On the STV Information Night Program (20.08.2023) Moisés Mabumba and Samuel Simango, speaking about the Doctors and Health Workers’ Strike, highlight the Government’s weak communication skills as one of the main factors that has contributed to the extreme positions between the parties and the worsening of the CRISIS.

The successive crises that the Government has been going through in recent times raise the need to reflect on the role and contribution of communication in governance, if we take into account that it is not possible to dissociate communication from government action, since successful governance is one that places the citizen at the center of its action.

The Government’s Communication deficiencies cannot be sustained by a principle of incompetence or inability of government managers to manage their communication processes. There are several strategic and operational factors that have contributed to poor GOVERNMENT communication , with a negative impact on its ability to establish relationships, resolve conflicts and protect its reputation.

I do not intend to engage in a theoretical discussion about the concept of Public or Government Communication, but to understand what factors make Government Communication deficient and seen as one of the weakest links in Governance whenever crises occur. 

THE ROLE AND VALUE OF COMMUNICATION IN ORGANIZATIONS

An important and fundamental point for understanding the role of communication and its importance for organizations is that they must first be understood as an inherent part of the nature of organizations, as they are formed by people who communicate and relate to each other and who, through interactive processes, make the functional system viable for their survival and fulfillment of organizational objectives in a context of diversity and complex transactions.

Although we understand that communication is essential for organizations, many, particularly in Mozambique, continue to face significant challenges in terms of its implementation. The biggest constraint to the success of communication in public and government institutions in Mozambique has to do with the role and position assigned to it.

In the early 1990s, on the way to the 21st century, communication was no longer seen as just a tactical management tool and began to be considered a strategic area in organizations. Thus, in the current context, we cannot think of communication except in a strategically planned way, based on corporate values ​​and focused on achieving the organizations’ business objectives. In the case of the public sector, the central idea is the same.

Unfortunately, many organizations and managers of organizations have not yet realized the importance and role that communication should play in their organizations. In many organizations, especially government organizations, communication still plays a marginal role, without any strategic value. In other words, communication is seen by many of our organizations and their managers as an area that merely provides support, expenses, production of materials (t-shirts, caps), press relations, organization of corporate parties, Women’s Day, Labor Day, among others. This reductionist view of the role and function of communication and public relations in institutions constitutes in itself a major obstacle to the growth of organizations.

Successful organizations think about communication in a strategic and organized way. If in the past we thought that the success of organizations resulted only from the proper management of financial and material resources, today, the success of organizations depends much more on the quality of the relationships they establish, whether internally or externally.

Thinking strategically about communication means planning and organizing the communication process at the organizational level. It means seeking long-term results and the best actions to ensure the fulfillment of the organization’s strategic objectives. Thinking strategically about communication at the organizational level means positioning the function within the context of the organization, giving it direct access to the administrative system, allowing it (communication) to advise the company’s management, assessing its objectives and making recommendations on how the area can contribute to these objectives; contributing to the analysis of companies’ business plans, identifying problems and opportunities for the communication area and establishing programs to minimize undesirable situations and maximize positive situations; anticipating, from a communication point of view, situations that may have a negative impact on the organization and, above all, developing the function in a planned and integrated manner with the other areas of the organization.

From a governance perspective, think strategically about communication, which must accompany all governance processes, through a process of planning and organizing its activities so that governments can engage in dialogue with their different audiences.

It also means that governance plans such as the PES – Social Economic Plan or the Government’s Five-Year Program, must define communication as a strategic tool for their implementation and success.

In a quick analysis of the Government’s Five-Year Program 2020-2024, in Pillar II: Promoting Good Governance and Decentralization, good governance is defined as “ Good governance refers to mechanisms, processes and institutions through which citizens and social groups articulate interests, exercise their rights, fulfill their obligations and mediate their differences. Good governance aims to ensure transparency and participation of all, provide effectiveness and efficiency in the provision of services to the public ”. To this end, it recommends in point (V) of the strategic objectives, to ensure the consolidation of good governance and decentralization, that the Government “ensure quality media and information services”.

If the government’s priority is to promote good governance and decentralization, then, from a communications perspective, its strategic objective should be geared towards designing and developing a communications policy and strategy that will help to ensure the consolidation of good governance and decentralization. Furthermore, the government’s communications policy and strategy should also be geared towards ensuring compliance with the government’s Five-Year Plan.

GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT

In Mozambique, the management of government communications is the responsibility of the Mozambique Information Office (GABINFO). Subordinate to the Prime Minister’s Office, this entity oversees all state bodies and public communications bodies, provides advice to the executive on specific issues in the area of ​​communications, promoting, among other things, the dissemination of and access to information on government activities. GABINFO is also responsible for registering and licensing media outlets.

If we look closely at GABINFO’s responsibilities, we can easily see that we are dealing with an organization whose genesis is the management of the relationship between the Government and the Media, focusing on a “ public information” model , characterized as journalistic, which disseminates relatively objective information through the media in general and specific means of communication.

There is no investment in proactive and permanent relationships with strategic audiences. More importantly, we lack a strategic vision and guidelines for government communication to ensure compliance with the objectives and governance program.

GABINFO needs to once and for all assume a strategic role in the Management of Government Communications and serve to anticipate and mitigate crisis situations, manage relationships and not just communicate or campaign about the Government’s achievements. As long as the focus of the government communication process is based on the unidirectional communication model, crises will continue to occur and the quality of the Government’s response will remain low, as it will always be reactive.

Like GABINFO, most public and/or government institutions focus their communication processes on managing relationships with the press. Our leaders are concerned with what is said about them and their institutions in the media and not with building relationships with their main stakeholders.

This model prioritizes more “tactical” communication actions; the actions have a reactive nature and essentially aim to protect executives against attacks from the press, produce Reports, Newsletters, Advertising Spots, Press Releases, among other unidirectional communication instruments, to the detriment of strategic and bidirectional thinking, as recommended.

However, the current scenario characterized by social, economic and technological impacts that generate tensions, requires the adoption of new communication postures at the organizational level. Its role ceases to be merely reactive and unidirectional and becomes strategic and oriented towards a huge diversity of audiences, demonstrating the relevance of communication and the need for its management.

Because the current model does not effectively meet the needs of governance, for Government communication to be effective and excellent, GABINFO must broaden its scope of action, leaving aside the logic of press office, and incorporating into its work a logic of “communication” that focuses on:

• Advise the Government, assessing its global objectives and making recommendations on how the communications area can contribute to achieving these objectives;
• Contribute to the analysis of the Government’s Five-Year Plan and the PES, identifying problems and opportunities for the communications area, establishing programs to minimize negative impacts and maximize positive impacts or situations.
• Anticipate and manage crisis situations that may have an impact on the Government’s reputation;
• Develop your activity in a planned manner and always integrated with other areas of governance. In other words, place communication as a means to achieve strategic objectives and not as an end in itself.

It is important to rethink the role of GABINFO, giving it greater operational, technical and human capacity so that it can effectively become the government’s communications agency. We need a broad discussion about the type of communication we want at government level, to look at the quality and training of the communication actors or makers, to look at the challenges the country faces today and understand what the role of communication is and should be. Above all, we need to find a communication model that is suited to the new paradigm of governance: decentralization.

THE PROFILE OF COMMUNICATION PROFESSIONALS

No less important than giving due value to communication and public relations in organizations, the profile of professionals and their skills play an equally important role in the success of communication at the organizational level. Professional competence and initiative are also extremely important for communication excellence, since the communication professional must be the one who makes possible the permanent coexistence between innovation and routine, evolution and regression, stability and instability, regeneration and inertia (Gonçalves, 2013: pp. 65-66).

According to Margarida Kunsch, Public Relations deals directly with the organization and its audiences “promoting and managing relationships and often mediating conflicts, using communication strategies and programs, according to different situations in the social and corporate environment”.

From this perspective, Kunsch (1997) identifies the public relations professional as the most suitable person to carry out this task, since his/her field of action is directed towards the analysis of the organization’s plans, identifying problems and opportunities.

It is important that public relations professionals are able to insert government communication into a productive process, with the implementation of innovative and effective communication programs, with a view to a cordial understanding between the political class and the target audiences, thus placing public relations as the engine of the entire communication machine at the organizational level, as its practices imprint institutional dynamism, functioning as the main indicator of the positioning that any organization should have in terms of image and ideology, at a time when political disputes for power are increasingly fierce.

However, in Mozambique, perhaps because of the unidirectional communication model and also guided by the functional profile of GABINFO, a good part of the communication managers of government institutions are actually journalists, and not public relations managers with a broad vision of organizational and corporate communication processes aimed at building relationships between the organization and its audiences. This does not mean that journalists cannot work in organizational communication. It is necessary to properly frame the role of journalists and journalism within the communication structure of an organization, so as not to create deviations in the focus of action of such structures.

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To promote sales traction with content marketing, a focus is established on offering quality content to the target audience at all stages of the sales funnel.

But how to put this sales traction strategy with marketing into practice?
Content marketing is one of the best digital marketing strategies. It consists of creating and distributing relevant and current content to attract, engage and convert a lead into a customer.

In this sense, the objective of content marketing is not to sell directly, but rather to offer information that resolves doubts, solves problems and meets the needs of a company’s target audience.

Through content marketing, a company can establish its authority and credibility and build a relationship with the customer.

But to establish a successful strategy, you need a team of experts who will know exactly how to attract with value and convert with strategy.

Top of the funnel: Attract with value
The foundation of a content marketing strategy is the creation and distribution of quality content to your audience. Content can consist of blog articles, e-books, whitepapers, infographics, informational videos, podcasts, among other formats.

Content needs to be informative or educational and needs to bring genuine value to readers, especially in answering questions, resolving problems and providing insights. Your company needs to become a trusted source of information.

For example, if a company specializing in personal loans wants to attract potential customers, it could publish articles on economic trends, personal finance best practices, and step-by-step guides for solving common problems.

Content with these thematic axes not only attracts the attention of the public interested in personal credit, but also establishes the company as an authority on the subject. This is one of the strategies that Agência NoAr uses in Simplic’s content marketing.

Middle of the funnel: Convert with strategy
The conversion stage in content marketing involves directing a lead to the middle of the funnel. You can do this in three ways:

Assigning calls to action in content – the famous CTAs;
offer rich content in exchange for the lead’s contact information through an e-book or White Paper (we did this in exclusive Inbound or “Inboring” Marketing content);
or even when segmenting content for different stages of the purchasing process.
Through this strategy, your company can develop a segmented mailing list, made up of people who show or have already shown interest in the products or services offered by your company.

Bottom of the funnel: build lasting relationships
With a content marketing strategy, the conversion stage is just the beginning of a lasting customer relationship through the continuous delivery of quality content that keeps your customers engaged with the brand.

Keeping customers interested in your brand after purchase greatly increases the possibility of customer retention and loyalty and can pave the way for them to become advocates for your brand.

The post Gain sales traction with Content Marketing appeared first on Publicus.

But developing a humanization strategy for startup marketing involves balancing the desire to build solid relationships amid the incessant search for innovation and digitalization, often prevalent in a technology company.

Does it seem like a difficult equation to solve? So stay with us, because in this article we will explain how the humanization of marketing for startups can help technology companies gain space in the market and build solid relationships with their customers.

Why is the humanization of marketing for startups important?
Brazil has 12,700 startups, according to the Brazilian Startup Association. Ironically, these companies born digitally face the challenge of gaining consumer trust in the dynamic and competitive scenario that is the internet.

Hypothetically, this would be easy to solve, as a startup offers an innovative product or service, right? But for any innovation to reach consumers, it is very important to establish a marketing strategy for startups designed with what the public is looking for in a brand.

And it is precisely in this context that the humanization of marketing for startups comes into play, a strategy that is increasingly valued every day, as its objective is to place the customer at the center of all actions to establish an authentic and lasting connection.

To work, a humans first strategy is based on two objectives:

Grab the consumer’s attention…
Earn your trust.

Why invest in the concept of humans first in marketing for startups?
When we think about applying the concept of humans first in marketing for startups, we need to establish communication that works for both the internal and external audiences.

Therefore, the first objective when investing in this trend is to attract talent, the famous Employer Branding. After all, qualified professionals value companies that have an organizational culture focused on people and demonstrate genuine concern for employees.

The post Marketing for startups: 5 “Humans First” tips in practice appeared first on Publicus.

For companies that are at the beginning of developing a scalable business, it is necessary to implement some marketing pillars such as growth hacking, paid media, among others, so that the company can grow faster and more solidly.

In this article, we will talk more about good marketing practices for startups and how we can help you scale your business efficiently, with planning and implementing a successful strategy.

First of all, know who your persona is
Persona is much more than target audience. She is your ideal customer, identified through a lot of research (including field research) and analysis.

While the target audience covers more general demographic data about your audience, the persona defines behaviors, habits, motivations and personal goals compiled into a single “person”: your ideal customer.

It is this persona that will guide your marketing plan and all your strategies, especially content production. In fact, for content to be, in fact, effective and relevant, it is created and disseminated in sync with the moment of your customer’s journey, mirrored by the in-depth analysis of your persona.

Produce innovative and interesting content
Anyone who is launching a startup on the market certainly has a lot of relevant content to share, including market data and research that are essential for their journey as an entrepreneur.

These types of content can be used as a first step in the consumer’s journey of discovering the startup, who will be educated with each piece of content you share.

The dissemination of relevant content without explicitly selling the brand is one of the pillars of Inbound Marketing that makes startups grow, and, by investing in this strategy, you can generate much more engagement and authority, positioning your business more assertively in the market.

The post Marketing for startups: how to create a successful strategy appeared first on Publicus.

To answer these and other questions, we will bring some insights and trends in Employer Branding in 2023, moving away from practices that have fallen into disuse in this area that grows every day, even with home-office work.

What is Employer Branding?
Popularized in the 90s after the publication of an article written by Simon Barrow and Tim Ambler, references in management consultancy, the term Employer Branding is used to refer to a strategy that combines brand management and people management so that the company’s reputation company towards employees and new talents.

Through the development of professionals, in addition to the creation of actions aimed at valuing the company’s human capital, it is possible to attract and retain talent in an increasingly competitive job market.

For example, if, on the one hand, one of the objectives of the communications and marketing sector is to create a good brand perception among customers, the main objective of Employer Branding is to create a good brand reputation among new talents looking for a job opportunity. After all, around 96% of professionals research the reputation of a potential employer before accepting a job offer.

It is important to remember that there are some very valuable benefits for the company that applies Employer Branding in its operation. A strong employer brand can reduce recruitment costs by up to 43%, according to research led by LinkedIn. Furthermore, it is possible to attract more qualified candidates, making the brand more attractive to the target audience.

However, anyone who thinks that this strategy is applied only in the recruitment and selection process is mistaken. When the professional is hired, a second phase of Employer Branding is applied so that this talent grows together with the company, yields good results for both parties and contributes positively to productivity.

3 ways to keep employees motivated during a crisis
As a manager, it is inevitable that at some point in your professional career, you will have to deal with a crisis within the company, whether temporary or long-term.

Communication with your team in more critical times can be a challenge if not well managed and it is extremely important to know how to keep employees motivated during crises so as not to lose your team’s talents.

Create true connections with people in the company
The feeling of being deceived is one of the worst we can feel, including in a professional context. Therefore, transparency is essential for there to be trust in the relationship between brand and employee. Obviously, there are confidential issues, but it is important to recognize and validate employees’ feelings so that this connection is truly established and your team has confidence in you.

Furthermore, highlighting that unforeseen events and problems happen is essential. At this moment, what differentiates a good employer brand from a common company is the way managers conduct feedback and understand the best way to deal with adversity, identifying errors to repair them with the collaboration of the team involved.

The post Employer Branding: as a motivated maintainer or collaborator during a crisis appeared first on Publicus.