Corporate issues. Corporate publications

To unite and bring together people who work to achieve certain goals, great importance has an awareness of their unity, a certain commonality. In small enterprises and small businesses, the corporate spirit is sufficiently supported by such familiar methods of communication as correspondence, meetings, and negotiations.

If the number of employees exceeds two to three dozen people, other information carriers begin to appear, sometimes independently. An example would be bulletin boards or wall newspapers, which contain all kinds of information about the activities of the enterprise and the lives of its employees. Here you can see messages about the successes and prospects of the company, the progress of current tasks, congratulations on holidays and invitations to corporate events.

At first glance, such simple solutions are intended exclusively for internal corporate communication and may only be of interest to the team members themselves. But this is not true at all. Visitors to your office can also look at the information on the bulletin board, and this is not just idle curiosity. Future and current clients see themselves as your partners, which means that events in their partner’s life do not leave them indifferent. In addition, they to some extent allow us to judge the presence of a team of like-minded people in your company. And, accordingly, draw a conclusion about reliability, give confidence that if problems arise, everyone interested in the overall success will join in solving them.

It is worth noting that corporate press publication may be required by both a large and a very small company with several dozen employees. Where higher value To make a decision to create a periodical for clients, there are the specifics of the business, the range of goods and services and the potential audience. If the number of your customers is large enough, offers are constantly updated and there is a need to promptly inform potential customers about them, corporate publication of the company is an excellent solution for achieving this task.

What are corporate publications

Corporate publications– these are magazines, newspapers or simple newsletters about the life and activities of the company. It is very important to strictly adhere to the assigned publication frequency. These can be weekly, monthly publications, if useful information for this period is not enough, the publishing company can assign a frequency of once every 2-3 months.

Corporate printed publications in the form of a magazine have significant advantages over the newspaper format: full-color printing best quality, a large amount of useful information, reader-friendly format. In addition, the periodicity of the magazine is usually greater, which means the publisher has enough time to prepare materials.

Corporate newspapers, magazines– this is the best confirmation of the focus of your company’s strategy on the client and his interests.

It is this approach that determines the content of the publication. It should include information that interests clients. These are descriptions of goods and services, current achievements of the company, facts that will help convince readers of the ability to accurately and promptly solve the problems of their own and partner business. It will not be superfluous to demonstrate your awareness of changing legislation, new technologies and scientific prospects of the represented industry.

The main question for your customers is: who is ready to take what actions to solve their problems and fully satisfy their needs. This is the information that the reader needs to provide.

To this end corporate newspapers of companies can introduce clients not only to their top managers and directors, but also to ordinary specialists, describe their achievements in their workplace, professional growth. Without a doubt, a lot depends on their contribution to the common cause, and the worthy representation of employees from different departments of the company makes an excellent impression on partners. The strength and cohesion of the team in achieving the goal is an important component of success!

To do corporate magazine or a newspaper is more attractive to the reader, light forms of presentation should be used. This is how you can convey to the client information about what benefits he can derive from cooperation with your company, be it purchasing goods, receiving services, increasing profitability or expanding your own range.

Publication and release of a corporate newspaper or a magazine within strictly stated deadlines - this is a more responsible and complex task than maintaining a portal with operational information. But the invested efforts will definitely give the expected result! Stable quality, precise production frequency, right choice useful information is an excellent evidence of the stability of your company and the qualifications of all its employees.

We can conclude that depending on what your corporate newspapers, magazines, It depends on whether you will be able to clearly and effectively demonstrate your advantages over competitors and the real benefits of cooperation to clients.

Editorial Policy

It is very important what editorial policy you choose in relation to your corporate publication. As a rule, we do not recommend using skew in one direction or another on the pages of the publication. You should not write about your employees’ trip to Courchevel if you are not sure that your clients can also afford this type of leisure. Also, do not overuse the description of areas of activity not directly related to your business in order to expand the coverage of the publication’s audience. It is very important that the publication is consistent, and the information in it is strictly relevant.

Messages about the cultural and sports life of company employees make a good impression on readers. For example, another release of a corporate magazine may contain information about a joint visit to the theater, a chess tournament or intellectual competition, a football match between departments. You are confident that your clients also share these hobbies, but only in their free time. It is unreasonable to devote an entire issue to one such event. Corporate newspaper or the newsletter has a different purpose - promotion of the company, not entertainment, and you should not forget about this.

The only exceptions may be extraordinary issues that are dedicated to state or industry holidays. For example, corporate newspaper for May 9 may contain materials about special events, stories of war veterans and other information.

First among Russian companies the benefits of the corporate press are appreciated large enterprises such industry areas: insurance, banking, energy, telecommunications business, as well as sales of real estate and cars.

The innovative focus of these organizations is constantly changing the legislative framework, as well as the introduction of new technologies in management require constant coverage within the corporate publication.

Publishing and journalistic PR: differences and advantages

Journalistic PR includes all kinds of publications (reports, interviews, advertising articles about the company’s activities) in third-party media.

Publishing PR includes the acquisition of ownership or creation of new media. These could be TV channels, publishing houses, radio stations. Corporate publications are a PR tool, which is available to most companies, but only large business representatives and monopolists in profitable sectors of the economy can afford to create their own media.

Main goals of the corporate publication– this is not just advertising and promotion of goods and services, but also the image of your company as a whole. The interest and loyalty of potential customers can become a reliable foundation for business development.

Don't forget about social responsibility. For example, set the publisher the task of developing a certain level of knowledge in the presented business industry among the readership.

If the publisher provides information useful to readers, this will not only attract additional customers, but will also create a certain level of knowledge among a wide range of consumers. For example, corporate magazine of the company, which deals with the product group of goods, may contain advice on healthy eating or recipes. Corporate newspapers of factories can highlight features new products, calendar plan its appearance on the market and the like.

If we're talking about about the network of legal consultations, the publication provides, for example, a list of documents necessary for registration of property rights. Such educational work brings very real results. It brings new clients to the company and reduces negotiation time. In addition, the potential client often no longer needs a free consultation.

Advance information to consumers is very important for banking and investment. The instability of this market is a very common phenomenon, and the average Russian, as a rule, relies on rumors and speculation, rather than on real facts. The situation with society’s illiteracy in matters of the banking sector of the market today is simply catastrophic. Therefore, it is simply impossible to sell such a product to the consumer without a detailed preliminary explanation of the benefits and all sorts of nuances.

Specialized industry publications do not solve the problem because they are written in too complex a language. Such texts are understandable only to specialists. The average reader will not want to waste time trying to understand complicated terms and formulations. The business press, on its own initiative, publishes mainly ratings. The description of banking products in it is paid for as advertising materials. Obviously, such a publication will not be cheap.

Publishing a corporate newspaper V banking sector allows you to convey to potential consumers the fact of the creation of new products, their main advantages, features, and benefits from their use. Also in publications accessible language possible risks are outlined.

Corporate newspaper for the company's anniversary– this is an excellent opportunity to remind about your achievements, report on your extensive work experience and the main advantages of cooperation.

The main goal of any corporate publication is to form a loyal attitude towards the company’s activities. Its target audience is clients, potential consumers, employees, partners, and the public.

Who can you trust to create a corporate magazine?

If you decide to release your own publication, you will need a company that can bring this idea to life. Required printing houses that deal with corporate publications, specialize in them. Our company has repeatedly won tenders and has extensive experience.

We are ready to offer:

• Services of a large staff of creators.
• Own design studio.
• A staff of copywriters and cooperation with journalists.
• Modern production base.

Creation of corporate newspapers and magazines is an important area of ​​our activity.

Our specialists collect and prepare necessary materials, layout of a corporate newspaper. We also carry out corporate newspaper printing at our own production facilities. If necessary, customers are provided with advice on any issues related to inter-corporate communications.

Advantages of publishing a corporate newspaper

Economic benefit. Corporate publications b2b business areas are the most profitable. You will have to pay $5,000-20,000 for a strip of advertising. You cannot place anything other than advertising in this block. A page of your own publication costs 250-500 USD. Publishing a corporate magazine In addition to advertising itself, it makes it possible to solve many other problems. The cost of a strip depends on the quality of printing, the amount of materials and a number of other factors.

Image creation. Only successful companies that are actively developing can afford to publish a corporate magazine. A printed publication is not only a convenient marketing and advertising tool, but also a confirmation of its high status in the business world and openness to the public.

Information control. Company representatives control all materials that appear in their own publication. Without their approval, nothing will go to print. All information is presented in the light that the customer wants. The company itself initiates the release of the necessary materials.

Receiving feedback. The mailing is carried out according to the existing database (partners, counterparties, current and potential clients). They, in turn, send opinions, questionnaires, photos, reviews, advertising modules that they want to publish. That is, your own publication, provided it is properly distributed, makes it possible to establish feedback with customers.

Traditional storage medium. Of course, the Internet has almost unlimited possibilities and has become firmly established in our daily lives. But despite this, many consumers prefer information on paper.

Edition parameters

Volume. To effectively solve marketing and advertising problems, at least 12 pages are required. But this is the minimum volume; for large corporations it can reach 96 lanes. An increase in volume is required to increase information content, as well as in the case of a large range of proposals.

Periodicity. The magazine should be published at least 4 times a year, for large companies it is usually scheduled to be released monthly. Newspapers are usually published weekly.

Circulation. Approximately, the circulation should be 2 times greater than the number of current clients of the company. For companies that provide consumer services and goods, this is about 50,000 or more copies, for the b2b market - from 1 to 5 thousand copies.

Format. Usually the traditional A4 or 22x26 cm is used (this is slightly smaller than A4).

Additional circulation with translation into a foreign language. If a company works with foreign partners, it is imperative development of a corporate publication in the language they speak. This practice is common throughout the world, so it should not be neglected.

The magazine is great for promoting a brand, and if you need a means of information, it is worth produce a corporate newspaper.

These are the optimal parameters that allow you to effectively solve the problems assigned to the publication.

• Company's news.
• Description of new proposals.

Previously, such videos had three popular subjects: an interview with a boss, an interview with an employee, and footage from corporate events. In between there is a “spectacular flight” of the camera along the office corridors. Fortunately, such scenarios remained far into the 2000s. We decided to look at what topics are relevant in corporate videos today.

Emotions

Last March 8, Mail.ru Group posted a video about programmers and their mothers, which will bring tears to even the most callous people. The video solves several HR branding problems at once. Firstly, there will be no doubt that the company treats its employees with great attention, and also gives them pleasant surprises. Secondly, they talk about the specifics of a programmer’s work. Thirdly, they show the company's office - modern and cozy.

Charity

Companies for which they are more likely to talk about charity social significance and benefit to society are the basis of the value proposition (EVP) and the product or service produced. These are companies from the medical and pharmaceutical industries, but very often even FMCG or IT companies in which the concept corporate responsibility not just sound, they make videos about how company employees help people.

Last year, MEDSI employees took part in a series of charity races called “Patricks Run”. And they made a short report about it: a video clip, fiery music, a few words about impressions at the end - short and effective.

For its 17th anniversary, the Yandex company organized charity event on collecting children's toys (because 17 years old is no longer the time to play with toys). In the process, we managed to film the installation of the site, the moments of saying goodbye to the toys, and short interviews with employees.

"One day in our company"

This genre is a real trend in recruiting videos in Russia. Our selection includes three videos on this topic.

“Netology Group” presents in the video its office, and along with it the process of creating educational videos that the company is engaged in. From the brief and script to filming, editing and post-production. The image of a typical employee is well shown: all the characters in the video are young, fashionable, clearly well versed in modern technologies People.

VTB Group made a whole series of recruiting videos on the theme “My First Day”, filming the “first day” of employees of various departments: the advertising department, the currency control department, the IT department and even the accounting department.

Aeroflot filmed one day of a flight attendant. At the same time, the company shows how difficult this work is: a complex schedule, demanding clients, the need to always look perfect. A big plus of the video is the details of the daily life of flight attendants. They are required to be at the airport 1.5 hours before departure. At the terminal, the first thing you need to do is undergo a medical examination. Before departure, the team gathers for a short meeting. Unlike the VTB video with a professional presenter, the flight attendant is not a guest actress: perhaps this makes the video less impressive, but it honestly talks about the life of the company’s employees.

Office tour

This genre is still relevant if you have a truly unusual office. For example, it is located in Phuket, like Aviasales. It’s interesting that the video was not created for the company, but was published on a popular video blog: this is a great way to reach viewers.

The IT company EPAM made its own video in the same genre. They showed not only work, but also entertainment, and ended with a small corporate party. At the same time, the tour of the office contains intrigue that will make you watch the video to the end.

Flashmob

An unexpected look at the daily routine of Leroy Merlin employees. Such dance flash mobs were timed to coincide with store openings and took place in several cities.

"I work for myself"

McDonald's positions itself as a good start to almost any career. Including for the financier. I would like to note the professionalism of this video: it is well shot, it stars a professional actress who ideally fits the type of McDonald's employee.

Company anniversary

Companies have filmed and will continue to film videos for anniversaries. For their 9th anniversary, Odnoklassniki filmed a video using the stop-motion technique: very easy to implement, very effective in the end.

We asked Elena Emelenko, head of the HeadHunter consulting center, to tell us about the recruiting videos that stood out to her.

"Behind last years Recruiting videos have become better quality,” Elena is sure. - There are more non-standard scenarios, for example, a video in the form of a full-fledged short film or an interactive video with gamification elements. In the West, interactive videos are now popular, when we are not just shown a video about a company, but together with the viewer they analyze a problematic situation. If the viewer chooses the wrong solution to a problem, they are told that this type of decision or behavior is not appropriate for the company. Conversely, if the applicant does everything correctly, he is offered to participate in the competition for the position. Such a video solves several problems at once - attracting and demonstrating the features of the company, a mini-tour of the office or the first trial working day, as well as the selection of candidates.

Here are two excellent examples similar interactive video for HR branding:

1. Find out if you could work as a manager at AB InBev: http://www.ownyourfuture.ab-inbev.com/.
2. Check if you can become a warden in a British prison - the National Offender Management Service of Great Britain has developed a whole quest for this on a special website http://www.nomscareers.com/.

Of the regular videos, I am most impressed by those that make me happy for the company and employees, or even cry. Such videos usually show an emotional story, and not just a set of “company-employees-conditions-holidays” cliches. I remember the Intel video from 2012. Here, with humor and in a minimum amount of time, they showed how Intel employees differ from the rest.

There are also more serious options: for example, not just a video, but a whole series about internship at a company filmed by PWC.

This is certainly not a budget option, but for those companies when the competition for personnel is incredibly high and it is necessary to show the applicant both the advantages and differences from others, immediately motivate him to work and at the same time create viral effect, - such mini-series can be a very effective tool. They begin to spread independently in space, essentially solving the problem of advertising and announcement for you.

What recruiting videos do you remember? Send links in comments.

Not every individual entrepreneur in the course of its activities, thinks about publishing any media. Although on this moment Electronic media such as the company’s website has become very popular. Some companies maintain several websites at once - for external and internal users. This step is justified for many reasons, and first of all, such media are necessary for coordinating and targeting a large audience of users.

What is corporate media

Corporate media are electronic or print media that serve the interests of a particular company or social goals– dissemination important information for official or general use. Corporate media has a huge variety. First of all, these are printed publications, newspapers, magazines, leaflets, booklets, and much more. The second type of corporate media is electronic media. Here you can find radio programs, television programs, and Internet sites. If an enterprise does not have the funds for a full-fledged program, it produces stories and places them in existing city media. To do this, you do not need to open a media outlet, but it is necessary to maintain an employee with the responsibilities of producing corporate information products. Any corporate information serves to enhance the company’s image and corporate interests.

The main feature of corporate media is the lack of information about other types of business, about other entities of this business. The founders of a corporate media outlet, for example, a glossy magazine, can be several single-profile enterprises. Then the media talks about the industry as a whole and about these enterprises, posting information that is relevant for all specialized enterprises, but using the example of the enterprises that founded the media.

The release of corporate media can be carried out by the parent company. That is, the enterprise creates a media department that, from the first moment until the release of the finished publication or program, performs all the work. But it is possible to do without such large-scale work and an increase in staff. You can enter into an agreement with any editorial office for the production of a corporate information product. In monetary terms, it will be cheaper, but control of the work may not be one hundred percent. If you can find a compromise and build an outsourcing scheme, then the benefits and results will be maximum.

Types of corporate media

We have already mentioned the first division into types of corporate media: electronic and print. A corporate magazine, newspaper, newsletter, catalogue, corporate board, corporate information sheet - all of this belongs to print media. Electronic media are not only radio, television, websites, but also electronic versions of printed publications, radio and television programs.

The second division of corporate media is based on the audience that is influenced. Publications for employees are designed to increase loyalty to the company, inform about events held for employees, and about professional skills competitions. Articles and stories in such publications are designed to improve the professional level, talk about new technologies, encourage the best specialists enterprises. The second type of audience for which corporate media can be created is the company’s numerous clients. For example, a corporate publication of a real estate agency can introduce citizens to the existing housing stock of the enterprise. A magazine about the properties of tea and coffee will appeal to customers of the store specializing in the sale of these products. Corporate media work great for clients of travel companies; glossy magazines, websites, and television programs most clearly and vividly represent the countries and cities included in the tours.

The company may publish corporate publications for its business partners. Such a magazine, newspaper or program can contain materials about new production products, new technological processes and lines. On such a platform you can effectively search for new partners, suppliers of raw materials or buyers of your goods.

And the fourth type of target audience for which corporate media can be intended are professionals, that is, those companies that independently engage in technological and scientific developments. Such corporate publications are published by large enterprises that are leaders in a specific area of ​​economics and production, and whose resources allow them to adequately design the periodical.

The third division of corporate media is by type financial security. Publications can be dated entirely at the expense of their founder, they can also pay for themselves entirely through the financial and economic activities of the media itself. Funding may be partly dated and partly payable. Also, the media can not only pay for itself, but also make a profit. Most of the corporate media belongs to the first type, that is, completely dated. But it is worth noting that there are publications in Russia that from simple corporate ones turn into large publications with a general focus, become quite popular, attract advertisers and begin to make a profit.

And the last type of division of corporate media is based on the method of production. The creation of a mass media can only take place with the involvement of its own specialists, or with the partial participation of external workers. The publication can also be produced by an outsourcing company.

Why do we need corporate media?

The goals, purpose and functions of corporate media depend largely on the target audience for which it is intended.

The function of forming a corporate culture at an enterprise is an ideological function. Corporate media should instill in the minds of enterprise employees corporate values, the company's mission and its role in society. The pages of the publication position standards and models of employee behavior.

Corporate media are also intended to inform representatives of the target audience, they talk about production processes, about emerging professional problems and ways to solve them. Employees receive information about their enterprise, the market situation, and the company's plans and strategy from the corporate publication. If any changes occur in the market, at the enterprise, or in the industry as a whole, then the importance of such a corporate publication increases significantly. Rumors grow at an incredible rate at critical times, so the value of the media lies in providing objective and honest information.

The next purpose of corporate media is the ability to integrate information and exchange professionally relevant data. In addition, it is in such publications that one can learn up-to-date information according to the profile of the enterprise, and it will be the most modern and advanced.

Implications for external audiences

Any target audience has its own interest in using corporate media. The company's partners see the company that publishes corporate media as a stable and strong ally. The commercial function of publications is to be attractive to partners and new clients. Buyers see the publisher as a prestigious manufacturer whose business and products are doing well High Quality. Their loyalty increases, and so does consumer demand. Such corporate media can become a full-fledged platform for communication between the company and clients; product reviews and suggestions for improvement can be posted on pages and programs.

Corporate media distribution

Distribution schemes for corporate publications depend on the specifics of the target audience. If this is a wide audience of buyers of a retail chain, then posting Lithuanian newspapers at the entrances and delivering newspapers to mailboxes will be perfect. If you publish a glossy magazine for your VIP clients, or for industry partners, then you need targeted mailing with delivery not just to the office, but to the director’s desk. If you produce a radio or television program, then the distribution channels will be general, but only those who are interested in specialized information will watch them. If you post your stories on another channel, then you need to choose a time that suits your target audience. Customers must be notified of each such information material by any available means.

Publications of their employees are distributed at the reception or checkpoint; corporate internal radio or TV distributes its information during the lunch break or 15 minutes before the start of work. Publications for clients can be distributed in stores, in well-traveled places in the city, and they can also be delivered to the offices of those companies that are clients of the company. In any case, it is very important to think through the logistics of delivery and arrange it correctly, in accordance with the preferences of the recipient of the information product.

E. Shchugoreva

Video about what corporate media is and why such a publication is needed:

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The number of corporate newspapers and magazines that successfully compete with traditional media is growing rapidly. The high level of design, rich content, and thematic originality make them an important tool for managing corporate culture and an indispensable source of information for employees, clients and partners.

Business development leads managers to understand the need to introduce company-wide unified system management. In world practice, corporate publications have long become one of the most important channels of targeted communications between a company and its staff, business partners and clients. For example, in Europe their total one-time circulation exceeds the circulation of conventional media.

The requirement for greater information transparency is caused not only by the introduction of new financial and non-financial reporting standards, but also by a noticeable change in the attitude of owners and top managers to the social responsibility of business. All this leads to the fact that, with the help of corporate media, more and more target groups are involved in an open dialogue - clients, independent journalists, shareholders, residents of the community where the enterprise is located, etc.

As a result, the circulation of the most successful publications is growing, formats are changing in accordance with new requirements, and companies are attracting experienced professionals to work on their own media. The corporate publication rightfully becomes the “calling card” of the company. It is possible that in the near future the corporate media sector will become an independent “media space” - at least today the situation is developing in this direction.

Many experts believe that the quality and level of a corporate publication should be higher than any other media. For example, until 2000, an English bank Barclays PLC, whose staff is about 75 thousand people, there was no single information policy. The bank published more than 35 different publications, so its employees simply got lost in the information “noise”, receiving five or six different publications at the same time. In the course of an internal corporate study, it turned out that employees do not have a clear idea of ​​either the relationships between departments, or the company as a whole, or its tasks. The bank's management decided to reduce the number of publications and increase the content of corporate newspapers and magazines with information important for each employee. A three-level content model for a corporate publication (CI) was proposed: materials of a strategic nature - about the company's goals, the tasks of the divisions - presented in an accessible and fascinating form; prompt coverage of current company problems; Information about Everyday life people in departments. This model was embodied in a new corporate publication - the magazine Barclays Globe. It allowed management to streamline internal corporate information flows, organize dialogue with clients and, importantly, significantly reduce the budget (from 6 to 1 million dollars).

Corporate culture is made up of the sum of complex relationships: owners with top managers and ordinary employees; managers - with subordinates; employees - with colleagues and management; companies - with external partners. In these relationships, common values, behavioral norms and rules, rituals and myths are formed. Managing corporate communications is an important task for the HR department, because it is a strong, creative corporate culture that retains professionals like a magnet. They largely determine the company’s reputation, and ultimately its competitiveness and commercial success. That is why many today are ready to invest a lot of money in a corporate publication project.

Having “your own” magazine or newspaper strengthens the impression of the company’s reliability. This is important for creating a positive image - who wants to deal with a fly-by-night company? An organization that understands that it is necessary to have an open dialogue with staff and clients on the pages of corporate media, to build relationships, wins in the competition: its reputation in the labor market improves, which means that professionals come to work, employee loyalty increases, the quality of their work increases and customer satisfaction.

At exhibitions, acquaintance and communication with suppliers are much more successful if the company shows itself “in all its glory” - demonstrates a file of bright magazines, gives a new client a fresh issue. And the personnel department can hand over the newspaper to applicants for vacant positions- read, get acquainted, take a closer look...

Recently, noticeable changes have been taking place in the management of corporate publications: they are increasingly becoming the most important link in public relations and corporate relations departments. Management communicates its vision to employees through internal magazines and newspapers. further development companies, informs them, motivates and inspires them.

More and more managers understand the need to develop a corporate publication. But how to organize corporate media in practice? A project to create your own newspaper or magazine is always complex; it is at the intersection of several areas of activity: personnel management, PR, advertising, marketing, journalism, management, psychology. The task of corporate media professionals is also complicated by the lack of comprehensive educational and methodological materials.

Corporate edition

What is a corporate publication and how does it differ from a “non-corporate” one? What types of CIs have experts in this field of activity already come up with? What functions do managers expect him to perform?

Corporate edition is a mass medium published by an organization at regular intervals to maintain contact with employees and the general public ( rice. 1). CI is an integral part of corporate culture and one of the most important means of internal communications.

Rice. 1. Classification of corporate publications

Internal corporate publication- an information resource released with a certain periodicity, reflecting the official position of the company and intended primarily for its employees.

External corporate publication- an information and advertising resource released with a certain periodicity, intended for clients and partners of the company.

KI target audience:

• internal: all company employees and members of their families;
• external: business partners and clients of the company.

Types of CIs, features of their target audience and main tasks are given in table.

Features of types of corporate publications

	Subtype	The target audience	Tasks
Domestic	Intra-corporate publications ( Business-to-Personal - B2P)	Company personnel, business partners, families of employees	“Create a sense of family at work, build trust in management, explain organizational policies, attract employees to cooperate with management, arouse interest in management affairs” ( Sam Black)
External	Publications for clients ( Business-to-Customers, B2C)	Clients, end consumers	Increasing customer loyalty to the brand, increasing sales volumes
	Partner publications for business ( Business-to-Business - B2B)	Partners, consumers of goods and services in the business environment	Formation of the company’s image in the business environment, strengthening business contacts
	Event editions	Visitors to exhibitions and special events	Creating the image of the organizers; managing information flows about participants
	Reports	Shareholders and investors	Trust, investment attractiveness

As a tool for internal and external communications, corporate media performs a number of important functions:

• Informational. Clarification of the company's mission, strategy and goals.
• Ideological. Creating conditions for the formation and strengthening of corporate spirit, increasing the dedication of employees and their labor productivity.
• Organizational. Connection of remote regional offices, branches, subsidiaries with the parent company ( management company), establishing feedback channels for employees and management.
• Image. Supporting the image of the organization. CI is both a tool and integral part image, since the quality of its execution serves as a kind of indicator of the level of development of the company.

In the 21st century, the main characters competition The employees in direct contact with customers are responsible for the consumer. It is their professionalism and dedication that create the company’s image, which is why internal communications aimed at mobilizing staff are so important.

The practical benefits of organizing a corporate “mouthpiece” are obvious. At the same time, the complexity and complexity of this project cannot be underestimated and problem areas should not be overlooked. Such serious problems may include:

• diversity of target audiences;
• territorial disunity of company divisions;
• lack of professionals;
• lack of special knowledge and literature;
• lack of understanding and assistance from management;
• insufficient funding.

Of course, it is best to take on the creation of a CI after seriously weighing all the pros and cons, taking into account possible problems and ways to solve them by drawing up a clear action plan. Having experience in implementing similar projects, I can assure you that all difficulties can be overcome. The main thing is to act systematically, methodically and step by step. We have formalized our experience in the form of the “Ten Steps” methodology; we hope it will help practitioners develop and launch an effective corporate publication.

Ten steps:

1. Studying the situation in the company, determining the needs of the target audience, choosing the person responsible for the implementation of the project.
2. Seeking management support.
3. Defining CI tasks in accordance with the company's goals. Development of the concept and format of the publication.
4. Internal PR company for CI promotion.
5. Formation of the editorial board.
6. The price of the issue: budget approval.
7. Development and approval of the “Regulations on the CI project”.
8. Project management: planning, organization, control, motivation.
9. Launch of the CI technological cycle.
10. Receiving feedback. Improving CI.

Step one. Studying the situation in the company, determining the needs of the target audience, choosing the person responsible for the implementation of the project. Work on a CI project should begin only when the need to manage elements of corporate culture and build a system of corporate communications in the company is clearly understood by management.

There may be several options for the “scenario plan” for the release of CIs, depending on the type of corporate culture and management principles adopted in the company. And the company itself must “grow” into such a project. Why, for example, an internal corporate publication for an organization that has seven employees, four of them are relatives of the director, and the rest are friends from school? But if this company has a network of distributors in Ukraine and abroad, “external” CI for business partners can be very successful.

Sometimes a manager decides to publish a corporate newspaper under the influence of modern business fashion or, having seen a bright magazine of his competitor or business partner, acts on the principle “I want the same.” There is nothing reprehensible in this - you can start this way, but in this case the publication will be not so much a means of communication as a calling card of an “advanced” company.

If, after analyzing the situation, management decides that opening your own publication is advisable, it is necessary to appoint someone responsible for the implementation of the project. What human and professional qualities of applicants should you pay attention to when choosing a project manager?

On the one hand, creativity, imagination, imaginative thinking are very important, on the other, administrative abilities and the ability to communicate with people. Unfortunately, in modern universities there are no faculties that would train specialists who meet such requirements, versed in psychology, personnel management, PR, advertising, marketing, journalism, etc. So far, only practical experience, the work itself, helps to prepare them. Still, it is preferable if the basic education is in the field of public communications, psychology or journalism.

It is equally important that the project manager clearly understands the role and tasks of the corporate press in achieving the company’s strategic goals, and knows what and how to do. It is necessary that he be a good manager and administrator, that is, he can:

• develop an organizational chart for the editorial office;
• draw up and justify cost estimates, prepare a competent report on the use of resources;
• plan work (each issue of CI must be published exactly on time);
• motivate employees - potential authors of the publication;
• organize and control the editorial and publishing process.

There are few talented specialists competent in the field of corporate media in the labor market today. Most likely, the company will have to “raise” them independently from HR managers or from PR specialists in the marketing department.

Step two. Seeking management support. The person responsible for the implementation of the project must gain the support of management, discuss and agree on all the details. If the top person of the company shows “good will” and has a favorable attitude towards CI, then the necessary resources will be found, and the managers structural divisions They will always find time for cooperation in their busy work schedule and will willingly provide valuable information. Otherwise, the newspaper is destined to become an information and entertainment resource filled with birthday greetings to employees (a list of 30 people) and stories about corporate parties.

CI can take “ideological” work in a company to a new level by clarifying strategic goals and business objectives. Truly teamwork is only possible in a group of like-minded people, which means people must clearly understand where and why we are all going. Convincing, inspiring, motivating, “winning the hearts” of employees with the help of vivid examples, attractive images, instructive stories “from our lives” - this is not a complete list of tasks that a corporate publication can successfully solve.

Step three. Defining CI tasks in accordance with the company's goals. Development of its concept and format.

First of all, it is necessary to understand for whom exactly the CI will be intended. The demographic “portrait” of the target audience answers the questions: what is the distribution of employees by gender and age, by level of education, by marital status, by profession, in relation to certain types of leisure, etc. These differences are very important, say, the interests of the readership change with age to the exact opposite ( rice. 2).

Rice. 2. Changing interests of the readership

The most common parameter for segmenting the audience of internal media is, of course, professional affiliation. Consequently, publication materials should primarily concern professional interests and needs target audience. Through this channel, a corporate newspaper (magazine) conveys the basic values ​​of corporate culture , professional interests act as the basis for effective intra-organizational communications - searching for like-minded people to carry out complex managerial, technical, commercial projects, helping colleagues, organizing temporary creative groups.

It is also necessary to imagine the level of well-being of the main groups of workers ( rice. 3). For example, we received the following company average data (in terms of income and personal achievements):

• “golden collar workers” - 3% of employees (business owners, top managers);
• “white collar” - 12% (heads of departments, managers, highly qualified specialists, of which 55–60% strive to move into the “gold” category);
• “blue collar” workers - 85% (of which 33% strive to become “white”).

Rice. 3. Distribution of personnel depending on income level and personal achievements

Analysis of available statistical data, the results of studies and surveys (studying motivation to work, characteristics of corporate culture, staff loyalty, etc.), as well as observation of the characteristics of people’s communication will help to get an idea of ​​the value system in the company. Next, I recommend conducting a survey of the entire team, including personal interviews with several key leaders (formal and informal) to determine the degree of interest of future readers in a particular section, section, topic or material.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of this preparatory stage of work, because the success of the entire project ultimately depends on how accurately the interests of the target audience are represented. The collected information will make it possible to determine priorities in the importance of information of a different nature, the optimal ratio of volumes of materials, and also to find potential authors who are ready to cooperate with the publication.

One of the most important functions of CI is communication, therefore, even before the release of the first issue, it is necessary to establish effective feedback with target groups. Its most common forms are:

• epistolary(letters to the editor);
• "instant"(conversations with readers via “hot phone”);
• testing(finding out the opinion of the target audience about the effectiveness of the editorial office of the CI);
• advisory(conducting reader conferences to study the psychology of the target audience, its attitude to the problems discussed in corporate media);
• expert(periodic involvement of external experts to evaluate the activities of the CI);
• research(studying the dynamics of the interests of the target audience, necessary for strategic planning CI activities).

Developing the name and format of a publication is a creative and in many ways fateful question: “As you name a ship, so it will sail...” A positive attitude towards the company’s brand is formed by the style, the design solution, the chosen color scheme, and the quality of the printing. The design of CIs cannot be left to a full-time designer or an outsourcing agency. The appearance of each issue should reflect the specifics of the business (for example, for the design solutions of a banking press, conservatism is appropriate; for the corporate media of a company selling electronics, a futuristic concept is appropriate, etc.). The cover design is especially important - the “face” of the publication, its main task is to attract the reader’s attention.

Some companies regulate technical details: they require artists and designers to strictly adhere to corporate colors, sizes, fonts, the presence or absence of dies, mortises, etc. Still, it is better to entrust this work to professionals. Excessively strict adherence to the once and for all established canons deprives the publication of dynamism, and may even become a serious obstacle to creative work on the project. Flexibility of the approach is the opportunity to find a “golden mean”: the designer must take into account corporate standards, but not treat them as a frozen dogma.

When preparing each issue, it is very important to comply with the stated volume of materials and the release date, otherwise the publication will lose the interest and trust of readers, especially if they take part in interactive projects.

Circulation publication depends on the size of the company and the number of employees. It is desirable that each person can receive a personal copy (many people take the newspaper/magazine home and proudly show it to friends and relatives). It is also necessary to provide a certain number of copies for business partners. When calculating circulation, I suggest using the following formula:

Circulation of corporate media = staff x 1.5

A survey of employees will help you decide on the frequency of publication and the quality of printing, of course - within the limits of the company’s financial capabilities.

As for manufacturing technology, the options can be the following: risography (from one to four colors), black and white or color copier, offset printing. The quality of printing and paper depends on the budget of a given project. It is important, however, to maintain a balance: the corporate publication of a high-tech company or a respectable bank cannot be printed on a risograph in three runs with a tolerance for color shift of 5 mm.

In the 21st century, you shouldn’t get hung up on the traditional “paper” version of the publication. If the level of technical equipment of the company allows each of the employees to receive the newsletter on their personal work computer, then the electronic version is even more acceptable than the printed one.

Step four. Internal PR company for CI promotion. You cannot “abandon” a newborn “child” to the mercy of fate: you need to prepare the team for the arrival of a newcomer, introduce him to all the inhabitants of the “corporate planet”, talk about him and show him off the best side. For this:

• Create a work plan for each of the company’s internal communication channels.
• Hold meetings with employees of all departments: let them share their impressions, make their comments and suggestions.
• Involve all channels and available PR tools in promoting the publication: internal website, original advertising posters announcing the release of new issues of CI, internal radio, thematic meetings with teams of departments and branches, etc.
• Act purposefully and systematically. After two or three months, conduct an anonymous survey to find out the attitude of employees towards the publication. Be sure to use the results of the survey to improve the magazine/newspaper.
• Motivate and encourage article writers.

Step five. Creation of the editorial office. About my first experience formation of the editorial board you can write a story or even a short “industrial novel”... This was in 2000. My manager suggested that I reproduce a small black and white newspaper in A3 format (its layout was attached to the business project of the internal CI) on the office photocopier. In my understanding, it was necessary to create an editorial office: invite journalists, a designer, a photographer, do a lot of pre-press work, find a good printing house... As often happens, “economy” won, so for quite a long time I was working on the project alone.

The accumulated experience allows me to adequately assess the advantages and disadvantages of partial and full outsourcing release of KI. Let's consider several options for forming an editorial office and find out at what stages outsourcing is advisable.

Situation 1 (rice. 1). Formally, there are two participants, in fact there is only one: the executive editor performs the functions of a project manager, journalist, designer, layout designer, etc. The only advantage of this approach is the low cost of publishing CIs. All processes “go” solely thanks to the enthusiasm of this person, he is the only “resource”: both a manager and a performer in one person...

Rice. 1

Success is possible if this employee is really interested in the work of a journalist and editor, if he is a true professional and is familiar with pre-press preparation. But it’s not for nothing that they say: one in the field is not a warrior. The abilities of one single person limit the capabilities of a corporate newspaper.

Situation 2 (rice. 2). In this case we can expect that at least appearance CI will please the reader's eye. But I wouldn’t vouch for the quality of the texts in such a publication. In addition, due to the busyness of the executive editor with tactical issues, he will hardly (or at all) be able to pay attention usage strategies this instrument and its development. Therefore, CI will not influence business results; it will be an information and entertainment publication.

Rice. 2

Situation 3 (rice. 3). The next “stage of evolution” of the editors already allows the use of CI as an actual management tool: heads of HR and PR services are building such a publication so that it allows them to solve issues that are strategically important for the organization. With the help of CI, the company’s goals are “cascaded” - from strategic goals to the personal goals of each employee at their workplace. The publication becomes motivation tool personnel, development of corporate culture. With its help, important tasks of internal policy are also often solved - establishing a hierarchy of individual departments and managers. Employees of different departments learn about each other’s achievements (or problems), and a sense of team unity develops.

Rice. 3

The employee responsible for the project needs constant support for his initiatives from the head of the company, thanks to which the CI project will be perceived by all employees of the company with due seriousness.

The further development of the publication does not always go smoothly. Two extremes are possible: either it will become exclusively a “mouthpiece of the Big Boss”, or a “corporate Boulevard”. In the first case, the head of the company views CI as a means to satisfy his own ambitions, as a result of which the publication loses the interest and trust of readers. In the second, the editorial group covers very poorly aspects of the company’s business and does not publish analytical materials related to the development of the organization or the study of its position in the market. Instead, the CI is filled with entertaining information, essentially no different from collections of crossword puzzles and jokes. Management should directly set the editorial task of covering corporate life.

Situation 4 (rice. 4). People turn to outsourcing for reasons of saving time, or if the company has significant financial resources for the implementation of image projects. This approach has its advantages: professional layout, good style, high-quality illustrations. However, using an external provider leads to disadvantages - templates. The “conveyor” product is similar to a lot of CIs from other companies; it does not allow employees to experience the feeling of involvement in its preparation. A piece of paper made “according to a template” cannot become “our own” or be a means of communication. this specific company. The solution is that the employee responsible for the project must be a copywriter himself in order to monitor the content of the publication prepared by the outsourcing company (publishing house or press agency).

Rice. 4

The choice of one or another configuration of a CI project is determined by many factors: the specifics of the business, the interests of the head and top managers, the qualifications of the employee responsible for the publication and, last but not least, the size of the budget allocated for “culture”.

What will the editorial staff look like if the company’s management decided that its own full-time employees should work on the publication? Typically the editorial team includes:

1. Chief Editor. As a rule, this position “by default” is occupied by the head of the company. It forms the general concept of the publication, determines its subject matter and information selection policy.
2. Commissioning Editor. Responsible for the content and timely release of the publication, controls technical issues in the preparation of each issue.
3. Correspondents - authors of materials (except for staff correspondents of the newspaper, materials can also be prepared by company employees themselves).
4. Literary editor/proofreader. Responsible for the quality of text preparation.
5. Maker-up designer. Develops the layout of the publication and typesets materials.
6. Distribution coordinator. Engaged in the distribution of CI, solving logistics issues.

When making decisions about the staffing of the editorial office, it is very important to objectively assess the capabilities of the employee responsible for publishing the CI. The success of the entire project largely depends on his professionalism and enthusiasm.

Let me give you an example. A graduate student from the Faculty of Journalism was hired as a PR manager by a well-known Ukrainian company. He was put in charge of publishing a magazine for clients and a newspaper for employees. Both the magazine and the newspaper had been published for three years, so the newcomer did not have to start the project from scratch. However, after eight months the editor was fired. Base? The next (August) issue of the magazine for clients contained information about the May holidays and Children's Day. The president of the company did not sign this issue for publication. A single issue of the internal newspaper was published, but instead of the usual thirty-two, it had only eight pages.

Why didn’t the young specialist cope with the task? Firstly, he did not have the experience of a project manager, so he could not competently organize the work on releasing the issue. There was no plan for the content of each issue, or a plan for preparing articles (receipt from the author - editing - approval - preparation of layout - approval). The materials were written haphazardly, “in the course of events.” Secondly, he did not know what the publishing technology cycle was. The lack of experience in journalism also played an important role. Difficulties in relationships with people did not allow the young man to find like-minded assistants among the company’s employees.

Publishing a CI is a task that can only be accomplished by a well-trained specialist working at the intersection of journalism, PR, advertising, psychology, management and personnel management. A responsible editor must understand that an effective media product is not only the sum of ideological postulates and publishing technology, but also a channel of live communication. Therefore, only people who are loyal and devoted to the company can create it.

Step six. Budgeting

The project to create your own corporate publication requires significant investment. The budget of which particular division of the company will provide for its financing (marketing department or HR department) depends on the specifics of the business and the current situation in the company. If you plan to use the CI more as a tool product promotion, then the media project is handled by marketers. If CI is viewed more as a tool personnel management, HR people are responsible for its preparation.

It is not at all necessary that the financing of a clinical trial should be carried out as a net cost item. If the magazine attracts the attention of advertisers (primarily companies operating in the local market who are interested in the publication's target audience), it can become a source of profit! For example, employees and partners of the Fortuna Cigar House, who make up target audience our corporate magazine, were considered as potential buyers of one of the elite brands clothes. For some time, by agreement with the editors, an advertisement for the company’s brand was placed on the fourth page of the cover of each issue. Distribution organizations successfully cooperate with foreign manufacturing partners who have significant budget funds for brand promotion. For example, the largest distributor of children's cosmetics "Bübchen" in Ukraine, the company "Europroduct", which has an extensive network of retail supermarkets "Antoshka", publishes interviews with loyal customers, thematic crosswords, photo competitions with the placement of "Bübchen" products on the pages of its customer magazine. The preparation of these materials is financed by the cosmetics manufacturer. In such a tandem, everyone wins: the supplier publishes information about products in a magazine whose target audience consists of 100% of its potential and actual consumers; the distributor minimizes the cost of publishing the magazine, parents receive useful information about the products, and children receive quality care.

Let's take a closer look at the process preparation and approval corporate publication budget.

1. To insure the publication from the fate of a one-day project, I strongly recommend drawing up an annual budget for it (even if by the time the project is launched, the company’s budget has already been approved and does not include these expenses). At the first stage, it is very important to realistically evaluate the complex material resources and other expenses necessary to produce a quality product.

First you need to determine main characteristics of the project:

view (printed edition, electronic version). If you plan to release a “tangible” publication, you need to estimate the cost of paper, printing method, delivery, etc.;

• circulation;
• frequency of release;
• number of pages;
• number and subject of photo sessions;
• distribution of responsibilities (which functions will be performed by company employees and which ones would be appropriate to outsource);
• forms of distribution and logistics.

If you decide to involve external providers, then you need to draw up briefs* and send them to the contractors of the required services. In order to determine the optimal price/quality ratio, you should contact several specialized companies and consider the product samples provided. This way you can choose the best option in terms of price/quality ratio.

Then you need to determine the main expense items:

• agency services for CI content filling;
• design and layout;
• photographers Service;
• seal;
• distribution and logistics costs.

2. The next stage is systematization all received data in a single document, which provides:

• information about the intended target audience (if you plan to attract advertisers);
• preliminary calculations for all expense items;
• data on the cost of printing services and outsourcing companies.

3. The final stage - budget approval head of the department. During budget protection, it is necessary to justify (if you plan to attract advertisers):

• investment efficiency;
• influence on the target audience;
• advantages and opportunities that open up for the company with the implementation of a new project.

Most managers tend to cut budgets for “culture”, but in this case, saving on little can result in big losses: poor quality, failure to meet production deadlines, etc. Therefore, to be on the safe side (in order to still get the optimal budget), I advise my colleagues to go for a small “military cunning":

• plan the release of the 13th issue of the monthly CI (it can be “donated”);
• provide evidence that all calculations were made taking into account maximum savings, a tender was held for each service, and market monitoring work in the future will be carried out at least once every three months, so as not to overpay contractors.

A corporate magazine is “ business card» company, so there should be savings reasonable, without disturbing the cost/quality balance. Excessive savings (on paper, design, proofreading) will inevitably affect quality and, therefore, can affect the reputation of the organization as a whole.

From a cost-saving point of view, it is more rational to focus on improving the qualifications of personnel. For example, a designer can be sent to photography courses, purchase his own for the editors digital camera. These costs will pay off in a couple of months. And training programs for executive editors allow you to save the main resource - time.

The skills necessary for work are acquired by discussing any problematic issues among colleagues, their experience helps to improve and find new effective solutions.

Very often at various conferences and seminars I am asked: “Is it possible to produce CIs with a “zero” budget?” Yes, it is possible, if the budget is not allocated to a separate project, printing services are classified as “advertising printing”, and other outsourcing services are performed by the agency on the basis of a subscription fee based on the principle full service. Moreover, it is possible to prepare all the content by one single employee of the company.

The savings are obvious, but only if extremely high level employee professional training. If there is such an employee, you need to think: is it advisable to use a highly professional journalist/editor/literary editor/proofreader/photographer to perform tasks that an agency can handle perfectly (photo shoots, interviews, editing, etc.)? Perhaps he will bring greater value to the company if he performs more complex tasks. Not an idle question: how much will such a “multi-machine machine” cost?

Step seven. Project management (planning, organization, motivation, control). The role of the CI project manager is manage the process of its creation. In this work, the most important thing is the strategic determination of the goals and objectives of the publication and the ability to organize the work of a team, and not the skills of a journalist or designer. The ideological line of CI, balancing materials for all sections, filling the portfolio, conveying to each member of the project team the scope of his responsibility, clear time management - these are the range of issues that the manager must deal with. Thus, the project manager is responsible for drawing up and executing:

• CI strategic plan;
• work plan for each release.

The development of a CI strategic plan consists of eight stages ( table 1). Before actually planning releases, you should clearly know how many people and who exactly will work on the project.

Table 1. Development of a strategic plan for a corporate publication

Stages	Events
1. SWOT analysis of the company’s PR activity	Analyze the strengths and weak sides the company’s work with the public, as well as development opportunities and threats to its image. Pay attention to the features of corporate culture, formal and informal channels internal communication, who worked before the advent of CI. Collect all promotional materials prepared for exhibitions and presentations and conduct a content analysis: what and how did they tell about the company, personnel, products?
2. Identification of target groups for clinical trials	Start by identifying formal and informal leaders of structural units, as well as active employees. Identify those who are most interested in the release of CI and are ready to take part in the preparation of the first release
3. Identification of key CI topics	Analyze what needs to be changed in employee behavior (combat tardiness, adherence to dress code, etc.), and how this can be achieved using CI
4. CI positioning	Evaluate CI's competitors that can distract the audience's attention (media, other communication channels available in the company - the Internet, bulletin boards, communication in the smoking room, etc.). Think about how CI will differ from them
5. Marketing mix*	Define: Qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the publication; Members of the editorial board responsible for the dissemination of CI; Conditions for receiving CI by the target audience; CI price. For example, a client publication can be given to a client free of charge when purchasing a product/service for a certain amount as a bonus; less often, it can be sold in trading floor. Distribution options depend on the purpose of the publication and the specifics of the target audience. Create a short and concise dissemination slogan. For example, “Read while it’s hot!” - for CI of a bakery or metallurgical plant
6. Monitoring the effectiveness of CIs	Determine by what criteria the effectiveness of the CI will be assessed. The assessment tool most often used is a survey of the readership. Don’t forget that the owner of the company must like the CI, this is very important!
7. Preparation of the annual project budget	Agree on which department's costs will include CI costs (personnel, marketing, advertising or PR department). Describe the projected volumes of advertising revenue in CI, if this is planned
8. Drawing up a work plan, procedures for approving materials	Develop a procedure for collecting, preparing and approving materials; create a room plan template
_________________ * A set of marketing tools used to solve marketing problems in the target market: product, personnel, price, place, promotion.

A well-developed CI strategic plan is the foundation of the project. But this is just the beginning, a successful start to a long marathon. It is also important to follow the tactical plan when working on each number.

First of all, you should draw up a schedule for the technological cycle of CI preparation. For example, if the publication is monthly, the entire cycle of editorial work should take no more than three weeks. Each stage of the cycle is divided into tasks, and deadlines and responsible employees must be indicated.

Rice. 1. Publishing cycle

The work schedule helps to meet the deadlines for preparing each issue. While working on the current issue, it is necessary to constantly check the plan with the actual state of affairs. The main thing is to actively manage the process.

If for some reason the deadline for completing a particular plan item is missed (for example, the author does not have time to prepare an article), you should look for backup options. The editorial portfolio must contain spare materials. It is also important to promptly remind correspondents and authors of their obligations to the editor. Another bottleneck is the printing house. You must have an alternative to place an order if force majeure suddenly arises at your usual printing location.

The issue of obtaining materials for clinical trials deserves special attention. Corporate culture has a great influence on the editorial style of work. You need to look for an individual approach to each potential author of the material. If company employees are systematically required to participate in the preparation of voluminous materials, one friendly conversation or a letter asking for cooperation will not do. (Especially when it comes to client publications, in which you need to know the specifics of a product or service.) It is necessary that the Regulations on CI directly state the responsibilities of employees: to generate materials for the publication. These responsibilities should be reflected in job descriptions. It would also be a good idea to provide rewards for regular authors.

Step eight. Development of the “Regulations on CI”. This normative document regulates the areas of responsibility, duties and powers of editorial staff and outsourcing agencies involved. Objectives of the Regulation:

• determine the status of the project and its place in corporate system management;
• regulate the publishing process.

The basis for creating this document is the well-prepared CI plan discussed above.

The structure of the “Regulations” should reflect:

• The name of the publication and its place in the system of corporate communications (including from a marketing point of view). For example: “KOFF is a company information resource intended for employees, which reflects the official position of its management.”
• Goals for creating the project. For example: “The publication will allow employees to focus on solving strategic and tactical tasks companies, will provide an “engagement effect” and increase their loyalty. As an official communication body, CI informs and explains the position of management on issues of business development and internal corporate communications.”

  If the publication is aimed at external consumers, the Regulations must set out the objectives of influencing the target audience. For example, publication of price lists, information about promotions, PR expert assessments, benchmarking studies, as well as an entertainment component (TV programs, stories from the lives of employees), etc.

• Ability to prepare materials for clinical trials by strategic partners and suppliers.
• Goals and objectives of the editorial board.
• Responsibility and rights of departments.

A diagram of the distribution of responsibilities of company departments for the preparation of materials in CI is given in table 2.

Table 2. Responsibility of departments for filling the corporate publication

Responsible for the preparation of materials	Subjects
Editorial office (production editor, correspondents)	Company strategy: comments from top officials. News: the company’s place in the industry market, main trends, introduced innovations. Attracting strategic partners. Company participation in socially significant events. Publication of excerpts from literary works. Preparation of competitions
Human Resource department	Procedures for resolving labor disputes. Personnel policy. Personnel reserve. Social issues. Problems of labor protection. Motivation programs. Bonus program (competitions, competitions). Career opportunities. Training programs (including lighting past events). Feedback (questionnaires, surveys, etc.) with branches. Corporate events, holidays
Marketing department	Foreign experience. Bonus programs (competitions, competitions for retail and distribution sellers). Coverage of promotions held among sellers
Import department	Company policy in working with partners. The company's strategy for promoting new products. Best practices for working with partners
IT department	Messages about new projects that are at the implementation stage in the company. Answers to frequently asked questions to the system administrator

If the project is intended for company employees, segmentation of target groups can be based on the main groups of employees. Make a list of the needs of each category of CI readers and, for convenience, summarize the data in a table ( table 3).

Table 3. Structure of information needs of CI target groups

Audience	Information requests
General Director, top managers	The company’s place in the industry market, the main market trends. Personnel management issues. Achievements of the company as a whole and individual divisions. Psychological atmosphere in the team. Feedback (questionnaires, survey results, etc.)
Employees of the financial, analytical department, accounting department	New regulatory documents. New ways of working. The company’s place in the industry market, main trends. Professional training, prospects for professional growth. Changes in the functional structure of the company. Corporate life (holidays, etc.) Interesting facts, competitions
Middle managers	Management's vision of strategic goals and ways to achieve them. Best practices for working with partners. The company’s place in the industry market, main trends. Technologies for effective labor organization. Changes in the functional structure of the company. Corporate life (holidays, etc.)
Distribution department	The company's strategy for promoting new products. Employee motivation programs. Bonus programs (competitions, competitions). Opportunities for advanced training and career growth. Best practices for working with partners. The company’s place in the industry market, main trends. Corporate life (holidays, etc.). Interesting facts, competitions
Sales staff	News from the head office. The company’s place in the industry market, main trends. Opportunities for advanced training and career growth. Best sales practices, brand stories. News of international exhibitions. Corporate events, holidays. Interesting facts, competitions

The Regulations also need to define how systematic monitoring of personnel interest in materials in various sections of the clinical research is carried out. For example, “at least once a year, the company conducts an independent study with the involvement of an external agency to determine the effectiveness of CI and diagnose the attitude of company employees towards the publication. A report on this work is provided to the general director, HR director, marketing director and executive editor of the publication.”

The Regulations also regulate the work of the editorial office and the entire technological cycle of preparing CIs. The document should provide clear answers to the questions:

• Who is assigned responsibility for the CI project?
• Who is appointed as the editor-in-chief?
• Who compiles lists of questions for authors and sends them out?
• How are authors motivated to collaborate with CI?
• Who edits the materials?
• Who coordinates materials with authors?
• Who monitors compliance with the work schedule?
• Who controls the process of approval of the finished release, printing, and distribution with the company management?

The Regulations define:

• person responsible for collecting primary information (usually the head of a department or an editorial employee);
• incentive and disciplinary policies;
• publication design, color scheme (usually in accordance with the corporate style). In this section, it is important to indicate the source of the photographs.

It can be stipulated that individual photos of employees come exclusively from the CI editorial office’s file cabinet, and determine the procedure for compiling this file cabinet. For example, “for this purpose, a professional photographer is invited to the office once every three months. Employees are notified of his visit two to three working days in advance. The employee receives a set of photographs in printed form and certifies the photo for publication with a personal signature. These photographic materials can be used by the editorial staff of KI without additional approval from the person. The CEO’s photo session is held on a separate schedule.” This will avoid employee dissatisfaction with the quality of photographs.

It is important for the project manager to learn how to track the stage at which the current issue is being prepared. Constant monitoring of the CI preparation process ensures timely release of issues, without disruptions or delays.

Step nine. Launch of the CI technological cycle. To keep the entire release process under control (from plan development to distribution), you need to break the technology cycle into separate stages. Such an “elephant,” of course, is difficult to eat entirely, but it can be cut into “steaks” ( figure 2).

Rice. 2. Technological cycle for creating CIs

Content planning. Drawing up a thematic plan is the basis of work on CI. We recommend planning not only the next one, but also the next three or four issues. This will allow the editors to be more flexible in the selection of materials, devote more time to their preparation and strictly adhere to the schedule.

All CI materials for employees can be divided into: informational (news, interviews, analytical reviews, etc.) and entertaining (competitions, crosswords, etc.). The content of the client CI depends on the marketing objectives; it is selected in accordance with the needs of the target audience.

The topic of the release of internal CI is determined based on the current goals of the organization and the main events in the life of the company. When creating a release plan, it is important to maintain a balance of materials representing different departments and individual employees.

In each organization, over time, a group of authors is formed who actively collaborate with the editors. To expand their circle and diversify the materials, it is worth making a list of people whom you would like to attract as authors - on an ongoing basis or for the preparation of a specific issue. As a rule, it is difficult for people who do not have special education and a writer’s spirit to prepare traditional articles. They can also be offered other formats: a quick survey, commentary, interview, personal notes, diary, etc. The more different authors from different divisions of the company are represented in the CI, the better.

Collection of materials. Having outlined the main topics, we move on to collecting facts. At this stage, it is necessary to determine which employees (or external partner companies) can provide the necessary information and from what sources they receive it.

It is important that a person wants to prepare materials. Probably, not all potential authors will immediately be eager to collaborate with the editors. In case of refusal, analyze the reason: if it’s a matter of deadlines, schedule an interview for the next issue of the CI; If the author lacks time, try to find a compromise. Be tactful and correct, be patient and tolerant. For the majority of company employees, cooperation with the editors is a manifestation of goodwill, and not job responsibilities, so try to look for the most acceptable forms of information collection for authors.

For some, it is more convenient to answer questions orally: arrange a meeting with such a person and talk. What is the best way to record interviews, reviews, comments? You can record it on a tape recorder or take notes. In my opinion, the most convenient option, which reduces labor costs and speeds up the processing of material, is typing text on a computer during a conversation. However, recording responses directly during an interview often creates psychological barrier in communication. Classic recording on a dictaphone is preferable in many cases. For those who find it easier to formulate thoughts in writing, make an indicative list of questions so that they can prepare material on their own.

When it comes to corporate culture and team unity, there are no trifles. It is impossible to reduce the entire content of CI exclusively to the monologues of “gold” and “white” collar workers. Treating all your employees with respect is an indicator of the health of the company.

The most important thing is to captivate people with creativity! At every opportunity, promote both your best authors and newcomers!

Editorial preparation of materials. You should not get carried away with literary delights; this is not always appropriate in the internal CI. Just as the label must be suitable in size, shape and style for the product being offered, so the prepared text must correspond to the topic, interests of the audience and the goals of the publication. the main task editorial processing - to receive material in which necessary information will be presented It's clear , and it will have an impact on the reader required emotional impact .

Proofreading. If at the stage of collecting materials in the editorial office every now and then an exclamation is heard: “Author! Author!”, then after editorial preparation another is often heard: “Proofreaders! Proofreader! No matter how responsibly people approach their work, there will inevitably be typos and errors in the materials - stylistic, spelling and punctuation. A few omitted errors in the text can spoil the impression of an excellent article, leave a negative imprint on the relationship with the author of the material, and negatively affect the reputation of CI and the company as a whole. An absurd typo in the name of a top manager (or, God forbid, the owner) may be considered an insult; a missing letter in the name of a partner company spoils business relationship. Don't skimp on what's important! Be sure to include a proofreader position in the CI structure.

Coordination. If the head of the company undertakes to personally proofread all issues of CI, then ensuring their timely release will be very problematic. Responsibility for the project should be delegated to one of the heads of structural units (for example, the marketing director and/or the HR director).

The texts of the company's top officials (submitted for signature in printed form) and all other materials can be approved separately for printing. In general, the process for each release looks like this:

• the release plan is agreed upon with the editor-in-chief;
• texts of top managers - with the head of the company;
• author's texts - with authors;
• the entire issue - with the HR director (if a client edition is published that contains professional information, the reliability of the materials must be agreed upon with the relevant departments).

You should especially carefully check (together with personnel department employees) the correct spelling of names and surnames, names of positions and departments.

Design, layout. The design solution for the design of a corporate publication is selected based on the goals of the project. The purpose of a client publication is to promote products (brands), so texts play a secondary role in it compared to the “picture”. For internal CI, the goal is to create employee loyalty, that is, its design should facilitate the perception of information: large font, convenient formatting, harmonious color combinations.

Particular attention should be paid to the following issues:

• Cover type, logo design, graphic design, presence of callouts.
• Design of the "Contents" page. How to format it: post a list of all materials or give short annotations of the most interesting ones?
• Page layout (number of columns, size of margins, presence of callouts in margins, etc.).
• Selecting fonts and their sizes (for headings, subheadings, body text, insets, etc.).
• Design of page numbering and footers (using the company logo and corporate colors).
• Color of headings, body text, pantones*, illustrative materials, etc.
• Acceptable size of photographs, their design (curly edges, placement in text, captions).

Before formulating a task for a full-time designer (or an outsourcing agency) to develop the design and layout of a CI, the responsible editor needs to clarify all these issues.

Replication. To find the optimal price/quality ratio, it is necessary to study the regional market for printing services. Before concluding a large contract, I advise you to make a small order in advance in order to check the quality of printing and service. For example, in several printing houses you can print leaflets (posters, posters) dedicated to the founding day of the company.

Distribution. The result of the project largely depends on timely and high-quality logistics. It’s annoying when the entire circulation ends up in one branch of the company when there are ten in different cities. But the publication needs to be accessible to the target audience, that is, its releases should be where potential clients spend time waiting. For example, in beauty salons, banks, pharmacies, on airplanes, hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, cinemas, etc. To distribute a large-circulation publication to clients, it is advisable to involve a large publishing house or a specialized press distribution company.

Step ten. Receiving feedback. We often wonder: why does the target audience remain indifferent to advertising, despite million-dollar budgets and all the tricks of the “creatives”? Such advertising does not answer the question “What-is-here-for-me?” Feedback allows us to evaluate whether readers find something “for themselves” in each issue?

If the preparation and distribution of the publication are carried out in accordance with the principle “personally about each employee - personally for each employee,” then each issue turns into little holiday for the whole team!

It is necessary to establish effective feedback with target groups even before the release of the first issue. Its most common forms:

• letters to the editor;
• "hot" telephone line;
• reader survey;
• holding meetings and round tables, reading conferences;
• studying the dynamics of the interests of the target audience.

An important factor successful development CI is Feedback from media professionals: periodic involvement of external experts and benchmarking - comparison of the achieved level with the best practices of other companies. The editors’ openness to the “trends of the times” and the desire for professional growth will only benefit CI.

Time management for editorial staff

Employees who, in addition to their main responsibilities, are also involved in a CI project, experience a chronic lack of time. Simple time management techniques will help you cope with it:

1. "Dutch cheese". Try to solve a global problem not entirely, but in parts - “gnawing out” small pieces from it, the simplest and most pleasant ones. For example, when preparing a publication, you can start by writing entertaining pages and selecting illustrations. Over time, so many holes will form in the “cheese” that “eating” it will not be as difficult as it seemed at the beginning of the work.
2. "Intermediate Joy" Break the work into several stages, and assign yourself a small reward for successfully completing each of them. For example, for every two calls to colleagues with an invitation to cooperate, allow yourself to bite off a piece of chocolate (if you don’t like chocolate, reward it with something else). As a rule, small joys obtained in this way motivate much more effectively than distant global victories. In any case, this is a good way to overcome the demotivating effect of routine.
3. "Birds in a Cage." There are things that require very little time, but are unpleasant, like “birds in a cage.” If you put off feeding them, little birds can turn into aggressive monsters that threaten big trouble. Sometimes a task that takes five minutes to complete is put off for weeks or even months... Solution: make a list of such tasks and “release” four or five “birds” every day. In a couple of weeks the “cage” will be empty.

Look into the future

Each project lives and develops successfully only as long as the creators believe in its future. Stephen Covey ( Stephen Covey), a management guru, distinguished between “reactive” and “proactive” approaches to life.

• "Reactive"- responding to external circumstances according to the principle “how it turns out”, “how it turns out”.
• "Proactive"- building your life and projects in accordance with own goals and desires.

Learn to take a proactive approach to working on a CI project. Try to imagine the hundredth issue, and in great detail. What will it be like? Write a short essay: How do you see your brainchild in the future? What materials is the room filled with? What illustrations attract attention in the anniversary issue? Who holds this number in their hands? What emotions does it evoke in this person? What material was the main one in the release?

This technique - “visualizing the future” - will allow you not to get hung up on the problems and failures of the past. And when a person grows and develops professionally, the projects he works on also improve.

Recording information and turning it into high-quality text material requires significant data processing. Often people who perfectly express their thoughts orally fail to prepare an article... But the presence or absence of journalistic skills of potential authors should not determine the decision to cooperate with the editors. At the same time, the lack of special education among workers entrusted with the production of CIs is not an excuse for poor quality work on materials. Anything can be learned if you “technologicalize” it. Most ordinary people can prepare materials for CI. The main thing here is desire and constant practice.

The general plan for writing an article is as follows:

• collection of facts on selected topics from carriers of key information;
• editorial processing of materials (rewriting);
• agreement of the article with the author.

“The ability to write” is a synthesis of the content of the text that is interesting for the reader, the form that is convenient for perception and the emotionality of the presentation (design) of the material.

Let us follow the advice of Aristotle: “A person should speak as they speak simple people, think as the wise men think, and then everyone will be able to understand him, and wise people will recognize him.” Using simple and meaningful words, you can create good text articles - of course, if you have them What say. A simple presentation of the essence is the highest aerobatics for the creator of texts.

Before you start designing the actual text, collect and check factuality. Place accents, and then select words and build sentences. Even very complex products, services or processes can be described in simple, accessible language if you understand the subject matter and arrange the material logically.

“Spreading thoughts along the tree” or saturating the text with inaccuracies can make a big mistake: important events and facts can be misinterpreted by readers, which will cause great harm to CI and the company. When informing the target audience, the editors must remember: the reader’s time is the most valuable and irreplaceable resource. Lengthy monologues and literary flourishes that increase the volume of material are inappropriate here.

Format and structure of an article in CI

• Appeal(“appeal to the people”). Speeches on the pages of CI by the company's top officials can be presented in this style.
• Interview(editor's questions on a selected topic and expert answers to them).
• Quick survey of employees/partners. Allows you to identify different views on a problem or general trends in how employees perceive it. It is important that the publication of statements in CI greatly motivates employees - their authors.
• News- an event or fact that has an information connection to the company (its products, relationships with partners, etc.) is covered.
• Expanded news about an important corporate event (for example, the opening of new branches), as a rule, is presented in the form of a photo report.
• Chronicle of successes. Reflection of the most important stages of the company's development turns them into a corporate legend, helps to show the role and contribution of its leader and oldest employees.
• Chronicle of the successes of individual units. Stories about the stages of formation and development of departments, departments, branches (with mention of key employees) add up to the history of the company.
• Stories successful project . This form of material presentation is suitable for illuminating not only production programs, but also charitable activities, sponsorship participation in partner projects, etc.
• Analytical reviews. Materials about the company’s position in a competitive environment, its targeted (unique) offers, competitive advantages and other things are important not only for external audiences, but also, first of all, for their own employees.
• "Problem - Solution". Scheme "?-!" helps to play out certain situations in life, in which the company’s products/services play an important role, as convincingly explained by an expert (client or consumer).
• Entertainment materials: jokes; parables; competitions - literary, poetry, photo competition, crossword puzzle competition; puzzles; reprints of educational and entertaining materials (necessarily indicating the source). The prize fund declared during competitions, as a rule, includes the company's products/services. It is desirable that the topic of entertainment materials is also directly or indirectly related to the products/services being manufactured.

The structuring of each material in CI is subject to a logic common to all literary works: 1) introduction; 2) main part; 3) conclusion. The sequence of answers to questions from the “Quintilian formula” depends on the creative style of the author of the article and the editor-in-chief of the CI.

After the topic, form and structure of the material have been determined, based on the collected facts, you should make preliminary plan article and its outline (draft). It doesn't matter whether you type on a computer or write on a piece of paper. The main thing is the result. The rough material is refined and improved as we work on it. Don’t try to write the perfect text right away; this “perfectionist” approach often leads authors into dead ends. When writing an article, the main task is to write it completely and clearly. convey content events, and not to choose the “right” or “beautiful” words. After the text is mostly written, put it aside for a while (at least 15–20 minutes), and then read it in its entirety, replacing repeated words with synonyms, correcting stylistic and grammatical errors. Try to avoid verbal clichés, overly long sentences and jargon.

Emotional content

Read the resulting text out loud again. What emotions does this material evoke in you? Does the tone of the article match its content? Are pathos and assertiveness appropriate here, or would restraint and gentleness be more appropriate? What emotional reaction will the material evoke in the reader - respect, trust, confusion, anger, approval, bewilderment? What result would you like to get in the end: understanding the key thesis of the article? awareness of a specific fact? changing the opinion and behavior of the target audience? specific response action (for example, receiving letters or completed questionnaires from readers, etc.)?

Avoid sarcasm, arrogance, and aggression in the tone of your materials. It is a complete taboo to make accusations and insults against anyone. However, this does not mean that the CI style should resemble “sweet syrup.” Corporate hypocrisy is one of the most unpleasant extremes that is allowed by the editors in pursuit of creating the image of an “ideal company.” Among the first signs of such hypocrisy are seemingly harmless demands: to replace all words in materials with particles “not” with “positive” synonyms. Do not publish letters from readers that raise company problems or contain criticism of management. As a result, the CI loses credibility and becomes a dead piece of paper. A company is a living organism, therefore, like all living things, it has problems, “ narrow places"at work, etc. The presentation of problematic issues in the corporate press should be honest and decent.

To go through “fire, water and copper pipes”, while remaining useful for business and interesting for readers - this is the professionalism of the KI editorial staff!

How to come up with a title?

Text headings are a kind of “facade” of your project. Bright, succinct headlines, first of all, form the perception of the publication as a whole. In addition, the list of headings constitutes the content of the issue. It is by these that the level of professionalism, good taste and creativity of the editorial staff are determined. They inevitably reveal corporate hypocrisy, lack of professional training, and violation of corporate ethics.

The purpose of the title is to convey the essence of the material. Of course, it is not always easy to emphasize a specific issue in a two-three page piece, but the skill of writing headlines is acquired in the process. It’s not for nothing that they say that the best way to learn the art of cooking is to stand at the stove.

• "Method No. 1" - inspiration from the "big press". Flip through several issues of magazines on a variety of topics (economics, literature, glamor, etc.). Any of the headlines will definitely lead you to an interesting analogy.
• “Method No. 2” - without further ado, you can take a thesis sentence from the text of the article itself.
• “Method No. 3” - playing on proverbs and sayings, catchphrases (often “interrupted”, without ending, as if with a hint). This option is appropriate when covering corporate events, in the “Relaxation Room”, “Humor” sections, but not in an open letter from the company president.

In the corporate press there is no place for ambiguity, play on words with an emphasis on feelings of pity, disgust, sexual motives, aggression, etc. Before adding “pepper” or “salt” to the title, think about the fact that the title of the material is the first words , which you say when meeting a person from the target audience of the CI. Imagine your colleague or acquaintance in front of you and read all the headlines of the issue. What emotions will be reflected on his face? Astonishment? interest? mistrust? sarcasm? Will he wince or smile? Edit your headlines using these tips, and then test the results by showing them to a few people you know. If you wish, you can offer CI readers a questionnaire and ask them to note interesting (inappropriate, boring, downright bad) headlines of recent issues.

In addition to the title text itself, the perception of the already laid out material will depend on the liner, subheadings, photographs, design, size of the article - all of this affects the reader as a whole. Typically, an employee or client of a company who flips through a CI determines whether he likes or dislikes the publication precisely by the titles of the articles and the summaries to them. Therefore, they must fulfill their role with dignity: correspond to the company’s ideology, maintain its image, strengthen readers’ loyalty to it (and, of course, present the texts themselves).

Heading rules:

• Simple accessible language. Alexander Repyev in his book “Marketing Thinking” has a wonderful expression invented for lovers of “Chinese literacy”: KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid! - “Idiot, be simpler!”). This advice will be useful to those who like to use newfangled words, which are often completely incomprehensible to the vast majority of readers.
• The title of the article corresponds to its content. Of course, the headline can intrigue and “tease your appetite,” like the aroma of delicious food before dinner. But if the menu states one dish, but they bring another, then this only causes irritation and disappointment in the restaurant as such.
• Brevity. Use no more than five words. If you consider any information important, it is better to put it in a subheading or summary, but do not overload the layout with a quarter-page headline!*
• First - the article, then - the title. You should set aside time to create headings. For example, I write headings after layout, this makes it possible to see nuances that are not always visible in regular text. After reading the material again, formulate the main idea in one succinct phrase.

The “title as a question” technique is very good. The usual reaction of a person in such a situation is the desire to get an answer, especially if the question concerns his area of ​​interest. For example: “For what merit?” (article about bonuses); “How much is it for a pound?” (article about the fight against marriage), etc.

A “quote title” is appropriate for an interview: choose the most interesting line that reflects the main idea of ​​the entire material and characterizes the position of the main character.

Common mistakes

A popular aphorism says: “The one who sits on the fence plays football best.” Indeed, when playing on the field, it is difficult not to make mistakes. Moreover, the problem, as a rule, is not so much the error itself as our inability/unwillingness to learn a lesson from it. Cicero also stated: “It is common for every person to be mistaken, but it is only for a fool to persist in errors.” It is better to learn about the most common mistakes that are made when working on CIs from the experience of colleagues than to personally get bruises and bumps. Here are some of the common mistakes:

1. One-day publication. If the decision to publish a CI is made spontaneously, the initiative comes exclusively from below and is not supported by senior management, no one thinks about the difficulties of the work - the publication will soon die. The first one or two releases are made by the initiators of the project as an additional burden, based on enthusiasm alone. Over time, their motivation weakens, their main work replaces the “social” load, and the publication quietly dies...

2. Insufficient funding. The cost of issuing a CI includes only the cost of printing. It is considered that any Additional services can and should be performed by company employees without the involvement of third-party professionals (and for free). But “should” does not mean “can do it at the proper level.” For example, an advertising designer is not always familiar with all the intricacies of the layout of periodicals, and employees of the main departments last wrote essays in school. Savings result in shameful spelling errors that are detrimental to the company’s reputation, and are replicated in several thousand copies.

3. Poor management. An employee whose qualification level does not allow for quality CI management is appointed responsible for the project. Problems constantly arise when drawing up a plan for each issue and attracting journalists; deadlines for completing stages of the technological cycle are not met. Often, the person responsible for the publication simply does not “see” the project as a whole, does not understand his role as a coordinator, does not know how to motivate staff, and cannot control the quality of the work.

4. Frequent change of concept. This mistake is due to the project manager's inability to see the strategic importance of CI. The editors unexpectedly and often change their style - from a client edition of the “price” subtype to a glossy magazine with expensive photo shoots and no texts. As a result, the interest of the target audience is lost.

5. Errors in the selection of materials. A haphazard reflection of events occurring in the company entails a shift in emphasis from strategic important issues to small, ongoing ones, in which the employee responsible for the release of CIs is involved. The publication is filled with notes and releases, the content of which has virtually no meaning for the target audience. In the flow of “slag” information, truly valuable and useful information goes unnoticed by readers.

6. Irrelevance of content. Due to the long technological cycle, CI often does not keep up with the prompt coverage of news that is important and useful to readers. “Yesterday’s” materials turn the publication itself into “eternally yesterday.”

7. A narrow circle of authors. Four to five employees who find it relatively easy to write articles make up the “constant cohort.” As a result, over time, CI becomes predictable and boring. Meanwhile, the constant rotation of writing staff allows us to provide materials that are more responsive to the needs of readers and comply with the “What-Is-Here-For-Me” principle.

8. Dry leads. The lead is the first one or two paragraphs in the article, which presents, from the editor’s point of view, the main idea of ​​the material. Its task is to save the reader’s time and determine whether the information offered in the article is useful for him. If the leads are too official and condensed, the reader looks through the CI only “at the top”, and he does not have the desire to read the articles.

9. Foggy eyeliners. The purpose of the summary is not to summarize the content, as in the lead, but to smoothly direct the reader to read the entire material. A typical mistake is the approach “from afar” - sometimes so far away that it is almost impossible to establish any connection, for example, between dum-dum bullets and paradise on tropical islands. This is very annoying for the reader.

10. Indiscriminate use of means to attract attention. The vulgarity of some television shows (even those with high ratings) is not a reason to follow a bad example. Jokes below the belt harm the company's image. The choice between cheap popularity among a certain part of the target audience and usefulness for business must always be decided in favor of the business.

11. Errors in design. Despite the fact that the main semantic load in CI falls on the text, and not on the “pictures,” a good half of the success of the entire project depends on the design. Watch your readers experience the new release. According to my many years of observations, eight out of ten people start reading the press from the end, then scroll to the beginning, reading the headlines and looking at the photos. Pages with interesting photographs and intriguing headlines are viewed a little longer. Sometimes they read the summaries, the first one or two paragraphs, and large incisions in the texts.

Here are the main ones registration errors editions:

• "Texts are nonsense." Poor layout, large text is presented in a continuous array, without illustrations, line spaces, and sometimes without division into columns. There is no lead or summary, so the main idea of ​​the material is difficult to perceive. Visually, such an article looks ponderous, and there is no desire to read it thoroughly. Small font is tiring and also does not add to the desire to read the material.
• “Different sizes” of fonts and sizes. You should not “adjust” the occupancy of the pages by using fonts that are incompatible in size or “jumping” in font sizes (for example, on the same spread, 8th and 16th).
• Long headings. They not only make the article difficult to understand, but also cause boredom. Don't forget about optimal size- three to five words (in extreme cases - no more than seven).
• Photos are too small. Some publications just need a microscope! In the tiny “windows” people have difficulty even recognizing themselves in the photographs. Thick black frames for small photos look like the height of unprofessionalism. Low-quality, blurry photographs with unrecognizable colors greatly reduce the level of the publication.

Electronic CIs

With the development of computer technology, cheaper computers, and improved access to the Internet as a source of news, more and more companies are giving preference to electronic corporate publications (ECP). In this case, the materials can be transmitted to the target audience in the form of a newsletter, electronic newsletter, or electronic newspaper. Comfortable? Undoubtedly. But there are also disadvantages. It is extremely important that the information posted in the ECI for clients is not perceived as spam. Regular (necessarily authorized by the recipient) electronic mailing solves the main problems: it emotionally binds the client to the company, allows you to quickly provide information to the target audience.

Both large and small businesses have already realized the enormous benefits that a corporate website brings to business. But the popularity of ECI is only gaining momentum. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this format?

The main and undeniable advantage of ECI is its low cost. Thanks to new developments in the field software The technological cycle of design and layout is shortened. In addition, there is no need to prepare high-quality photographic materials. An ECI can be “assembled” in a matter of hours, while preparing a printed CI requires weeks, or even months. Efficiency, low cost, no costs for logistics and distribution - all these are the main and obvious advantages electronic format. ECI can be distributed to subscribers instantly. Feedback from the target audience is also simplified, be it a survey or a request. additional information about the company's products or services. But perhaps the biggest advantage is reaching the target audience. In addition, the ECI can be translated into different languages ​​and sent across the globe in a matter of seconds without customs declarations or postage costs abroad.

However, ECI also has disadvantages: it requires equipping the workplace with a personal computer. And the higher the popularity of ECI, the deeper the gap between people at computers and all other employees - behind the counter, at the wheel, at the helm... Therefore, such a publication will become a personnel management tool only in a company where the majority of workplaces are computerized.

It must also be remembered that ECI does not carry such a “tangible” image component as a “real” CI. If an employee wants to show the magazine to clients or friends, then in printed form it will look rather unpresentable... The electronic format is more suitable for prompt mailings of “hot news”, which involves a quick glance, as they say, “diagonally.” At the same time magazine category B2C (business to consumers), getting to potential client, can be stored for several years.

Ideally, a company should use the maximum number of communication channels, wisely using the advantages of each format. For example, you can issue a printed CI once every two to three months, and an electronic one twice a month. At the same time, it is important to prepare news “based on interests” for each target audience group. Employees of your company, business representatives and end consumers have different information needs - therefore, you need a special approach to meeting their needs, taking into account the specifics of the language, etc.

For a corporate publication (CI) of a large company, especially one that produces a wide range of industrial products, it is difficult to find informational occasions that are equally interesting for all members of the team. For example, employees of the hot filling department of a cannery and employees of the international sales department of the same enterprise are different target audiences.

In this regard, there has been a trend in the corporate press new trend: increasingly, a single CI is divided into several publications for different groups of readers. Thus, the AvtoKrAZ newspaper, which has been published for more than 50 years, today comes out in three versions:

• Weekly in Ukrainian with a circulation of 1.5 thousand copies. Distributed internally and by subscription. Designed for factory workers.
• A special issue in Russian with a circulation of 1.5–3 thousand copies (published once every two months) is a full-color publication in A3 format on eight pages, intended for the company’s clients and partners. Distributed by subscription, at exhibitions, through retail and wholesale trade spare parts, through dealers and service stations, as well as direct mailing (more than 600 recipients in different countries peace).
• A quarterly digest in English, Spanish and French with a circulation of about 10 thousand copies - a publication for foreign consumers, distributed through dealers, Ukrainian embassies abroad, as well as by direct mail.

Nadra Bank also followed the path of target audience segmentation. It produces two client CIs:

• Magazine "Grow!" is aimed at medium and small businesses, the information it contains is of interest to entrepreneurs.
• Magazine "Prosper!" is aimed at attracting the attention of individuals - potential and actual consumers of banking services. This publication is structured as a family magazine and presents consumer lending services in the form of expert recommendations (repairs, buying a car, landscaping, managing family finances, etc.)

The effectiveness of CI as a tool of information influence on the target audience has already been assessed by many domestic companies ( drawing). When choosing a CI format, most companies (84%) choose a journal. At the same time, 45% of publications target external readers, 40% - employees, and the remaining 15% fall on a “mixed” audience.

Industry structure of companies producing CIs (according to AKMU data)

Employees as the target audience

The publication's audience is also heterogeneous. Domestic companies employ different people: those who received work experience in the Soviet Union (responsible, conscientious, capable of mastering several related professions) and “children of perestroika” (perform only those duties that are described in job description, do not take on additional workload without increasing their salary).

The attitude of these employees towards CI is also different: the former, as a rule, read each material with interest and easily respond to the editor’s proposal for cooperation; the second - they see in him information tool, react to manifestations of corporate hypocrisy, and more often criticize shortcomings. Each group needs its own approach. On the pages of CI, it is necessary to provide an opportunity to both talk about production know-how and criticize shortcomings, raising problems that are significant for the company. The editors may invite active readers to write author's columns in CI.

Understanding the behavior of people in the workplace helps to establish effective interaction with the authors of materials. Isaac Adizes ( Yitzhak Adizes), the author of the theory of the life cycle of an organization, identified the following categories of employees:

• Manufacturer of results. A person for whom it is important to receive specific fruits of work. He is impatient, active and always busy.
• Administrator. For him, the main thing is the rules and their implementation. Organizes work in the company. Analytical and precise.
• Integrator. People-oriented, the most important values ​​are harmony and well-coordinated teamwork. A friendly, understanding person, always ready to help his colleagues.
• Entrepreneur. Sees goals and leads other people to them. Risk-taker, often charismatic, offers new approaches to solving problems.

Most people adhere to one style of behavior. For example, if the author is a “producer of results,” then it is better to give him a list of specific questions and indicate the deadline for submitting the material. You need to meet with the “integrator” in person, discuss the usefulness of CI for maintaining a good climate in the team, and only then move on to the topic of the future article. The “administrator” will be convinced by the presence of a clear work plan, the “entrepreneur” will be convinced by the opportunity to convey new ideas and receive rewards (material or moral).

• Show positive emotions. Authors make decisions about cooperation with the editors, first of all, based on their subjective feeling: “like/dislike a person.” They work not with a newspaper/magazine, but with specific people.
• Treat authors politely, including in case of refusal to cooperate with the editors.
• Don't be a workaholic. Excessive expenditure of energy at work only leads to the emergence of new problems, rather than solving existing ones.

Legal aspects

Current legislation does not define the concept of “corporate publication”, therefore most CIs are currently issued without state registration. However, according to paragraph 7 of Art. 41 of the Law of Ukraine “On Print Media (Press) in Ukraine”, production, release or distribution of a printed mass media without its registration or after the termination of its activities, evasion of re-registration or notification to the registering authority of a change in the type of publication, legal address founder (co-founders), location of the editorial office is a violation. Perpetrators may be subject to disciplinary, civil, administrative or criminal liability.

Printed media (press) in Ukraine are periodicals published on the basis of a certificate of state registration under a permanent name, with a frequency of one or more issues (issues) per year. The right to establish a printed media outlet belongs to:

• citizens of Ukraine, citizens of foreign states and stateless persons who are not limited in civil legal capacity and civil capacity;
• legal entities of Ukraine and other countries;
• labor collectives of enterprises, institutions and organizations on the basis of an appropriate decision general meetings(conferences).

The person who founded the print media is its founder. Persons who united for the common purpose of founding a publication are considered its co-founders.

If the enterprise publishes corporate media under a permanent name, with a frequency of one or more issues (issues) per year, with a circulation of more than the full-time number labor collective enterprise, for the purpose of public distribution (including free), such CI is subject to registration in the State Register of Publishers, Manufacturers and Distributors of Publishing Products.

The procedure for state registration of print media, in addition to the Law of Ukraine “On Print Media (Press) in Ukraine”, is also regulated by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated November 17, 1997 No. 1287 “On State Registration of Print Media, News Agencies and Sizes registration meetings."

Those wishing to open publishing business First you need to register as a subject entrepreneurial activity(individual or legal entity). State registration is carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Civil and Economic Codes of Ukraine, the Laws of Ukraine “On business societies", "On state registration of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs." In the future, the business entity must register as a publishing entity. To do this, you need to include your publication in State Register publishers, manufacturers and distributors of publishing products, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

State registration of print media, depending on the scope of distribution, is carried out:

• national, regional (two or more regions) and/or foreign distribution - by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine;
• local sphere of distribution - the Main Department of Justice of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, regional, Kyiv and Sevastopol city departments of justice.

For state registration of print media, an application must be submitted, which must indicate:

• founder(s) of the publication(founder - entity provides the full name according to documents confirming his civil legal capacity; founder - an individual provides his passport details);
• type of publication(newspaper, magazine, collection, newsletter, almanac, calendar, digest, etc.); publication status (domestic - a printed mass media founded by a Ukrainian legal entity and/or individual; general - a printed mass media created with the participation of a foreign legal entity(ies) and/or individual(persons);
• title of publication;
• language(s) of publication;
• scope of distribution:
  • local - within the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, one region, regional center or two or more rural areas, one city, district, individual settlements, as well as enterprises, institutions, organizations;
  • regional - two or more regions;
  • national - within Ukraine;
  • foreign - outside of Ukraine;
• reader category for which the publication is intended (the entire population: adults, youth, children, men, women, disabled people, students, workers in a certain industry, scientists, teachers, etc.);
• program goals(basic principles) or thematic focus (their a brief description of: development of education, increasing the level of spirituality, development of leisure, informing the population on certain issues, etc.);
• expected frequency of release, volume(in conventional printed sheets) and publication format;
• legal address the founder, each of the co-founders and his (their) bank details;
• editorial office location;
• type of publication by intended purpose(general political, on economics and business, production and practical, scientific, research and production, popular science, educational, reference, literary and artistic, on art, sports, legal, erotic, leisure, medical, religious, ufological, environmental, tourism, advertising (40% of the volume of one issue is advertising), information, for children, etc.

It must be remembered that the founder has the right to begin publishing a printed media outlet within one year from the date of receipt of the certificate. If this deadline is missed without good reason, the certificate of state registration of a print media outlet is invalid.

* In my collection of CIs from different companies, which I have been collecting for several years, there is a kind of record holder: 27 words in the title of the article! Meanwhile, even serious scientific journals, in which it is accepted detailed description topics do not allow authors to put such pressure on the title.

* Brief- technical assignment from the customer to the contractor, a document-questionnaire in which the customer sets out his requirements for the product.

* Panton (half a game.) - a standard library of color mixtures, primarily for offset printing on paper. Looks like a paper “fan” with blades color range or in the computer version - the CMYK color scale as a percentage of Pantone-certified process paint on standard paper.

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