Strategic Communications Management

Research Services

With the rise of social media, content marketing and the empowered, research-oriented buyer, b-to-b communications organizations are poised for a paradigm shift. Categories of communications stakeholders such as “influencer” are blurring the lines between traditional public relations and analyst relations responsibilities, requiring an entirely new way of leveraging organizational competencies.

The communications organization of the past was a bullhorn for the corporate entity, untethered to the rest of marketing or sales. The communications organization of the future is an integrated brand hub – building and managing the corporate reputation, seeding demand, executing on the brand across multi-media demand creation campaign tactics, collaborating with product marketing to ensure a consistent top-to-bottom “go to market” strategy, and working with sales to both provide resources and elicit brand and reputation feedback from the front line.

Strategic Communications Management™ (SCM) provides the best practice research, benchmarking data, analytic models and thought leadership required to leverage, optimize and enhance your existing communications resources and initiatives to align with the rest of marketing and sales. SCM delivers fact-based intelligence to compare and contrast your efforts with peer organizations and thought-provoking research on industry trends, bleeding-edge tactics and channels, and best-in-class planning and measurement processes.

OPERATIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Understand how your communications organization stacks up against peer organizations in terms of structure and allocation, performance, and alignment
Learn how best-in-class organizations are aligning communications efforts with product marketing, demand creation and sales (direct or channel) enablement strategies
Leverage key frameworks and models to visualize and diagnose key challenges and develop a prioritized path toward organizational objectives
Discover the strategies, tactics and tools that best practice organizations use to build and manage corporate brand and reputation
Gain access to insight, research and peer interaction geared around the evolution of the b-to-b communications function

REPRESENTATIVE COVERAGE AREAS

Strategy – Understand the opportunities for corporate communications, corporate marketing and marketing communications to be active in seeding and enabling demand creation and sales
Corporate and Marketing Communications– Identify key internal and external stakeholders and influencers to optimize PR and AR functions, as well as drive corporate influence and advocacy
Social Media – Learn how communications must act as a social center of excellence and operational hub for the successful social organization
Measurement– Ensure that your activities are “planned to be measured” and build a best-in-class dashboard that shows where you’re moving the needle on business objectives
Technology – Access information about solutions and services available to help communications professionals research, strategize, execute, facilitate and measure

REPRESENTATIVE MODELS

Brand Migration Model – Facilitates the development of a strategic roadmap toward a leadership position based on a brand’s current challenges and objectives
Influencer Framework – Provides a foundational architecture for the scoring, tracking and engagement of influencers within a market segment
Social Engagement Model – Advocates a four-step process for prioritizing social activities, with variable complexity depending on the sophistication and objectives of the user
Agency Selection Model – offers a baseline core set of selection guidelines for evaluating and reviewing public relations, analyst relations and other external agencies in order to engage with the most appropriate vendors
Agency Project Management Model – Offers a step-by-step guide to evaluating and working with an agency on a defined project or initiative

DELIVERABLES

Incorporating SCM into your workflow is easy. Interact with SiriusDecisions research analysts in the manner that suits your needs. You may contact our analysts by phone, send an inquiry by e-mail or participate in interactive webcasts and in-person forums with analysts and peers. You will also have access to published research, presentations and rich media-based content on demand via the client portal.

Research:

Research Briefs: Monthly research notes that frame executive-level sales and marketing issues. Three to four briefs are delivered to you each month, and are archived on the research portal.
SiriusPerspectives: A monthly newsletter that provides a high-level overview of a sales and marketing topic dealing with demand creation, sales optimization or reputation development.
Vendor Profiles: Reviews of emerging suppliers who may be beneficial to your communications efforts. SiriusDecisions also plots suppliers on our vendor matrices, allowing you to analyze and narrow your choices.
Core Strategy Reports: Provides key observations and commentary on SiriusDecisions presentations introducing critical models, frameworks and strategies. Tackles more complex sales and marketing issues, and introduces new areas of research in a white paper format.
SiriusTools: Frameworks, models and issues spectrums that allow you to more easily visualize and communicate your challenges, and to determine the most appropriate courses of action.
Rich Media: Webcast archives in rich media format that can be replayed at your convenience, shared with team members or used for training purposes.

Analyst Inquiry: Analyst inquiry privileges are offered on an as needed basis as part of SCM membership; you can schedule analyst time via phone or email. Discussions often focus on best practices, data, analytic tools or vendor reviews.

Strategic Communications Management Benchmark: Each year SiriusDecisions will benchmark your communications organization’s performance against our SiriusIndex™ of business-to-business companies, and provide an independent perspective of your performance compared with your peers.

Events: Peer interaction is a valuable way to understand how others are solving similar issues, and to build your network. SCM membership includes bimonthly Webcasts and quarterly half-day research forums, as well as discounted pricing on all SiriusDecisions conferences.

Below, please find a partial list of recently published SCM research.

Brief
Brand Usage: The Digital and Social Style Guide

In this brief, we outline a best practice marketing style guide for use by digital and social marketing teams and third-party providers (e.g. agencies).

Brief
Brand Usage: The Marketing Style Guide

In this brief, we outline a best practice marketing style guide for use by internal users and external providers.

Brief
Foundations of Positioning and Differentiation

In this brief, we introduce key considerations for positioning and differentiating an organization or one of its offerings based on the type of demand being created: new concept, new paradigm or established market.

Brief
Revolution or Evolution? The State of B-to-B Social Media

In this brief, we explore four major b-to-b social media trends that are relevant to all b-to-b organizations.

Brief
The Role of Public Relations in Demand Creation

In this brief, we explore six opportunities for PR to contribute to demand creation success.

Brief
The Benefits of Hosting an Online Customer Community

In this brief, we outline the benefits to an organization of hosting a customer community through its own Web property vs. the challenges of relying solely on public social media outlets.

Brief
Corporate Blog Strategy: A Checklist for Success

Most organizations have some form of blog, but many lack formal intent, strategy or integration into other marketing programs and tactics. In this brief, we offer a checklist for organizations seeking to rationalize a corporate blog strategy.

Brief
The Sirius Indicator: Social Collaboration Platforms

In this brief, using the six dimensions of the Sirius Indicator, we discuss the major categories to consider when evaluating and scoring social collaboration platforms for internal and external communities.

Brief
Shared Services Execution: Adopting an Agency Approach

In this brief, we explain the structural and process components required for transforming a stagnant marketing shared service group into a high-performing internal service provider.

Brief
B-to-B Personas: Customer Role Attributes

Marketers must understand the shift in perspective that happens once a buyer becomes a customer. In this brief, we explain how to extend the b-to-b persona model to incorporate customer roles.

Brief
The Sirius Indicator: Social Media Management Vendors

In this brief, using the six dimensions of the Sirius Indicator, we discuss the major categories to consider when evaluating and scoring social media management providers.

Brief
Building the B-to-B Crisis Communications Plan

In this brief, we describe five building blocks for a best practice b-to-b crisis communications plan.

Brief
Channel Communications: Supplier-to-Customer

In this brief, we outline key considerations for delivering supplier-to-customer communications to increase the success of channel partners.

Brief
Using Marketing Automation for Influencer Relations

In this brief, we introduce a phased approach to leveraging a marketing automation platform for optimal influencer relations.

Brief
The CMO Buyer Persona: Content and Tactic Preferences

In this brief, we present findings from our 2012 C-level buyer persona study, focusing specifically on the content and tactic preferences of CMOs.

Brief
Foundations of B-to-B Corporate Messaging Strategy

In this brief, we outline the key audiences, inputs and components of a messaging strategy that can be used to train and enable all employees responsible for communicating an organization’s value proposition.

Brief
The SiriusDecisions Corporate Persona Template

In this brief, we introduce a template for the development of corporate personas, a key deliverable within the strategy development phase of the SiriusDecisions Enterprise Communications Model.

Brief
Foundations of B-to-B Influencer Strategy

In this brief, we outline the core components of influencer strategy, a key deliverable within the strategy development stage of the SiriusDecisions Enterprise Communications Model.

Brief
Social Media: Its Use in Product Launch

In this brief, we explain how emerging best practices for social media engagement are changing product launch dynamics.

Brief
The Sirius Indicator: Social Media Intelligence Vendors

In this brief, using the six dimensions of the Sirius Indicator, we discuss the major categories to consider when evaluating and scoring social media intelligence providers.