We are witnessing a drastic and potentially detrimental change in the corporate communications landscape.

Communication has become more crucial than ever for sustainable business growth. That said, many companies are making the grave mistake of reducing, consolidating, or even eliminating their senior communications roles.

This shortsighted approach not only undermines the strategic importance of communications but also poses significant risks to organizational success.

The Alarming Trend

Recently, we hosted a LinkedIn Live roundtable on “Why Your Company Needs a CCO,” featuring:

• Becca Chambers, CCO, ControlUp
• Jennifer Glaisek Ferguson, CCO
• Tal Woliner, CCO, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAS) 
• Lauren Raguzin, Communication Leader, Global Change Communications

With a combined experience of over 60 years, these professionals made compelling arguments for why companies should invest more in communications and even install a Chief Communications Officer (CCO) who can help maximize communications across the company.

The event drew more than 100 live attendees, highlighting the interest and importance of this topic.

However, the market reality paints a starkly different picture.

The Alarming Trend — Communication Professionals Facing Layoffs

In June 2024, The University of Texas, Austin fired 20 staff members belonging to the communication and marketing departments. They mentioned crisis management as the reason behind the layoff.

• Becca Chambers, a respected communications leader, and previous guest on our show, points out that we’ve “never seen so many talented professionals sitting on the bench.”

• Joe Quenqua, another experienced CCO, PR strategist, and advisor, also noticed a surge in senior communications executives seeking new opportunities.

This trend is not just concerning to communications professionals —it’s alarming to business leaders on the whole.

The Misguided “Solutions”

Companies, in their quest for cost-cutting and supposed efficiency, are resorting to three main approaches:

1. 1. Consolidation: The emergence of “CCO+” roles, merging communications with HR, marketing, or other functions. This dilutes the focus and expertise needed for effective communication strategy.
   2. Outsourcing: Increasing reliance on freelancers for messaging tasks. While these can be valuable resources, they cannot replace the strategic oversight and organizational knowledge of an in-house communications leader.
   3. AI Integration: Growing use of generative AI for basic messaging needs. While AI can be a useful tool, it lacks the nuanced understanding and strategic thinking that skilled communicators bring to the table.

These approaches fundamentally misunderstand the true value and scope of communications in an organization.

The Critical Misunderstanding: Communication is Not Messaging and Can’t Simply be Combined, Outsourced, or Automated

The problem with conflating communications and messaging is that you end up minimizing all that communications truly is; reducing it to just one task that can be combined, outsourced, or automated. And here’s what’s really dangerous – your company ends up missing out on leveraging the most powerful tool in business.

1: The Emergence of CCO+

When we view all that is communications as simply “messaging”, it can be easy to find other resources in the business doing similar work and combine it with that. 

For instance, “CCO+” is a new term that means combines Communications with other roles such as:

• Communications + HR Officers
• Communications + Marketing Officers.

Not that this consolidation is  necessarily “bad” or “wrong“, but the question is: “does it capitalize on the immense power of communication?”

And the answer to that is emphatically “no, it does not“.

2: Communnication can’t be freelanced

When communication is simply seen as messaging it can be easily outsourced to freelancers who are willing to work piecemeal on projects.

• Want new website copy, $50 on Fiverr will get that over to you in a jiffy –even same day if you pay $20 more!  
• Need a new script for your call centre agents? A freelancer on Upwork can do that for $15.  
• Looking for someone to write your corporate social media posts, there’s freelancers for that too.  

And not just consumer level freelancers from emerging markets, but truly bonafide messaging experts who have worked for large legitmate companies. 

In fact, Ashley Dennison a long time Communications expert just launched CommsConsultants.com to help executives fill this freelance need for communications expertise.  

Using her site of vetted bonafide communications experts, executives can find a comms expert for any of the typical comms functions, including:  

• Public Relations 
• Investor Relations 
• Blog Posts 
• Social Media 
• Internal comms, etc. 

You can even find highly experienced comms execs like Jeremy Tunis who provides “urgent care” and works as your fractional CCO to help you dig out of a PR nightmares.

These are all fantastic resources to add to your toolbox, but if you think you you can piecemeal your way to a powerful communication strategy that fully capitalizes on the power of communication, you’re wrong.

3.  GenAI

When communication is simply seen as messaging, it can even be done with genAI.  

Is genAI perfect at writing content, or helping you message your way out of a tricky situation?  No, at least… not yet.

However, GenAI is growing exponentially and if used tactfully, it will become absolutely invaluable for your organization.

Especially when combined with the skill and knowledge of other great senior leaders and communicators in an organization, the output from AI can often be seen as an adequate, and much cheaper solution that meets most of the basic needs for great messaging.

Why invest in Communications?

So why do companies need an expensive head of communications let alone a Chief Communications Officer reporting to the CEO and sitting on the executive leadership team?

Well it completely depends and quite honestly, I’m not sure they do.

I mean if businesses are just going to stay in the “communications is messaging” box, then consolidating and outsourcing the messaging can probably be a fine option for many companies. As we looked at above, there are a lot of good options for great messaging.

But as I’ve been preaching and will say once more communication is not messaging, and companies absolutely need someone who understands what it truly is, in order to help the company capitalize on its power. 

Communication is Everything

Communication is not just the carefully crafted press release we use to announce a new product line, the crafting of narratives to persuade media, investors, or employees, or witty posts on social media. It’s the most critical building block in business (neh in life!).  It is the tool used to create practically every employee and customer experience there is. 

The success of everything from sales to service, and operations relies directly on effective communication.  

• Relationships are created in communication -for better or worse!
• Sales are created in communication.
• Service is communication.
• Operations is communication.
• Contact centers are communication –often the most critical communication vector a company has!  The one that either creates happy or unhappy customers more than anything else, even price!
• HR is communication.
• Management is communication.
• How engaged and connected employees feel is communication.

Ongoing, Response-Based Process

With communication being so critical the question is: “Who in your company has the mandate, the expertise, and the budget to maximize the power of communication across the entire organization?”.

The answer to that question is invariably, “Nobody”.

It’s typically handled ad-hoc and on a reactive basis as communication based needs flare up and finally reach the boiling point:

• customer service issues
• sales issues
• customer churn issues
• internal communication issues etc.

That’s the status quo -and that in my humble opinion, is the incredible opportunity for communications leaders who are struggling to prove their value.

Mesage to Communications Professionals

The role of communication is evolving, and so must your skills. They may not realize it yet, but your CEO and your company need your expertise now more than ever. 

It’s time to view communication as more than just public relations, press releases, or even messaging itself.

Communication is the most powerful tool in your company’s arsenal—one that’s being drastically underutilized across all departments. Your expertise must go deeper in unlocking its full potential by: 

• Shaping a sound communication strategy that goes beyond messaging
• Driving impact across the entire organization

Don’t miss the boat! Chief Experience Officers (CXOs) and similar executives are already focused on improving communication (and the great experiences communication creates) across their organizations.

Meanwhile many of the people with the most passion and appreciation for communication sit ideally on the sidelines either unemployed, or seeing their roles being consolidated, and wondering “what’s going on”.

What’s going on is clear: communications leaders have conflated communications with messaging, and messaging is becoming less valued.

In other words the current state of corporate communications is misaligned with business needs. 

The Urgent Need for Strategic Communication Leadership

What companies truly need, now more than ever, is an executive who:

1. Has a seat at the executive table.
2. Possesses the mandate, expertise, and budget to maximize the power of communication across the entire organization.
3. Understands that communication is more than just messaging.
4. Knows how to help each department capitalize on the power of communication in their departments.

Just as CFOs are crucial for financial optimization and CXOs for maximizing customer experience, a strategic communications leader is essential for optimizing and capitalizing on the most powerful tool in business -both within and outside the organization.

The Stakes Are High

Companies, and even communication professionals, that fail to appreciate the critical importance of communication across their company are setting themselves up for failure. They risk:

• Decreased employee engagement and productivity.
• Decreased sales leads and opportunities due to ineffective communication.
• Inability to meet the needs of their increasinly demanding employees and customers.
• Continued misalignment between different parts of the organization.
• Weakened customer relationships and brand loyalty.

The future success of businesses will increasingly depend on their ability to capitalize on the power of communication —internally and externally.

• Those who understand and act on this reality will thrive.
• Those who don’t may find themselves struggling to remain relevant and competitive in an increasingly complex and communication-driven world.

The choice is clear. The time to act is now. Don’t let your company be on the wrong side of this critical shift in communications.

How We Can Help

As the first of its kind wholistic communications commtech brokerage, we can help you ensure your company is truly capitalizing on the power of Communication.

We do this in two ways:

• First with an audit to surface up your largest communication gaps, frictions, and challenges across your organization;
• Second by bringing you the best technology, service, and enablement partners to help fill the gaps.

We work with communications and customer experience leaders to help you find and solve the largest gaps, frictions, and challenges in your companies communications.

You can learn more about our services here, or by clicking the blue chat button in the bottom corner.