Oxford Bibliographies describes Strategic Communications as:
“An umbrella term to describe the activities of disciplines including public relations, management communication, and advertising. However, strategic communication is also increasingly recognized as a developing subfield within communication. As such, it explores the capacity of all organizations—not only corporations, but also not-for-profit organizations (including advocacy and activist groups) and government—for engaging in purposeful communication. The strength of the approach is its emphasis on strategy rather than on specific tactics as well as its focus on communications understood holistically.”
Although the focus is not on specific tactics or separated components, there is value in exploring some of the major functions integrated into a holistic approach of Strategic Communications. These functions include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Board Engagement
- Branding
- Change Leadership/Management
- Crisis Communications
- Events Planning and Management
- External/Stakeholder Communications and Engagement
- Funding
- Government Relations
- Internal/Staff Communications and Engagement
- Media/Press Relations
- Parent/Family and Community Engagement
- Policy/Issues Management
- Public Affairs
- Social Media
- Spokesperson Training
- Stakeholder Feedback and Input (Focus Groups, Surveys)
- Video Production
- Web Development/User Experience
