PRmoment 3030 winner Sunami Paigankar shares a day in the life of an internal communications professional

I have had my fair share of amusing and strange responses when I tell people I work in internal communications. 

The most common response being, “Isn’t this something that HR manages?” But that’s for another post. 

With internal communications rapidly transitioning from a mere support function to a strategic one - uniting colleagues towards a common goal and vision- we look at how a day in the life of an internal communications specialist unfolds. This would vary depending upon the size of the organization and how evolved the function is.

Planning and strategizing

The best way to kick-start the day is by skimming through the weekly content calendar, as it gives you visibility on what’s coming up across all the available internal communications channels, and make amends if required. Say you learn about an important development being communicated externally, you can factor it into your internal communications plan to communicate it first internally.

Managing executive communications

Drafting messaging for senior leadership is one of the core responsibilities of an internal communications professional. Company performance updates, strategic initiatives, key organizational updates need to be communicated to colleagues in a timely, transparent and coherent manner. The tonality of the messaging should not only reflect the organizational culture, but also the executive’s individuality for it to strike a chord with the audience.

Using videos for internal communications

Text is passé. We live in a video-first world and are more receptive to engaging video content. From yearly achievements to shareholder updates to candid employee vox-pops, videos are a powerful and impactful way of communicating with colleagues. On any given day, I find myself either writing a video script, fine-tuning the storyboard or reviewing the final video.

Brainstorming sessions with the team

These could be virtual or physical depending on the nature of your workplace, but form the core of your messaging and campaign. I love bouncing off ideas with team members, going over what will work and won’t work - circulating moodboards and seeking opinions on campaign taglines. Some of my best campaigns have stemmed from tapping into the collective innovation of my team.

Briefing the designer on campaign collateral

Everyone knows a bad brief can spell disaster. Briefing your designer/agency on the campaign objectives, the target audience, the tonality of your messaging and creatives is crucial in ensuring your campaign collateral is coherent and compelling. I liaise with the designer several times during the day, tweaking the creatives and messaging until we’ve nailed it!

Analyzing metrics

How many views did the CEO’s video garner? Has there been an increase as compared to the previous videos? Did your article on inspiring workspaces get more likes than the one on diversity? Analyzing what kind of content is working and what isn’t is essential to alter your content mix and take corrective measures.

As you can see internal communications can be quite exciting, dynamic and rewarding requiring you to wear many hats.

Sunami Paigankar is a Godrej PRmoment India Adfactors 30 under 30 winner for 2019 and manager, integrated communications, Tata SIA Airlines.