

Most companies have access to the same technology. If they want to further distinguish themselves, its marketing strategy must rely on another factor than technology: the user experience. As the audiences focus changes constantly, marketing strategies must move in the same direction as the customer.

Multinational companies calculate their competitive standing in terms of global sales and market share. The basis of their strategic advantage is to be found not in any individual country but in their ability to coordinate and link resources and activities internationally.

The most challenging aspect of corporate strategy for multinational firms is how to reconcile the infinite detailed knowledge required for successful operation in a particular national territory with the breath of coverage required if the firm is to have an overall corporate strategy that gives pattern and direction to its worldwide operations. In this context a corporate strategy calls for an integrated approach that sees each national environment as part of a larger international system.

Companies pursuing global high share strategies are usually the giants of the industry. Their competitive strategies reflect a global interpretation of competitors and opportunities. Operations are coordinated across national boundaries to secure a major share of the global market.

My favorite definition of manners: “behaving in a way that makes those around you feel comfortable.” That means that if someone uses the fish fork with the salad course, you don’t stare, snicker, or sneer. You ignore it.

And on the topic of courses for etiquette — Many business schools do “etiquette dinners” to help students get through some of the stresses of professional interactions. For example: http://www.media.uottawa.ca/mediaroom/news-details_1093.html.

Maybe Centennial’s alumni association should do something similar. Why don’t you suggest it to them?

In business, treating your fellow employees—from the security guard to the CEO—with the same manners you’d treat a revered older relative gets noticed.

“Please,”, “Thank You,” “Excuse Me,” and “Am I Interrupting Anything?” still count.

Call me old-fashioned if you want.

Have you tried using the HTML code for starting a new paragraph? If not, see if putting (but, without the spaces) at the beginning of each new paragraph breaks things up for you.