Your business’s external and internal interactions with customers, the media, and employees are pivotal to its success. However, some small businesses might not have a communications department. If you’re a small business owner juggling multiple tasks, outsourcing your communications to an agency like Circlewood Creative will ensure your communications are professional, accurate and consistent with your brand voice.

Keep reading to learn what a communications department does and why it’s important.

Communications vs marketing

Although communications and marketing departments have different responsibilities, there is considerable overlap. Both are tasked with sharing messaging and engaging people.

A communications specialist ensures that audiences understand the message, which means they need to understand that audience’s preferences and how to reach them. Messages can be internal, external, or tailored for potential customers, vendors, or business partners. Communication is about creating a message that is clear to understand, resonates with recipients, and has maximum impact. Some refer to business communications as “audience-focussed.”

Marketing, on the other hand, is “customer-centric” and “sales-focused.” Your marketers focus on creating far-reaching strategies that deliver content in the most impactful ways. To achieve this, they need to research and study data analytics. Marketing would be an ad campaign on Meta or with Google Adwords.

In practice, your communications and marketing departments need to work closely together. The actions of one affect the other. Close cooperation and collaboration is a necessity!

General responsibilities of a communications department

Customer communications and marketing

Your communications department crafts clear, concise, and captivating copywriting for various customer communications and marketing materials. For example:

    • Website Content
    • Blog Content
    • Email Marketing Campaigns
    • Newsletters
    • Brochures
    • Print Marketing Materials
    • Sponsored Content
    • Social media posts

Public relations

How your company communicates with the general public is very important. It’s a crucial part of building a positive brand reputation! Communicating to the public is a primary responsibility of your communications team. They’re in charge of:

    • Writing and distributing press releases to the media
    • Organizing and creating materials for events like product launches and interviews
    • Monitoring media platforms to see if your company, products, or services are mentioned
    • Creating a PR plan for unfavourable press or misinformation

Crisis communications

When something goes wrong, you need to rely on your communications team. They are responsible for creating specific messages responding to crises and unexpected events that could damage your brand’s reputation. For example, you might need crisis communications if a natural disaster disrupts your service. Communications specialists:

    • Offer advice on what to say and how to say it
    • Organize interviews and news briefings
    • Speak with authority figures and affected communities
    • Get accurate information out to stakeholders as quickly as possible

Internal communications

Communications departments handle external and internal communication tasks. Internal communications include:

    • Emails and memos among company staff
    • Printed materials for employees
    • Internal blogs, newsletters, and other publications
    • Corporate communication between departments and business partners

Communications services from Circlewood Creative

Circlewood Creative is a communications specialist covering your business’s external and internal communications needs. We provide communications strategy, professional consultation, content creation, and copywriting for all marketing and communications materials.

Learn more about our communications strategy and content creation services.