Chief Consistency Officer: How Today's CCO Unites A Company's Stakeholders

Believe it or not, marketing and communications were once viewed as separate functions. The marketing team took care of advertising, and communications professionals managed company announcements and press inquiries. But those days of siloed marketing and communications are long gone.

Today, especially in the wake of a global pandemic, these functions are inextricably intertwined and more integral to organizations than ever. In addition, corporate messaging needs to be compelling and consistent throughout every level of an organization — and it’s the job of the chief communications officer (CCO) and chief marketing officer (CMO) to work as partners to unify and disseminate those messages effectively.

In order to successfully deploy marketing communications, CCOs and CMOs need to forge connections between multiple audiences: the C-suite, leadership teams, marketing and communications, and, ultimately, the consumer.

Communicating From The Top Down: The C-suite

The CCO and CMO both sit in the C-suite, working closely with the CEO, chief information officer (CIO) and other leaders to establish and execute an overarching corporate strategy. They must then communicate the company’s business goals and corporate messaging to the public relations, marketing, digital and social media teams in a transparent and actionable way.

I’ve said before that internal communication is critical to the success of an organization. In order to ensure that all external messaging and branding aligns with the business’s key priorities, the two, as partners, must disseminate the right messaging to everyone in the organization — from directors and VPs to associates and analysts.

Recognizing And Leveraging The Strengths Of The Marcomm Team

The key to tapping into the strength of a team is recognizing where its members excel and providing them with the resources to put their ideas and skills to work. The CCO and CMO must work together to identify the strengths of the individual team members that sit within their marketing and communications (marcomm) department to effectively leverage their different backgrounds and expertise.

CCOs need to engage a variety of professionals in order to drive the corporate narrative full circle, from media and communications to marketing and sales. For example, if an organization is distributing a new research report or white paper, team members with public relations (PR) expertise would be best suited for identifying news hooks or identifying relevant journalists with whom to share the findings. Similarly, team members with traditional marketing backgrounds might pull key insights from the report to incorporate in a social advertising campaign or add to collateral for an upcoming trade show.

Strategic communications executives in the C-suite recognize that putting the same content into the hands of team members with different specialties can help broaden reach while maintaining message consistency.

Last But Not Least, Connecting With Consumers

Consumers are one of the most important parts of any business strategy. Organizations measure success against how well a message is received by the end consumer. When the CCO’s and CMO’s efforts result in successfully communicating an organization’s messaging to members of its target audience, that’s a win.

Today, there is a greater number of touch points between brands and consumers than ever before. As a result, the dialogue between companies and customers is constantly evolving, and so are the ways in which consumers shop. From social media influencer pages to online advertisements and traditional media placements, an organization must be hyperfocused on making sure that branding is aligned across all channels, and that consumers are receiving a consistent message — no matter where they engage with the brand.

The CCO interacts with all the different pieces of the full marketing and communications puzzle. Therefore, it is their responsibility to ensure that the proper channels are being used to drive the narrative that resonates with the customer while delivering the message that supports the brand.

The methods brands use to tell their stories are changing, which means so is the role of the chief communications officer. It is now more important than ever that a CCO aligns an organization’s brand messaging from the top down and truly partners with the CMO. This requires the CCO to act as the “glue” across all channels of the organization, starting with the C-suite executives, then to the internal team members, and finally to the main focal point of the brand: the consumer.

This piece was originally published in Forbes.