Strategic Communication

Abstract

Strategic communication is 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. This approach is particularly valuable given the increasing difficulty faced by organizations in differentiating among communication activities (and results) appropriately “owned” by various functional groups. Further, the increasing complexity of a global, digital society has challenged the capacity for organizations to engage in long-term strategic planning. From both scholarly and practitioner standpoints, key questions explore the extent to which professional communicators within organizations are a part of strategy formulations, the degree to which, if any, communications are aligned with organizational strategy, the effectiveness of communication strategies and campaigns, and the role of organizations and stakeholders in society. Research in strategic communication draws on diverse disciplines, including organizational communication, management, military history, mass communication, public relations, advertising, and marketing. Hallahan, et al. 2007 (see Defining Strategic Communication) notes that “although the term strategic communication has been used in the academic literature for many years, scholars are only now in the process of coherently exploring this in terms of a unified body of knowledge” (p. 4). Works chosen for inclusion in this review are, therefore, drawn from various disciplines, with particular attention to those that attempt to synthesize or explicate links across disciplines.

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