Corporate communication plan: what it is, its parts and an example

What corporate communication is, and what a plan is

Corporate communication is everything a company says about itself: who it is, what it does, how it works and where it is heading. It speaks to several audiences at once, such as clients, investors, press, future employees, suppliers and the team itself, through many channels: the website, LinkedIn, sales presentations, events, internal emails or videos.

The problem is that, in most companies, that communication happens in fragments. Someone updates the website when they can, someone else posts on LinkedIn when they remember, a video for a trade show gets commissioned in a rush and internal communication depends on whoever has time that week. Each piece may be fine, but together they do not tell a story.

A corporate communication plan brings order to that. It is a document, usually for a year or a quarter, that decides what needs saying, to whom, through which channels, with which pieces and on which dates. It is not something to file away, but a roadmap the team checks every month.

You do not need to be a big company to have one. A twenty-person company that wants to sell more, attract talent or prepare a funding round needs to know what it will say in the coming months just as much as a multinational. What changes is the size of the plan, not its logic.

What a communication plan is for

A corporate communication plan is for five things above all.

So everyone says the same thing. When the company's key message is written down, sales, leadership, HR and marketing repeat it the same way. The client, the investor and the candidate get the same idea of who you are.

So you do not improvise. A company's big moments are known in advance: a launch, a trade show, results, a wave of hires, an anniversary. With a plan, the piece for each moment is prepared in time, not the night before.

To spread the effort. Communicating well takes work. A plan shows each month's load, helps decide what is done in-house and what is outsourced, and keeps the team from being overwhelmed.

To get the most out of every production. If you know which pieces you will need in the next three months, you can shoot them together. One shoot gives you the website video, the LinkedIn interviews, team photos and internal pieces. We explain it in one shoot, a month of content.

To measure. If the plan says what it wanted to achieve, at the end of the period you can check whether it did and what to change. Without a plan, communication is judged on gut feeling.

The parts of a corporate communication plan

A complete plan has nine parts. In a small company some take one line, but none should be skipped.

The starting point. What is communicated today, through which channels, what works and what does not, and how each audience sees the company. Sometimes reviewing the website, LinkedIn and recent pieces, and asking a few clients and employees, is enough.

Goals. What communication should achieve in this period, linked to the business: more sales leads, more applications, preparing a round, a better internal climate.

Audiences. Who you need to talk to, in order of priority. A plan for clients is not the same as one for investors or for the team.

Key messages. The three or four ideas each audience should take away. What you do, for whom and why you, said simply.

Channels. Where each audience is: website, LinkedIn, press, trade shows, email, intranet, Teams or Slack.

Actions and pieces. What will be done and produced: videos, photos, articles, events, interviews, a podcast.

Calendar. Which month each thing goes out, marking the year's key moments.

Owners and resources. Who does what, with what budget and what is outsourced.

Measurement. Which numbers are tracked and how often, to know whether the plan is working.

An example three-month plan

To show how this lands in reality, here is an example three-month kick-off plan for a fifty-person technology company in Barcelona. It is the kind of example we prepare when starting with a company, not a specific client.

Goal: help potential clients understand quickly what the company does, attract technical profiles and help the team, which has grown fast, understand where the company is going.

Audiences: potential clients, candidates and the current team.

Month 1. Externally, a one-minute brand video for the website and LinkedIn explaining what the company does. We cover it in company presentation videos. Internally, a welcome video for new joiners. The same shoot produces team and office photos.

Month 2. Externally, an interview with the CEO about the problem the company solves, with cuts for LinkedIn. Internally, two training videos on the processes that raise the most questions.

Month 3. Externally, a success story told by a client. Internally, coverage of the annual convention on video and photo, with short pieces to share the next day.

Measurement: website visits and enquiries, LinkedIn performance of the cuts, applications received and a short internal survey at the end of the quarter.

Six main pieces in three months, plus the cuts and photos that come out of them. It is a pace almost any company can sustain if it is planned.

Corporate communication in the digital environment

Today, most corporate communication happens on screens, and that changes some rules.

LinkedIn is the main shop window. For many companies, especially those selling to other businesses, LinkedIn is where clients, candidates and investors see them. The company told through its people works better than the corporate page alone: short interviews, team views, projects explained by whoever did them.

Video rules. People watch more video on social media than any other format, and a one-minute video explains what a company does better than a full page of text. That does not mean long, expensive videos for everything, but short, subtitled pieces designed for each channel.

Consistency matters more than ever. Someone may see your website, your LinkedIn and one of your reels on the same day. If each looks like a different company, trust drops. So the plan must also set how the company looks, not just what it says.

The team is part of the channel. When people in the company share what you do, they reach far more people than the corporate account. Giving them easy-to-share pieces is part of the plan.

And speed matters. Online, news, an award or a problem gets discussed within hours. Having material ready and a clear owner lets you react in time.

Video and photo inside the plan: real cases

In almost every communication plan we have seen, video and photo are what takes the most work and what gets left to the end. That is why they are worth thinking about from the start.

With Qilimanjaro, a European quantum computing company, we worked as their video partner and every company milestone had its piece: presentation videos, product pieces with motion graphics, coverage of international events, lab and team photography, and content for investors and talent. More than fifteen videos in total. The key was that communication was not done one order at a time, but alongside the company's calendar.

With Audiovisuales Data, which sells technical audiovisual equipment to other businesses, the challenge was different: organising a complex catalogue. We made product videos, demos and a digital catalogue with technical photography that their sales team uses in presentations and on the website.

Two lessons from these cases. First, a company needs pieces for outside and inside, and they can come from the same shoot: we explain it with the example of the internal podcast. Second, pieces about people, such as interviews, team stories or employer branding videos, are the ones that build the most trust and get shared the most.

How we help with your plan and your pieces

At Bostak Films we help companies in Barcelona and the Baix Llobregat with both halves of the job: designing the plan and producing the pieces. We do it as part of our corporate communication service.

We start by listening: what you want to achieve, what is not getting through, externally or internally, and which channels you use. Then we mark with you the moments in the year when a piece really helps, such as launches, results, new hires or conventions. And we give you the plan: which pieces, in what order and at what pace.

Then we produce it with the same team: corporate and brand video, interviews with leadership and staff, success stories, corporate photography and headshots, training and internal communication, events and company podcasts. We shoot at your offices or at our studio in Viladecans, and every piece comes with versions for each channel.

Many companies hire it through a fixed monthly plan that works like a bank of pieces: each month you decide what to use it on, what you do not use rolls over and nothing is invoiced without your approval. It is explained on our video and photography for companies page.

If your company communicates in fragments and you want to give it a thread, tell us what you have and what is missing. We will design the kick-off plan with you and tell you which pieces you would need.

FAQ

Got a project in mind?

We tell stories in video end to end — production, filming and post-production.

Keep reading