The Corporate Newsroom: Steering Companies Efficiently Through Communication (Management for Professionals) 3030676412, 9783030676414

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Management for Professionals

Christoph Moss

The Corporate Newsroom Steering Companies Efficiently Through Communication

Management for Professionals

The Springer series Management for Professionals comprises high-level business and management books for executives. The authors are experienced business professionals and renowned professors who combine scientific background, best practice, and entrepreneurial vision to provide powerful insights into how to achieve business excellence.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10101

Christoph Moss Editor

The Corporate Newsroom Steering Companies Efficiently Through Communication

Editor Christoph Moss Mediamoss Corporate Newsroom Consulting International School of Management Dortmund, Germany

Translation from the German language edition: Der Newsroom in der Unternehmenskommunikation by Christoph Moss (Hrsg.) FachmedienWiesbaden 2016. All Rights Reserved. Wie sich Themen effizient steuern lassen

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Springer

ISSN 2192-8096 ISSN 2192-810X (electronic) Management for Professionals ISBN 978-3-030-67641-4 ISBN 978-3-030-67642-1 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67642-1 # Mediamoss GmbH 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Preface

Managing topics, weighting information, keeping an eye on news: this is how one imagines working in the nerve centre of a large broadcaster or news agency. In an industrial company, however, such a view was unthinkable for a long time. Corporate communicators worked in their individual offices instead of in an open-plan office, or as one responsible person aptly put it: “We lived in silos.” In the recent past, this trend has softened. The pressure created by media change is too great. The number of channels is exploding; user habits are changing radically. In recent years, I myself have worked in a journalistic Newsroom and been allowed to accompany Newsroom projects from the perspective of a consultant. In the meantime, the topic has arrived in many companies, so that a publication on topicoriented control in the Corporate Newsroom is strongly justified in terms of content. The idea for this book has matured over the years. The fact that the subject area is still largely unexplored increases the appeal of being able to fill a gap. But it also increases the degree of complexity when an unexplored field first needs structuring. The desire to write such a book is one thing and the operative implementation another. My thanks go to everyone who contributed to the creation of this volume. This includes, above all, the authors who, as communication managers, researchers and consultants, observe and accompany the phenomenon of the Corporate Newsroom: Lara Behrens, Christian Buggisch, Mirko Lange, Dominik Ruisinger, Mona Sadrowski, Niklas Stog and Ghaida Al-Warith. Together with the interview partners Grischa Brower-Rabinowitsch, Maximilian Heiler, Marco Leeuwerink and Kilian Wichmann, they have all intensively discussed, designed, weighed, researched and written, demonstrating a high degree of reliability and depth of content. I would also like to thank the Mediamoss team who helped with proofreading, graphics and the overall concept, especially Hannah Berse, Merlinn Reinhold and Patricia Sommer. I would like to emphasise the work of Lara Behrens, who, in addition to her multiple authorship, has tirelessly held together the virtual threads of book production in the background.

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The collaboration in this volume has shown that practitioners and theorists have already mastered the discourse very well. My hope is that this book can advance the topic of Corporate Newsroom in the scientific debate and in practice. Dortmund, Germany October 2020

Christoph Moss

Contents

1

“There Will Never Be a Newsroom”: The Discussion About Topic-Oriented Control in Corporate Communications . . . . . . . . . Christoph Moss

Part I 2

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Theoretical Basics

Integrated Communication in the Corporate Newsroom as a Contribution to Enterprise Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christoph Moss and Niklas Stog

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The Journalistic Newsroom as a Blueprint for Corporate Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lara Behrens, Christoph Moss, and Mona Sadrowski

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The Corporate Newsroom Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christoph Moss

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Strategic Content Marketing in the Corporate Newsroom . . . . . . . . Mirko Lange

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Efficiency and Effectiveness: Controlling in the Corporate Newsroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lara Behrens, Christoph Moss, and Niklas Stog

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The Dissemination of Corporate Newsrooms in Practice: Empirical Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christoph Moss and Mona Sadrowski

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The Digital Shop Window: The Social Media Newsroom as a Communicative Hub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Dominik Ruisinger

Part II 9

Case Studies

Case Study DATEV: The Introduction of a Corporate Newsroom as a Change Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Christian Buggisch vii

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Case Study Dutch National Police: Building Trust with a Corporate Newsroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Ghaida Al-Warith and Christoph Moss

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Case Study R+V Insurance: Meeting New Challenges with a Corporate Newsroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Christoph Moss

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Case Study Swiss Life Germany: The Corporate Newsroom as a Motor of Digitisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Christoph Moss

About the Authors

Ghaida Al-Warith, born in 1996, completed her PR internship with the consulting company Mediamoss GmbH. She is studying international management at the International School of Management in Dortmund. In this context, she learned about the Corporate Newsroom model and wrote the case study about the Dutch police (Politie in Nederland). Lara Behrens, M.A., born in 1988, is managing director of the consulting company Mediamoss GmbH. She has already accompanied numerous Newsroom projects. Lara Behrens studied Public Relations and Corporate Communication at BiTS University and completed a PR traineeship. In the final theses for her bachelor’s and master’s studies she did research on the Newsroom principle. After working abroad, she became a research assistant in the cross-media teaching editorial department at BiTS University in Iserlohn. She has been working at Mediamoss since 2012. Christian Buggisch, M.A., born in 1972, is Head of Corporate Communications at DATEV, one of the largest German software houses and IT service providers. After studying German language and literature, history and art history in Erlangen and Rome, he first worked as an editor at a publishing house in Stuttgart before changing media and working as an online editor at DATEV in Nuremberg. Since 2007, he has been responsible for DATEV’s Internet activities, and since 2012, he has also been responsible for DATEV’s entire corporate publishing. Mirko Lange, born 1965, is founder and managing director of Scompler Technologies GmbH, a provider of software for communication management. He studied law and was a PR consultant for 20 years before he started to specialise in strategic communication management in 2015. Since then, he has managed the process of implementing a “Content Command Center” at around 100 companies, including Commerzbank, Merck, Deutsche Bahn, Nestle and the Salvation Army in Switzerland.

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About the Authors

Christoph Moss, Prof. Dr., born 1967, is Professor of Marketing and Communication at the International School of Management in Dortmund and Cologne. He previously worked for Deutsche Bank as well as for broadcasters and newspapers in Düsseldorf, Passau, Dresden, Dortmund, Brussels and Paris. He was managing editor in the Handelsblatt Newsroom and headed the Georg-von-Holtzbrinck School for Business Journalists. After studying business administration at the University of Passau, he completed his doctorate at the Technical University of Dortmund on the subject of “The Organisation of Newspaper Editing”. In addition to his scientific work, he is managing partner of the consulting company Mediamoss GmbH. There he has already supervised more than 50 Corporate Newsroom projects. Dominik Ruisinger, Dipl.-Pol., born 1965, is a trained journalist, trained PR consultant (DAPR) and certified foundation manager (DSA). Since the 1990s, he has been advising on strategic and digital communication issues, lecturing at universities, leading workshops, giving lectures and coaching foundations. At the same time, he supports the Foundation for the Promotion of Social Purposes at home and abroad as an advisory board member. Dominik Ruisinger is the editor of the reference books Die digitale Kommunikationsstrategie, Public Relations and Online Relations and author of the industry study #stiftungdigital on the presence of 238 foundations in the digital media. Mona Sadrowski, M.A., born in 1989, completed her Master of Corporate Communications at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz in 2015 with a thesis on the Newsroom concept. During her past jobs in bigger companies and agencies, she was able to gain experience with different organisational forms for corporate communications departments. In her most recent job at segmenta communications, she worked as Senior Communication Strategist, consulting her clients in various areas of corporate communications. Niklas Stog, M.Sc., born 1983, is an Associate Partner at the marketing and innovation consultancy TD Reply in Berlin. He supports multinational companies at the intersection of data analytics, digital innovation and business transformation.

1

“There Will Never Be a Newsroom”: The Discussion About Topic-Oriented Control in Corporate Communications Christoph Moss

“There will never be a Newsroom.” When this sentence was uttered, the author of this article was in the middle of presenting a Newsroom project. The representatives of the company did not like the idea that there could be open spaces, defined processes, a conference system and perhaps even an operational control unit in their communications department: “There will never be a managing editor either” was the seemingly clear message. The controversial discussion lasted an entire day. In the evening, the wind changed. The Newsroom was decided, developed and built after several months of intensive planning. The bottom line was that it was a successful project, even though the beginning was more than bumpy. The initial scepticism is understandable and typical for Newsroom projects. On the one hand, there is the desire to manage topics, to overcome the isolation in one’s own department and to create new, transparent structures. On the other hand, there is also the fear of change which goes hand in hand with the concern of losing control and perhaps even power. This conflict can only be resolved if all participants actually support the new concept. Otherwise, there is the danger of a compromise motivated by domestic policy: Newsroom is not always the answer in such a case. Only those who manage to actually place content and no longer function at the centre of the organisation with a newly structured unit for communications will be able to control communication permanently. For a long time, the desire to send uniform messages and to speak with one voice seemed hardly feasible. Business efficiency and communicative effectiveness were in a permanent conflict. This book will start at this interface. The authors want to show ways in which topics can be efficiently managed in a company in order to facilitate integrated communication. The articles look at the phenomenon of Newsroom organisation from various angles.

C. Moss (*) International School of Management, Dortmund, Germany e-mail: [email protected] # The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 C. Moss (ed.), The Corporate Newsroom, Management for Professionals, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67642-1_1

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The book is based on the thesis that integrated communication significantly increases the value of a company. However, as the first article shows, this has so far been implemented inadequately in many companies. Niklas Stog and Christoph Moss therefore see the Corporate Newsroom play a central role in developing the strategic value of integrated communication in the future. In addition to economic concepts, the authors also draw on approaches from social science, organisational psychology and information technology. This interdisciplinary approach leads to the insight that the human factor plays a central role in Corporate Newsroom projects. The statement quoted at the beginning about the Newsroom, which will never exist, proves this very well. The phenomenon of the Corporate Newsroom has so far been insufficiently examined from a scientific point of view. For this reason, the publisher, together with Lara Behrens and Mona Sadrowski, will first take up the current state of research on the journalistic Newsroom, whose basic concept plays an important role in the development of the Corporate Newsroom. In fact, many media houses now operate a journalistic Newsroom. This fact has recently been reflected in research literature. Nevertheless, an end to this development is not yet in sight: while in the past publishers and broadcasting stations often differentiated between online and print editorial departments, a trend towards the integration of both disciplines in a common Newsroom has yet begun. In the third article in this book, Christoph Moss addresses the Corporate Newsroom as the basis for topic-oriented management. Based on the question of the meaningfulness of conventional structures in communication departments, the Corporate Newsroom is worked out as a suitable alternative. Its central element is the organisational separation of topics and channels as well as the operational control by a managing editor. The introduction of the Corporate Newsroom is divided into three phases which focus on the human factor in particular: • Preparatory phase • Communication design phase • Implementation phase When establishing the processes in a Corporate Newsroom, a conference system will be developed which is a mandatory prerequisite for effective topic management. The article uses typical sample processes to show how a topic can be implemented in the right channels. It also becomes clear that a Corporate Newsroom has a much more complex structure than a journalistic Newsroom in a media company. With the Corporate Newsroom model enterprises get an organisational framework for communication. In the future, those companies will be successful that communicate relevant content at the right time to their target and dialogue groups. Mirko Lange shows in his article how a topic architecture can lead to an efficient use of resources. For content to develop its full effect and power, it must be embedded in an overall system of strategic content marketing. Therefore, topic evaluation is an important step. While the theoretical advantages of topic-oriented control are obvious, top management in particular must be convinced of the usefulness of the Corporate

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“There Will Never Be a Newsroom”: The Discussion About Topic-Oriented Control

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Newsroom model. This brings into focus another interface topic that communicators have tended to distrust in the past: the measurement of efficiency. However, since the introduction of a Corporate Newsroom is intended to increase the efficiency of one’s own department in particular, Lara Behrens, Niklas Stog and Christoph Moss are investigating how communication controlling can contribute to this goal. In doing so, the authors draw on findings for the evaluation of organisational structures. In five steps, they describe how an integrated controlling approach in corporate communications and marketing should be structured. The prerequisite for this is uniformly defined key figures for the Newsroom. The Corporate Newsroom efficiency model presents an approach that covers communicative and organisational goals in terms of measurement parameters. It shows that the Corporate Newsroom can contribute to the achievement of overriding goals from the perspective of communication control. In fact, the Newsroom system has become a very important topic in companies. Christoph Moss and Mona Sadrowski present two empirical studies concerning the dissemination of Corporate Newsrooms in practice. The first study by Moss, Westermann and Ghorbani comes to the conclusion that Corporate Newsroom is a question of mindset. The question therefore is no longer whether companies want to introduce a Corporate Newsroom, but when and how. The respondents see it as a chance for rethinking and renewal. The trend towards content marketing is allowing the historically separate disciplines of communication and marketing to grow together. However, a large number of communications departments are facing organisational upheaval. Mona Sadrowski interviewed 74 departments to find out how the Corporate Newsroom concept is currently being applied. One of the results shows that the characteristics of Newsroom integration are very different. This is particularly evident in Dominik Ruisinger’s contribution, which examines the concept, structure and characteristics of a digital Social Media Newsroom. Here, too, it becomes clear that diverging approaches to this phenomenon exist in practice. The Social Media Newsroom becomes the central access to the collaborative world of blogs, social networks and sharing platforms. It is thus far more than just a surface for publishing press releases. The Social Media Newsroom is the hub and media showcase of an organisation that provides journalists and interested parties with a quick overview of all activities. The Newsroom thus automatically aggregates the content from the social media channels centrally on a single interface, while the discussions and dialogues continue to take place within the individual platforms. The author assumes that the discussion about the future role of a social media manager and the integrative inclusion of social media will also affect the Social Media Newsroom. It can be assumed that in the future we will speak of a Digital Newsroom that includes publications from one’s own website. This Digital Newsroom would then form the showcase for the entire online or digital activities of an organisation, also as a supplement to the classic Newsroom as an editorial Newsroom.

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Case Studies This volume pursues the concept of combining theoretical findings with practical experience. Therefore, the second part of the book presents various case studies describing the concrete implementation of a Corporate Newsroom. Christian Buggisch, for example, shows in his contribution that the introduction of a Newsroom is a change project. He introduced a Corporate Newsroom at the German software company DATEV. His motivation was obvious. The head of communications wanted to create a structure that solves current problems but also enables the future integration of further topics and media. His insight: employees must be involved in the introduction process right from the start of the Corporate Newsroom. Another example for this is the Dutch police. Marco Leeuwerink explains that the main motivation was to increase the trust of the people and the employees in the police. Due to the direct communication to the external target groups, the Corporate Newsroom in the Hague provides the police force with instant content, which makes 20% of the daily content. The other 80% of the content planned for a day is generated on the foundation of the long-term strategy of the Corporate Newsroom. The employees were directly involved in the change process from the old-fashioned organisation to a modern Corporate Newsroom. R+V Insurance appointed a new CEO in 2017. Since then, he has been demanding and promoting a much more active communication—externally and internally. He himself acts as the top communicator of the company, for example by seeking and gladly completing public appearances and press interviews. Grischa BrowerRabinowitsch shows that this new situation posed a challenge for communication. A defensive communication structure is only conditionally suitable for active communication. A new structure, a new way of thinking had to be created and was found in the Corporate Newsroom model. While DATEV, the Dutch police and R+V Insurance organised communications in a modern way, Swiss Life Germany additionally integrated marketing. All of the approximately 50 employees of the Marketing and Communication department work together. Maximilian Heiler and Kilian Wichmann explain how the Corporate Newsroom has become a motor of digitisation for the Swiss insurance company.

Part I Theoretical Basics

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Integrated Communication in the Corporate Newsroom as a Contribution to Enterprise Value Christoph Moss and Niklas Stog

If you want to be successful in marketing and communication, you have to be able to manage topics. In reality, however, many companies are stuck in traditional structures (Moss 2019). Accurately drawn up organisational charts document the classification and hierarchical levels of collective bargaining agreements. The question of whether employees work in a single or two-person office can be more important than content requirements or current topics. In such rigid structures, day-to-day business is often marked by permanent conflicts over responsibilities and budgets. The desire to send out uniform messages and speak with one voice seems hardly feasible under such conditions (Moss 2014).

2.1

The Need to Manage Topics

Abandoning the silos for open, communicative structures, modern Corporate Newsroom concepts can help to break down the barriers between communication and marketing, between internal and external target groups or between product PR and media relations. In fact, even today not every company is really able to manage communication and topics. This can become dangerous in the long run, as listed large corporations in particular increasingly have to justify their actions to critical, media-trained stakeholder groups. Deutsche Bank experienced this at its own Annual General Meeting. For years, top managers of Germany’s largest bank had to answer in court, regularly accompanied by intensive discussions in the media public. In May 2015, the C. Moss (*) International School of Management, Dortmund, Germany e-mail: [email protected] N. Stog Berlin, Germany e-mail: [email protected] # The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 C. Moss (ed.), The Corporate Newsroom, Management for Professionals, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67642-1_2

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shareholders punished the Board of Managing Directors for their actions. The two board members Anshu Jain and Jürgen Fitschen were exonerated but received only 61% of the votes—a result that was generally classified as “historically poor” (Meck 2015). A few weeks later both announced their resignation (Zeit.de 2015). In 2017, Deutsche Bank opened a Corporate Newsroom. This unit is responsible for coordinating topics as well as planning and controlling communication. It ensures that communication between the various business partners is stringent (Newsaktuell 2020). Customers, investors or environmental activists can send opinions and facts to a large number of recipients at any time (Moss and Stog 2009). Corporate communications and marketing are no longer just senders of messages but also recipients of customer enquiries, comments and evaluations. Companies have recognised that monitoring is necessary in order to check all available channels sensibly for possible external impulses. However, this requirement theoretically requires 24-h operation including weekend work—a horror for co-determined corporations with strict working time rules and a nightmare for many mediumsized companies that are already hard to convince of the need for professional communication. The role of “communication as a value driver and success factor” (Piwinger and Zerfaß 2007: 1) is undisputed in business and communication science literature. Numerous studies prove the positive influence of holistic communication on corporate value (Moss and Stog 2009). The legal framework also proves the growing importance of integrated communication for corporate success (Moss and Stog 2009). For example, companies can use international accounting standards to capitalise IFRS intangible assets—a fact that can be of decisive importance in the search for sources of capital. These intangible assets include brand value, customer satisfaction and corporate reputation, the value of which is highly dependent on communication. Keywords such as content marketing or storytelling clearly show that the ability to set one’s own topics has moved into the focus of daily communication work—or better yet, should move into the spotlight. Some people like consultant Klaus Eck (2015) even assume that there will be no more classical advertising in the future. What counts is content. “Well-made advertising is not (editorial) content and never will be” (Eck 2015). Stories and articles must be written in a dramaturgically clean manner. This requires a clear focus of corporate communications on topics. This kind of integrated communication has been discussed for years. In practiceits implementation fails due to several reasons—above all because companies still predominantly neglect the role of communication as a value-adding factor. A survey conducted by Forrester Research among 500 international marketing and communications managers shows that less than half of those surveyed consider it important to make the contribution of their work to company results measurable. This attitude leads to the fact that only a fraction of those responsible for communications occupy strategically relevant positions in companies—the vast majority of company directors are still recruited from the areas of finance research and development or

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production (ITSMA, VEM & Forrester 2013). The theoretically crucial marketoriented function of marketing and communication remains underrepresented which weakens the importance of integrated communication in companies.

2.2

Digitisation: Blessing or Curse for Integrated Communication?

The paradox between high theoretical demands and insufficient practical relevance is intensified in times of digital media change. Digitisation accelerates the convergence of different channels and thus favours the convergence of communicative sub-disciplines. Whereas a strict separation from the development of advertising content, PR messages and media planning was the rule in the classic media world, the emergence of digital channels such as social media requires much stronger integration. Companies no longer rely exclusively on classic gatekeepers from journalism and media marketing but are in a position to communicate directly with end consumers. The content sent in this way must support the achievement of corporate goals and at the same time fulfil news value criteria from PR in order to generate attention and acceptance among users. Close coordination between the communications department and those responsible for classic advertising is indispensable. Due to the shortening of communication cycles and the growing potential of live events for the communication of brands and companies, the integration of the media planning department in addition to the interlinking of PR and advertising is becoming even more important in order to distribute short-term conceptual content to the largest possible target group in the near future. Last but not least the use of digital channels also makes it much easier to measure the success of communication. Instruments such as web analytics, CRM or social media monitoring enable an immediate and rapid evaluation of communicative measures which favours the creation of entrepreneurial relevance for the disciplines. A study conducted in 2014 by the American consulting firm Avidan Strategies concluded that only 16% of the marketing managers (chief marketing officers) surveyed were satisfied with consulting their agencies in the field of integrated communication (Avidan Strategies 2014). Even company representatives see themselves only conditionally in a position to meet the challenges for integrated communication arising from media change. For example, a survey conducted in 2014 by the Mainz University of Applied Sciences concluded that only a group of companies described by the authors as the “communication elite” (Rolke and Forthmann 2014) had the ability to satisfactorily link the areas of corporate communications, marketing and corporate strategy. According to the survey, this group accounts for less than 30% of professional and managerial staff. In this context, the Corporate Newsroom study conducted by Moss, Westermann and Ghorbani already sounds more optimistic (Moss 2019). The results are presented in Chap. 7.

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The Corporate Newsroom Principle for Overcoming Hidden Barriers

The described gap between aspiration and reality leads to the obvious question why the successful implementation of integrated communication is still the exception in companies and what can be done to overcome this gap. In order to develop the strategic value of integrated communication, the Corporate Newsroom plays a central role in corporate communications. With this organisational form, companies could remove a number of obstacles that currently stand in the way of a stronger bundling of communication disciplines. The following consideration is at least partially detached from economic theories and increasingly includes approaches from the social sciences, organisational psychology and information technology in the discussion. This interdisciplinary view pursues above all the goal of illuminating less tangible influencing factors such as political interests, implicitly grown organisational structures and the role of technology and thus uncovering hidden barriers for a stronger fusion of communicative sub-disciplines. The lack of interlocking of different communication disciplines—above all PR, advertising, media planning and sales—is one of the biggest obstacles to successful integrated communication and the resulting increase in corporate value. This problem is increasing due to digital media change, as further sub-disciplines form in each of the aforementioned sub-areas, which makes coordination among them more difficult. In many companies, a separation between corporate and brand PR, offline and digital communication as well as brand and campaign management is the order of the day. In addition, there are special departments for newly created sub-disciplines such as direct marketing, social media or CRM. In order to address this internal fragmentation and to show approaches to overcoming it, it is necessary to take a look at the scientific discussion on the internal coordination of different departments and sub-disciplines—especially in the context of technological change and the entrepreneurial processes of change initiated by it. The explanations below argue at least in part against the Enterprise 2.0 paradigm introduced by McAffee in 2006, which declares digital communication platforms such as wikis, blogs and social networks as catalysts of interdepartmental cooperation (McAffee 2006). The following pages are not intended to question the undeniable advantages of these platforms or the leading importance of technology for entrepreneurial change. The use and evaluation of new technologies, however, requires a more holistic view of the organisation that considers the implicit differences in content understanding and individual interests between departments. Without these preliminary considerations, new technologies or models such as the Corporate Newsroom cannot unfold their actual effect, since the change processes triggered by them can encounter hard resistance in organisational reality and significantly jeopardise the success of their introduction.

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The Tension Between Differentiation and Integration

From a technical as well as a business point of view, the improved coordination between departments such as marketing and PR primarily requires the introduction of a common language or, in other words, a uniform sign system. The scientific discussion about this goes back to the 1950s and is closely linked to the emergence of modern information technologies. During this period, the Mathematical Theory of Communication by Shannon (1948) and Weaver (1949) or the associated Lasswell formula (Lasswell and Smith 1946) attracted a great deal of attention. Both define information as a neutral signal that can be converted electrically and transmitted between transmitter and receiver. Following on from this, Lawrence and Lorsch described the development of a common electronic syntax as the most important success factor for the efficient and more effective coordination of various disciplines in their contingency theory developed in 1967. Their approach was primarily developed in the chemical industry which underwent rapid changes in research, product development and production in the 1960s. The findings of their investigations coincide with the observations in today’s context of marketing and corporate communications: the further development and differentiation of technology and competition require increasing specialisation. This specialisation, in turn, makes it more difficult to coordinate the entrepreneurial sub-areas among each other. In this area of tension between differentiation and integration, common target systems, key figures and IT play a decisive role. However, the introduction of common sign systems, whether these be key figures, content guidelines or IT systems, does not go far enough on its own to interlink the work of communication disciplines more closely. An obvious reason for this is the lack of differentiation between implicit and explicit knowledge (Polanyi 1966) or between information and know-how. A large part of the skills and competitive advantages available in marketing and communication departments cannot be codified so that they can subsequently be used across departments. In this context, Kogut and Zander (1992) pointed out for the first time that the standardisation of knowledge facilitates internal coordination but can weaken innovation at the same time and make one’s own business model more imitable. In addition, internal knowledge exchange must always be viewed in the social context of the organisation which is decisively shaped by individuals and personal interaction. From this perspective, departments and employees do not simply process information along a linear input-output logic (Lawrence and Lorsch 1967). They rather appear as actors who shape entrepreneurial reality instead of being passive links in the value chain. This assumption can be described as particularly true in the context of marketing and corporate communications since the topics negotiated here are from the outset far less clearly defined than in originally quantitatively oriented disciplines such as production or controlling. Based on these assumptions a number of studies have investigated the relationship between subjective perception and entrepreneurial effectiveness. In 1992, Dougherty first coined the term “departmental thought worlds” (1992: 179) which represents an important obstacle in interdepartmental cooperation. Dougherty was

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able to show that even with a common focus on apparently identical terms such as market orientation, the interpretation of these terms can deviate across departments. This interpretative approach (knowledge-based view of the firm) can help to reveal implicit differences in knowledge and attitudes across different departments. At the same time, it neglects the conflict potential that this disclosure can cause. Ignoring the issues of politics and power is particularly problematic. Market-oriented corporate functions such as communication, marketing and sales are in direct competition for internal budgets and responsibilities, which are also linked to the professional careers of individuals. This competitive situation is intensified by new channels such as e-CRM and social media, as they have reference points to a large number of specialist departments in terms of content and currently have a particularly high potential for internal political positioning.

2.5

The Power Factor as a Central Obstacle

In order to fully reveal the internal barriers of integrated communication, the inclusion of the power factor is inevitable. One of the most prominent attempts in this context comes from Carlile who in his essay “Pragmatic View of Knowledge and Boundaries” (Carlile 2002: 442) analyses the role of department-specific interests and politics in interdisciplinary cooperation. He makes use of Bourdieu’s theory of habitus and symbolic capital assuming that by successfully carrying out their work overtime specialist departments build symbolic and material resources. In the case of cross-departmental collaboration these resources are “put at risk” (Carlile 2002: 446) since implicit knowledge must be shared and modified in order to fulfil common tasks. As a consequence, cross-departmental cooperation can not only create problems of understanding (Shannon 1948) or interpretation (Nonaka 1994) but can also be prevented by conflicting interests. Probably the most differentiated and realistic conceptualisation of knowledge and power comes from the French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault (1979, 1982). Foucault does not define power as an instrument of one-sided dominance but as a productive component of human relationships that is inevitably linked to the generation of knowledge. Foucault’s core statement is that objective knowledge does not de facto exist but is always shaped by individual power interests and conflicts. Knowledge and power are in constant interaction with each other and must always be included in advance when introducing organisational structures, processes and technologies. Although their theoretical approaches show significant differences, both Carlile and Foucault attach great importance to so-called artefacts in order to illustrate and dissolve the clash of knowledge and power. Foucault focuses on architectural artefacts and defines social space as “structured by power and permeated by knowledge” (Besley and Peters 2007: 79). Carlile, whose work in contrast to Foucault is located in the corporate context, regards drawings, maps and technical devices as instruments for resolving conflicts of power and interests in the companies he investigates. Through such artefacts, departments express and negotiate individual

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interests in order to transform shared knowledge into collective action (Star 1989; Bechky 2003). According to Carlile, the materialisation of individual interests is therefore decisive for the improvement of interdepartmental exchange.

2.6

Outlook: The Introduction of a Corporate Newsroom as a Change Project

The interests of departments and individuals create entrepreneurial realities that counteract the successful integration of corporate communications and marketing. The introduction of a Corporate Newsroom fuels the hope that power politics, organically grown structures, the challenge of digitisation and the tension between differentiation and integration can be resolved. In this light, however, it also becomes clear why the organisation of a communications department according to the Corporate Newsroom principle can be a very delicate undertaking. Adapting communication structures, power relations, architectural layouts, working hours or content is a far-reaching process of change. The individual employee possibly perceives such a step similarly to typical restructuring processes in mergers or takeovers. In such cases, the affected persons show typical emotions such as fear and insecurity. For this reason, the introduction of a Corporate Newsroom in the company must be identified as a change project. When companies decide to take such a step, influence and power structures change. The reorganisation in a Corporate Newsroom therefore means a serious intervention in the organisational structures of the marketing and communication departments. This step must be prepared and implemented in a correspondingly professional manner.

Literature Avidan Strategies. (2014). What CMOs are saying about the future of their relationships with agencies. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/avidan/2014/09/29/ what-cmos-are-saying-about-the-future-of-their-relationships-with-agencies/ Bechky, B. A. (2003). Object lessons: Workplace artifacts as representations of occupational jurisdiction. American Journal of Sociology, 109(3), 720–752. Besley, T., & Peters, M. A. (2007). Subjectivity and truth: Foucault, education, and the culture of self. New York: Peter Lang. Carlile, P. R. (2002). A pragmatic view of knowledge and boundaries: Boundary objects in new product development. Organization Science, 13(4), 442–455. Dougherty, D. (1992). Interpretive barriers to successful product innovation in large firms. Organization Science, 3(2), 179–202. Eck, K. (2015). Content-Werbung braucht niemand. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from http://prblogger.de/2015/05/13/content-werbung-braucht-niemand/ Foucault, M. (1979). Power and strategies: An interview with Michel Foucault conducted by the Révoltes Logiques collective. In M. Morris & P. Patton (Eds.), Michel Foucault: Power, truth, strategy (pp. 49–58). Sydney: Feral Publications. Foucault, M. (1982). The subject and power. In M. Foucault (Ed.), Power – Essential works of Foucault 1954-1984 (pp. 326–348). New York: Penguin Books.

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ITSMA, VEM, & Forrester. (2013). Increasing marketing’s relevance for the business: 2013 ITSMA/VEM/Forrester marketing performance management survey. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from ITSMA: http://www.itsma.com/research/increasing-marketings-relevance-tothe-business/ Kogut, B., & Zander, U. (1992). Knowledge of the firm, combinative capabilites, and the replication of technology. Organization Science, 3(3), 383–397. Lasswell, H. D., & Smith, B. (1946). Propaganda, communication and public opinion: A comprehensive reference guide. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Lawrence, P. R., & Lorsch, J. W. (1967). Differentiation and integration in complex organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 12(1), 1–30. McAffee, A. (2006). Enterprise 2.0: The dawn of emergent collaboration. Sloan Management Review, 47(3), 21–28. Meck, G. (2015). Deutsche Bank. Zwei gegen alle. Retrieved August 25, 2020, from https://www. faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/unternehmen/deutsche-bank-zwei-gegen-alle-13608836.html Moss, C. (2014). Schluss mit den Silos. Absatzwirtschaft, 1–2, 9. Moss, C. (2019). Newsroom Study: Companies want to overcome silos. Retrieved September 15, 2020, from https://mediamossblog.com/2019/11/04/newsroom-study-companies-want-toovercome-silos/ Moss, C., & Stog, N. (2009). Lieber gemeinsam statt einsam. Absatzwirtschaft, 9, 38–40. Newsaktuell. (2020). Newsroom mit Ausblick – Praxiscase Deutsche Bank. Retrieved August 25, 2020, from https://www.newsaktuell.de/blog/newsroom-mit-ausblick-praxiscase-deutschebank/ Nonaka, I. (1994). A dynamic theory of organizational knowledge creation. Organization Science, 5(1), 14–37. Piwinger, M., & Zerfaß, A. (2007). Kommunikation als Werttreiber und Erfolgsfaktor. In M. Piwinger & A. Zerfaß (Eds.), Handbuch Unternehmenskommunikation (pp. 5–16). Wiesbaden: GWV Fachverlage. Polanyi, M. (1966). The tacit dimension. New York: Anchor Day Books. Rolke, L., & Forthmann, J. (2014). Exzellenz in der Unternehmenskommunikation Was die Kommunikationselite von den PR-Basisexperten unterscheidet. Mainz: FH Mainz/ Faktenkontor. Shannon, E. S. (1948). A mathematical theory of communication. The Bell System Technical Journal, 27, 623–656. Star, S. L. (1989). The structure of ill-structured solutions: Boundary objects and heterogeneous distributed problem solving. In M. Huhns & L. Gasser (Eds.), Readings in distributed artificial intelligence (pp. 37–54). Menlo Park: Morgan Kaufman. Weaver, W. (1949). Recent contributions to the mathematical theory of communication. In E. S. Shannon & W. Weaver (Eds.), The mathematical theory of communication (pp. 3–91). Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Zeit.de. (2015). Vorstandschefs Jain und Fitschen treten zurück. Retrieved August 25, 2020, from https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2015-06/deutsche-bank-bestaetigt-jain-und-fitschen-tretenzurueck

3

The Journalistic Newsroom as a Blueprint for Corporate Communications Lara Behrens, Christoph Moss, and Mona Sadrowski

The Corporate Newsroom is still a very young object of investigation. The publication of this book in German language (Moss 2016) was the first time to present a theoretical framework for the Corporate Newsroom. An empirical study among companies in Germany was presented by Sadrowski (2015). Later studies were published in Switzerland (Keel and Niederhäuser 2016), Austria (Ninova-Solovykh et al. 2019) and the DACH region (Moss 2019; Seidenglanz 2019). Hardt and Moss (2016) described the Corporate Newsroom by the example of Siemens and the German Insurance Association GDV (2016). Until then only a few scientific publications mentioned the Newsroom as an organisational form for corporate communications. One example is Zerfaß et al. (2014) who describe the Newsroom as “integrated media editing” (ibid.: 59). This can efficiently control all communication channels thanks to “regular voting routines” (ibid.). In contrast to the Corporate Newsroom as an organisational form, scientific publications have already been dedicated to the so-called social media Newsroom. This is a corporate website that bundles the various digital offers of corporate communications. Social media Newsrooms usually contain press releases, graphic material, event calendars and an overview of the social media channels on which the company is active (Zerfaß and Schramm 2014). In the following, however, the term Corporate Newsroom first refers to the organisational form of corporate communications. Social media Newsrooms are addressed in Chap. 8.

L. Behrens · C. Moss (*) Mediamoss GmbH, Dortmund, Germany e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] M. Sadrowski Hamburg, Germany # The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 C. Moss (ed.), The Corporate Newsroom, Management for Professionals, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67642-1_3

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Previous Research on the Corporate Newsroom

The Corporate Newsroom as an organisational form is dominated by case study articles about the Newsrooms of individual companies, in which those responsible for corporate communications euphorically report on their everyday work and the advantages of the new organisational structures. The introduction of a Corporate Newsroom in the communications department of a particular company is often the starting point and usually also the focus of these articles. Holzinger and Sturmer (2012) devoted an entire book to the topic, but the subtitle “The Newsroom Strategy as a PR Novel” already suggests that this, too, is not a scientifically based discussion of this organisational form. Although the first, fictional part of this book is followed in the appendix by a fairly detailed elaboration on Newsrooms, this is also geared to a concrete example of a company and is more in the form of a recommendation for action. On this basis, no detailed statements can be made either about the distribution of Newsrooms or about the definition or structures of this form of organisation. For example, there are differences in the organisational location of the Newsroom within the company. This is usually described as an organisational form of corporate communications. However, in some cases it is also assigned to PR (Mickeleit 2013) or marketing (Pfannenmüller 2014). These differences are probably due on the one hand to the lack of a scientific basis and on the other to the conceptual difficulties in using the terms corporate communications, PR and marketing. Corporate communication is often understood as “strategically planned communication by profitoriented organisations” (Röttger et al. 2014: 28) and comprises the areas of “internal communication, market communication and public relations” (ibid.). In this sense, corporate communication is “as a rule organisationally anchored as a staff function or centrally anchored in the ‘Corporate Centre’” (Zerfaß et al. 2014: 990). For this reason, the Newsroom is also located at the organisational level of corporate communications. Even the characteristics attributed to Corporate Newsrooms in previous articles do not permit a uniform understanding of this organisational form. In the following, however, some characteristics are mentioned which are described as typical for Corporate Newsrooms at least in a large part of the articles. In almost all articles, the spatial restructuring of the communication departments is evaluated as a central characteristic of the Corporate Newsroom. As an open-plan office, the Corporate Newsroom should spatially integrate all sub-areas of corporate communications. In some cases, it is also intended to describe areas where employees can spend time in the Corporate Newsroom in order to encourage informal exchanges (Selbach 2012; Ullrich 2013; Pfannenmüller 2014). The spatial change as well as daily coordination routines should lead to more transparent and integrated work in the communications department (Keller 2013; Puscher 2014). Many articles draw parallels between communications departments with a Corporate Newsroom on the one hand and media companies or news agencies on the other. Consequently, in line with the Corporate Newsroom concept, the organisation should lead companies to increasingly produce their own publications and to directly get into contact with stakeholders, without a journalist acting as a gatekeeper

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(Holzinger and Sturmer 2012: 174; Karls and Wittrock 2013). In this context, the keywords storytelling and content marketing are sometimes used (Mickeleit 2013; Puscher 2014). In addition, the case studies described in the articles show that before and during the introduction of the Corporate Newsroom, companies orient themselves towards the working processes of journalistic Newsrooms and seek advice from former journalists (Pfannenmüller 2014; Selbach 2014). In some cases, a stronger orientation towards topics is described as a further characteristic of working in the Corporate Newsroom. Overall, the analysis of the previously published literature on Corporate Newsroom shows that the content is more focused on the desired results of the introduction of this organisational form than on the detailed presentation of its structures. The most frequently cited goals include better coordination of communication content and active setting of topics. Both are intended to promote integrated communication and thus create a consistent picture of the company among stakeholders (Holzinger and Sturmer 2012: 174; Keller 2013; Pfannenmüller 2014). However, the question of how exactly everyday life in a communications department with a Corporate Newsroom differs from that of a traditionally organised department is not answered by the articles published so far. In journalism research, on the other hand, studies and scientific publications on Newsrooms have been available for several years. Since there are recognisable comparisons between communication departments and media companies, it should make sense to present the journalistic Newsroom concept in the next step.

3.2

Journalistic Newsrooms and the Organisation of the Editorial Office as a Research Topic

The change in the media has forced media companies for years to deal with changed conditions. In addition to the printed daily newspaper, online, social media, video, audio, apps and other channels must be filled daily—this is happening through a convergence of Newsrooms (Pavlik 2009: 26). Although this makes it possible to address target groups in a differentiated way, the new opportunities also require new forms of editorial organisation. Target groups can no longer be reached via one single channel. Communication is changing from push to pull, from monologue to dialogue (Holzinger and Sturmer 2012: 167). In recent years, many media companies have therefore set up a Newsroom, such as Handelsblatt in Düsseldorf, Axel Springer Verlag in Berlin or the Blick Group in Zurich (Meyer-Bosse 2007; Klein Report 2019). The Newsroom principle originally comes from the USA (Neininger-Schwarz 2010). In German-speaking journalism research, for example, the topic of editorial organisation has been dealt with since the 1990s. Initially, the term editorial management prevailed there. Thus, Ruß-Mohl transferred the experiences of US American media houses to German journalism (Ruß-Mohl 1992, 1994, 1995). Rager and Weber (1991), Heinrich (1994) and Jonscher (1995) also addressed editorial management from different perspectives. Neumann (1996) presented an explorative

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Fig. 3.1 Newsroom model based on editorial segment organisation (Moss 1998: 150)

case study in which she analysed editorial management at the American regional newspaper Seattle Times. Moss (1998) then drew on insights from business administration. Terms such as structural and process organisation, efficiency or total quality management were brought into line with editorial structures. This is where the model of the editorial segment organisation (Moss 1998: 148ff.) was created. The model was applied in practice in 2002 when the Handelsblatt Newsroom was introduced (Heinrich and Moss 2006: 306). The concept (Fig. 3.1) aims to arrange all processes according to topics (Moss 1998: 148ff.). Nowadays, various scientific publications and empirical studies on the Newsroom concept are available. At the beginning of journalistic Newsroom research, there were still some uncertainties as to the definition of the term, since in Germanspeaking countries the term means something different than in Anglo-American journalism, where Newsroom generally stands for editorial space. In recent years, however, a largely uniform understanding of the term has established itself, which was decisively influenced by Meier (2006): “The Newsroom is not simply a

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Fig. 3.2 Matrix organisation in the editorial office (Moss 1998: 131)

traditional open-plan office but supports architecturally new editorial concepts of planning and working across departments and media. The walls between departments and media are torn down; all journalists sit in a common editorial room and are thus better able to discuss and coordinate” (ibid.: 210). What makes this kind of journalistic thinking so special is that it focuses on topics rather than departments. Interdepartmental teams each work on a topic together (Blöbaum 2008; Hofmann 2015). Another feature of the journalistic Newsroom is the separation of competence between coordinating and creatively informationgenerating journalistic roles. While coordinating journalists tend to perform organisational tasks closely related to the production of the various media, information-generating journalists are responsible for the actual content of those media (Meier 2006; Blöbaum 2008). Meier (2014) uses the organisational term of a matrix organisation structured according to topics and channels to describe the structure of the Newsroom. This is a combined organisational structure of the editorial staff, which simultaneously takes into account the characteristics of execution and object (Moss 1998: 129ff.). Figure 3.2 shows the structure of a matrix organisation in the editorial department. In addition to the change in structures and processes in editorial offices, the spatial redesign is characteristic for a Newsroom. In this organisational form, the editorial rooms are partly described as a dynamic “marketplace” (Keese 2009: 19), which stimulates informal conversations and the exchange of information thanks to a lack of spatial demarcation. According to the editor-in-chief of the Mittelbayerische Zeitung, the Newsroom should also have “free lines of sight and give every employee the feeling of being an important part of the whole” (Sauerer 2014). In journalism research, various goals are named which editors pursue with the introduction of the Newsroom. One goal is to achieve better coordination of content within a journalistic product by combining previously separate departments (Blöbaum 2008; Neuberger and Kapern 2013: 203ff.). The same topics are to be

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published on the various channels of an editorial office, taking into account their specific characteristics (Hofstetter and Schönhagen 2014; Meier 2014). The clearly defined topic-related or channel-specific areas of responsibility of the Newsroom employees should also make their work more effective. This is intended to create more resources for well-founded background articles in the print media and at the same time the framework conditions for increased responsiveness in the digital media (Meier 2014). A further advantage of the Newsroom is the better management and coordination of a publisher’s large number of media (Sauerer 2014). These advantages are also to be realised by supporting appropriate technical planning and content management tools, which will enable the Newsroom employees to benefit from material already researched by other colleagues and gain an overview of their responsibilities (Hofstetter and Schönhagen 2014). The introduction of a Newsroom therefore means a “reorganisation of the journalistic organisational structure” (Blöbaum 2008: 128).

3.3

Developments in Editorial Practice

Despite the relatively recent history of the Newsroom concept in journalism, drastic developments are emerging in the recent past. While online and print editorial departments have often been organised separately, European media houses have now begun to integrate these editorial departments into the integrated Newsroom. Scandinavian publishing houses like Berlingske Media for example have a strong digital focus (Desk-net 2019). Until 2014, German business newspaper Handelsblatt distinguished between online, live and print editorial offices. Since then, the aim has been to merge digital and print editorial departments (Handelsblatt 2014a). Similar developments can be seen at Süddeutsche Zeitung (Czieslik 2014). At the WeltGruppe, the strategic and operational management is in the eye of the Newsroom. This is what editor-in-chief Jan-Eric Peters calls the centre of the Newsroom from which the titles are controlled (Die Welt 2013).

3.4

Structure and Process Organisation in the Journalistic Newsroom

The Newsroom concept is open to adaptations of many kinds. The sense and basic idea is carried on as long as a distinction is made between topics and channels. In order to explain the concept in detail, it is worth to first differentiate between operational and organisational structure (Nordsieck 1972; Moss 1998: 27ff.). This trick serves above all to penetrate analytically. Structure and process organisation represent two sides of the same coin. The structural organisation determines the statics (Kosiol 1976; Hoffmann 1992). The smallest organisational unit is the position (Bühner 2004). This is independent of a concrete task bearer (Nordsieck 1972: 91) and is therefore defined separately from concrete employees in the

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editorial office. The organisational structure shows the hierarchical arrangement of the various positions (Fischermanns and Liebelt 1997: 62; Bühner 2004: 11). The organisational structure of the Newsroom distinguishes between topics and channels as well as between reporters and editors. The reporters work at the topic desks and the editors at the media desks. The topic desks can be thematically organised or cover classic departments. Handelsblatt, for example, distinguishes between the topic desks Finance, Enterprises, Economy and Politics, Agenda and an Investigative Team. The topic desks are assigned to individual teams that deal with specific topic areas. For example, there is a Banking and Insurance team that works on the Finance topic desk, while the Economy team is assigned to the Economics and Politics topic desk (Handelsblatt 2014b). Normally, each topic desk has a desk manager who represents the link to the editorial management and the other desks. Each desk manager reports on the topic and offers stories. In this way, there is a constant exchange within the editorial staff. On the other hand, the desk managers are also contact persons for the colleagues from the editorial staff, because they embody the competence of the different desks with regard to content. The size of a topic desk is variable depending on the amount of work involved. The reporters do not sit in the Newsroom but work on-site (Heinrich and Moss 2006: 309; Blöbaum 2008). They concentrate on researching and writing articles. Their tasks no longer include the layout of the pages, which used to be the job profile of European journalists in the past. In addition to planning and coordination, these tasks are carried out by the editors at the media desks. These mainly work in the Newsroom. The editors are responsible for the various media and channels. These typically include the print edition, the app, the website, the e-paper, an audio/video channel or a newsletter. The size of the media desks also depends on the workload. In the Newsroom, the editors and managers, i.e. those who steer, sit similarly to a ship (Keese 2009: 21, 23). The managing editor is the captain. He keeps track of emerging issues and decides which of them is taken up in which form and in which medium. He commissions the reporters at the topic desk with the production. The managing editor is the link between all participants in the Newsroom because he takes over the control of topics and channels. He decides on the weighting of topics and their preparation. He receives suggestions from the topic and media desks but has the final decision-making power. The managing editor is also head of the editorial conferences. In classical print journalism, the editors are those who create the newspaper (Meier 2012). They decide which topic is included in which form and to what extent in the newspaper (Heinrich and Moss 2006: 307). Representatives from every department and every medium sit in the Newsroom (Keese 2009). The other employees work on the media desks and ensure that the topics are presented in a channel-appropriate manner. The representatives of the topic desks and media desks form a coordination team with the managing editor. They are in constant contact with each other and ideally work closely together (Heinrich and Moss 2006: 307). The editor-in-chief is responsible for strategic planning and makes personnel decisions. He is superior to the coordination team. The division between reporters and editors ensures that

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journalists can specialise. Keese sees the Newsroom as a marketplace: “Where people meet, stories are told and information is exchanged” (2009: 19). The exchange of information and the efficient organisation of these topics therefore have the highest priority for the Newsroom organisation. The process organisation describes the spatial and temporal sequence of tasks and processes (Bühner 2004: 11). This is different in every editorial department. Components of the workflow organisation are, for example, working hours, fixed routines or sequences of tasks. In many Newsrooms, working hours extend over the entire day. The online colleagues in particular start very early in the morning while the late shift often works until midnight. The regular conferences result in the conference system. Depending on the philosophy, either the entire editorial team or only selected employees take part. The conference serves to plan topics and dates and to ensure that all employees know about all topics. In addition, the conference will include regular newspaper reviews (Heinrich and Moss 2006: 307; Gniffke 2009: 42f.). Form and frequency are determined individually by each editorial office. In addition to the conferences, an editorial system helps to plan continuously (Gniffke 2009: 38f.). Topics are incorporated there so that everyone has an overview of stories, preparation, responsibility and status quo.

3.5

Forecast and Evaluation

Practitioners regularly point out the advantages of a Newsroom. This includes short distances and the best possible distribution of topics (Keese 2009: 23). Through the exchange and contact between the actors, they inspire each other and experience things that are not necessarily important to them, but which lead them to new topics or approaches (Keese 2009: 23). Other advantages mentioned include responsiveness and flexibility (Gniffke 2009: 47). In the case of ad hoc topics, it is therefore possible to fall back on resources and to assign employees to new topics. Employees can be deployed flexibly, and it is possible to form teams spontaneously if the news situation requires it. Working at the desk makes topic management possible. In addition, transparency also prevents the production of duplicates. At the same time, there is a motivating topic competition. The orientation towards topics and processes also offers the opportunity to implement quality management in the editorial department (Moss 1998: 148 ff.). García Avilés et al. (2009) have investigated the extent of Newsroom integration in two editorial offices each in Germany, Austria and Spain. Their study led to three different editorial models, which were confirmed again in a follow-up study published in 2014. Of these, the model of complete integration corresponds to what Meier describes in other publications as Newsroom typical. In these editorial offices “the workflows for all platforms are controlled centrally” (Meier 2014: 60), the convergence of the various channels is the goal of journalistic work and the editorial staff is structured according to a matrix organisation. Editorial departments that are organised according to the cross-media model continue to focus on channels

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rather than topics, but there is increased cooperation between the teams of the various departments and channels. This cooperation is coordinated by a higher authority. In the model of coordinating their own platforms, the teams of the different channels work separately from each other and each with a focus on increasing the quality of their respective channels instead of that of the entire journalistic product. This is the lowest level of editorial convergence (García Avilés et al. 2014; Meier 2014). Hofstetter and Schönhagen (2014) examined the effects of the introduction of the Newsroom on the work of journalists as part of their study. They conducted 30 guideline interviews in Swiss editorial offices and found that the ideal Newsroom structures are only used to a limited extent in journalistic practice. Thus, it is more likely that actual cooperation will take place in the acquisition of information than in the production of content. According to the surveyed journalists, cross-channel production of media content only takes place on particularly important topics and is not feasible for TV and radio due to a lack of knowledge. Furthermore, the respondents criticised the enormous coordination effort that would be necessary to use synergies according to the Newsroom concept. Weichert et al. (2015) examined innovation processes in 73 German newspaper editorial offices. Almost 60% of these editorial offices stated that they had an integrated Newsroom for print and online media. It was also striking that the editors who work in a Newsroom assessed the future of journalism somewhat more positively than other colleagues and saw a stronger sense of optimism regarding the convergence of print and online (ibid.: 121ff.).

Literature Blöbaum, B. (2008). Wandel redaktioneller Strukturen und Entscheidungsprozesse. In H. Bonfadelli, K. Imhof, R. Blum, & O. Jarren (Eds.), Seismographische Funktion von Öffentlichkeit im Wandel (1st ed., pp. 119–129). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Bühner, R. (2004). Betriebswirtschaftliche Organisationslehre. München: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH. Czieslik, B. (2014). „Süddeutsche” baut neuen Print-Online-Newsroom. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from http://www.turi2.de/heute/sueddeutsche-zeitung-baut-print-online-Newsroom/ Desk-net. (2019). Building digital loyalty requires a digital focus. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from https://desk-net.com/info/blog/newsroom-software-restructuring-berlingske Die Welt. (2013). So sieht der neue Newsroom der „Welt“-Gruppe aus. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/webwelt/article122626513/So-sieht-der-neue-Newsroomder-Welt-Gruppe-aus.html Fischermanns, G., & Liebelt, W. (1997). Grundlagen der Prozeßorganisation. Gießen: Verlag Dr. Götz Schmidt. García Avilés, J. A., Kaltenbrunner, A., & Meier, K. (2014). Media convergence revisited. Lessons learned on Newsroom integration in Austria, Germany and Spain. Journalism Practice, 8(5), 573–584. García Avilés, J. A., Meier, K., Kaltenbrunner, A., Carvajal, M., & Kraus, D. (2009). Newsroom integration in Austria, Spain and Germany. Journalism Practice, 3(3), 285–303.

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Gniffke, K. (2009). Der digitale Newsroom von ARD-aktuell. Sichtweisen der Praxis. In S. Fengler & S. Kretzschmar (Eds.), Innovationen für den Journalismus (pp. 37–48). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften/GWV Fachverlage GmbH. Handelsblatt. (2014a). In eigener Sache. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from http://www.handelsblatt. com/unternehmen/management/koepfe/in-eigener-sache-sven-afhueppe-wird-handelsblattchefredakteur/11020604.html Handelsblatt. (2014b). PDF zur neuen Struktur des Handelsblatt. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from http://meedia.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/26927_HB_Plakate_A4.pdf Hardt, C., & Moss, C. (2016). Der Newsroom in der Unternehmenskommunikation – eine fast geniale Story. In M. Reinmuth, I. Kastens, & P. Voßkamp (Eds.), Kommunikation für Banken und Versicherer. Krisen bewältigen, Vertrauen schaffen. Stuttgart: Schäffer-Poeschel. Heinrich, J. (1994). Medienökonomie, Band 1: Mediensystem, Zeitung, Zeitschrift, Anzeigenblatt. Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag. Heinrich, J., & Moss, C. (2006). Wirtschaftsjournalistik. Grundlagen und Praxis (1st ed.). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Hoffmann, F. (1992). Aufbauorganisation. In E. Frese (Ed.), pp. 208–221. Hofmann, M. (2015). Crossmedia in der Redaktion: Newsdesk, Newsflow. In T. Breyer-Mayländer (Ed.), Vom Zeitungsverlag zum Medienhaus. Geschäftsmodelle in Zeiten der Medienkonvergenz (1st ed., pp. 173–183). Wiesbaden: Springer. Hofstetter, B., & Schönhagen, P. (2014). Wandel redaktioneller Strukturen und journalistischen Handelns. Studies in Communication I Media, 3(2), 228–252. Holzinger, T., & Sturmer, M. (2012). Im Netz der Nachricht. Die Newsroom-Strategie als PR-Roman (1st ed.). Berlin: Springer. Jonscher, N. (1995). Lokale Publizistik: Theorie und Praxis der örtlichen Berichterstattung; ein Lehrbuch. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag. Karls, M., & Wittrock, O. (2013). Ende der Exklusivität. prmagazin (12), pp. 30–34. Keel, G., & Niederhäuser, M. (2016). Schlussbericht: Corporate Newsrooms in der Schweiz – Ergebnisse einer Befragung von Schweizer Unternehmen und Verwaltungen. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from https://blog.zhaw.ch/languagematters/files/2016/06/IAM_ CorpNewsroomSchweiz_2016.pdf Keese, C. (2009). Innovationen im Redaktionsmanagement I: Newsrooms als Marktplätze für neue Ideen. In S. Fengler & S. Kretzschmar (Eds.), Innovationen für den Journalismus (1st ed., pp. 17–24). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Keller, A.-K. (2013). Die Kampagnenmacher. Absatzwirtschaft, 04, 32–35. Klein Report. (2019). Mehr Bewegtbild bei Blick-Gruppe: Newsroom wird umgebaut, Kooperation mit CNN. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from http://www.kleinreport.ch/news/blick-tv-kommt-mitcnn-ins-geschaft-92094/ Kosiol, E. (1976). Organisation der Unternehmung (2nd ed.). Wiesbaden: Gabler. Meier, K. (2006). Newsroom, Newsdesk, crossmediales Arbeiten. Neue Modelle der Redaktionsorganisation und ihre Auswirkung auf die journalistische Qualität. In S. Weischenberg, W. Loosen, & M. Beuthner (Eds.), Medien-Qualitäten. Öffentliche Kommunikation zwischen ökonomischem Kalkül und Sozialverantwortung (1st ed., pp. 203–222). Konstanz: UVK Verlagsgesellschaft. Meier, K. (2012). Unter Strom: Der Newsroom. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from http://www.bpb. de/gesellschaft/medien/lokaljournalismus/151607/unter-strom-der-Newsroom Meier, K. (2014). Reformplan. Medium Magazin, 8(5), 60–61. Meyer-Bosse, D. (2007, January 9). Axel Springer plant Aufbau einer Entwicklungs- und Serviceredaktion. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from http://www.axelspringer.de/presse/AxelSpringer-plant-Aufbau-einer-Entwicklungs-und-Serviceredaktion_16320.html Mickeleit, T. (2013). Hat PR eine Zukunft? Pressesprecher, 5, 18–21. Moss, C. (1998). Die Organisation der Zeitungsredaktion. Wie sich journalistische Arbeit effizient koordinieren lässt. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag GmbH.

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Moss, C. (Ed.). (2016). Der Newsroom in der Unternehmenskommunikation. Wie sich Themen effizient steuern lassen. Wiesbaden: Springer VS. Moss, C. (2019). Newsroom Study: Companies want to overcome silos. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from https://mediamossblog.com/2019/11/04/newsroom-study-companies-want-to-overcomesilos/ Neininger-Schwarz, N. (2010, January 5). Der Journalist am Fliessband. Der Trend zum multimedialen Newsroom spiegelt die Industrialisierung der Medien. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from http://www.nzz.ch/der-journalist-am-fliessband-1.4439042 Neuberger, C., & Kapern, P. (2013). Grundlagen des Journalismus (1st ed.). Wiesbaden: Springer. Neumann, S. (1996). Untersuchung redaktionellen Managements im amerikanischen Zeitungsbetrieb: Eine explorative Fallstudie der „Seattle Times“. Dissertation, Dortmund. Ninova-Solovykh, N., Seiffert-Brockmann, J., Einwiller, S., Wolfgruber, D., & Berger, K. (2019). It’s all about content. Strategic topic management in agile organizations (Communication Insights, Issue 6). Leipzig: Academic Society for Management & Communication. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from www.academic-society.net Nordsieck, F. (1972). Betriebsorganisation: Lehre und Technik (2nd ed.). Stuttgart: Poeschel. Pavlik, J. (2009). Vom traditionellen Redaktionsbüro zur digitalen Nachrichtenredaktion. Perspektiven der Forschung. In S. Fengler & S. Kretzschmar (Eds.), Innovationen für den Journalismus (pp. 25–36). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften/GWV Fachverlage GmbH: Wiesbaden. Pfannenmüller, J. (2014). Marketing aus dem Newsroom. W&V, 35, 13–17. Puscher, F. (2014). Storytelling aus dem Newsroom. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from http://www. absatzwirtschaft.de/storytelling-aus-dem-newsroom-17243/ Rager, G., & Weber, B. (1991). Redaktionelles Management für die Zeitung der Zukunft. In G. Rager & B. Weber (Eds.), pp. 3–5. Röttger, U., Preusse, J., & Schmitt, J. (2014). Grundlagen der Public Relations: Eine kommunikationswissenschaftliche Einführung (2nd ed.). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Ruß-Mohl, S. (1992). Zeitungs-Umbruch – Wie sich Amerikas Presse revolutioniert. Berlin: Argon Verlag. Ruß-Mohl, S. (1994). Der I-Faktor: Qualitätssicherung im amerikanischen Journalismus – Modell für Europa? Osnabrück: Fromm. Ruß-Mohl, S. (1995). Redaktionelles Marketing und Management. In O. Jarren (Hrsg.), pp. 103–138. Sadrowski, M. (2015). „Das ist kein Newsroom, sondern eine aufgepeppte Pressestelle.“ Der Newsroom als Organisationsform der Unternehmenskommunikation, Hausarbeit zur Erlangung des Akademischen Grades eines Master of Arts in Unternehmenskommunikation/PR, vorgelegt dem Fachbereich 02 – Sozialwissenschaften, Medien und Sport der Johannes GutenbergUniversität Mainz. Sauerer, M. (2014). Keine Kompromisse. Medium Magazin, 8(5), 62–63. Seidenglanz. (2019). Studie – PR lässt Chancen der Digitalisierung weitgehend liegen. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from https://www.pr-journal.de/lese-tipps/studien/23628-quadriga-hochschuleberlin-pr-laesst-chancen-der-digitalisierung-weitgehend-liegen.html Selbach, D. (2012). Effiziente Betriebsamkeit. prmagazin (5/2012), pp. 36–41. Selbach, D. (2014). Grenzgänge. prmagazin (09/2014), pp. 32–35. Ullrich, C. (2013). Noch ein Newsroom. prmagazin (08/2013), p. 19. Weichert, S., Kramp, L., & Welker, M. (2015). Die Zeitungsmacher. Aufbruch in die digitale Moderne (1st ed.). Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien. Zerfaß, A., Ehrhart, C. E., & Lautenbach, C. (2014). Organisation der Kommunikationsfunktion: Strukturen, Prozesse und Leistungen für die Unternehmensführung. In A. Zerfaß & M. Piwinger (Eds.), Handbuch Unternehmenskommunikation (2nd ed., pp. 987–1010). Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien. Zerfaß, A., & Schramm, D. M. (2014). Social Media Newsrooms in public relations: A conceptual framework and corporate practices in three countries. Public Relations Review, 40(1), 79–91.

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The Corporate Newsroom Model Christoph Moss

Breaking down barriers, managing topics and effectively targeting different audiences is critical to today’s successful organisations. Corporate communication faces the task of coping with the dramatic changes in the media. People’s consumption of media is increasing, and the number of channels is growing drastically (Nielsen 2020). Today everybody can become an influential communicator. People comment, upload a video or manage their appointments via smartphone. The historical model of mass communication (Maletzke 1963) is long outdated. Corporate communication cannot shut itself off from this. Enterprises should be able to cope with the changing media demands. They should establish a Corporate Newsroom (Desk-net 2019). A Corporate Newsroom is a spatially combined unit for corporate communications. There are separate responsibilities for topics and channels. Coordination is carried out by a managing editor.

4.1

Why the Corporate Newsroom Model Makes Sense

Social media has revolutionised the way in which companies have to manage their channels. In the past, companies followed the principle of one-way communication without any feedback. Those days are gone. Communication means interaction. At the latest, the rapid success of social media has suddenly shown companies that they have to manage their channels and platforms differently than before. This includes professional monitoring, which must also be carried out at night and on weekends. This is personnel-intensive because the responsible spokespersons must be able to C. Moss (*) International School of Management, Dortmund, Germany e-mail: [email protected] # The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 C. Moss (ed.), The Corporate Newsroom, Management for Professionals, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67642-1_4

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communicate and react spontaneously. In conventional hierarchical structures, this can quickly lead to breakdowns or cause excruciatingly long coordination loops. Both are no longer compatible with contemporary communication work. Journalists and customers, shareholders and influencers have a common interest in the product or in the enterprise itself. The emergence of these disparate groups motivated Porsche to establish a virtual Newsroom. The Porsche Newsroom is not only made for journalists, bloggers and online multipliers. It is also created for everyone else who is interested in the brand (Moss 2014). Why does the Corporate Newsroom model make sense? Chandler once aptly formulated a sentence that has shaped business organisation theory for decades: “Structure follows strategy” (Chandler 1962: 14). Ideally, the organisational structure is therefore always developed from a market’s perspective. However, conventional structures of companies are quickly reaching their limits. Who wants to discuss the communication and marketing personnel’s areas of responsibility nowadays? Which department still weighs up the meaning of media relations versus product PR? Who wants to be accountable for giving all responsibility for social media to the IT? Furthermore, businesses are feeling the pressure of having to lead their message as far as possible by only using integrated communication, storytelling and content marketing. As resources are limited, additional channels cannot be created randomly. In this context, it is inevitable that businesses are questioning the structure and strategy of their communication. On the other hand, one can clearly see the fear of change that comes along with the concern of losing control. This issue can only be solved by involving all parties in the new concept. If no common participation can be granted, the company risks compromising due to internal house policy. This requires organisations to adapt their mindsets from the traditional ideas of media management. They should embrace a model, where topics and media channels are separated and managed independently by a strategic control centre. This disseminates information across multiple media channels to a dispersed number of target groups. The following explanations are partly based on experiences from more than 50 practical projects, which the author accompanied as an external consultant including Fraport, Merck, Porsche or Siemens (Mediamoss 2020). In the second part of this book, there are case studies of DATEV, Dutch National Police, R+V Insurance and Swiss Life Germany.

4.2

Change: Three Phases of Introducing a Corporate Newsroom

No matter whether it is a company, a church or an organisation, digitisation affects everyone. A Corporate Newsroom is not a question of size, but of attitude. In the long run, an enterprise can only communicate, if the responsible managers focus on content. For this, they need a well-structured entity for communication.

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Introducing a Corporate Newsroom is a change project which will take a few months. During the whole process, employees will be needing professional support. With every change, there are fans, reluctant employees and those who tend to be hostile to new things. It is important that those responsible are convinced of the concept and support it. Part of the project will be analytical work such as creating change objectives and implementing the new strategy. Throughout the whole process, technical, architectural and structural questions are likely to arise. It is particularly important to keep the employees regularly informed. Before thinking about a Corporate Newsroom, companies should answer the following questions selfcritically: • Do we succeed in managing communication in the best possible way? • With how many voices do we speak? • Do we manage to transport all existing topics to all desired target groups via all relevant media? • Do we rather think in terms of topics or channels? • Are we able to react around the clock? Companies will probably not be able to answer all questions positively. They should take enough time. Many examples show that patience is an important virtue when it comes to implementing the Corporate Newsroom concept. Experience shows that such a project takes about 1 year. Team members need attention. It is best to develop the concept together with the team. Basically, there are three different phases of introducing a Corporate Newsroom: • Preparatory phase • Communication design phase • Implementation phase In all three phases, managers must radiate absolute certainty. They should provide employees with enough room for their worries and concerns. The Corporate Newsroom is the gateway into a permanent process of change. After all, topics will continue to change in the future. New channels and platforms will be added, and others will no longer be relevant. This change is becoming ever faster and more dynamic. Managers have to prepare their teams for this with empathy.

4.2.1

Preparatory Phase

When companies introduce new structures, they are ideally pursuing a strategic goal in Chandler’s sense. In the preparatory phase, the project managers determine what they want to achieve by introducing a Corporate Newsroom. Through our consulting work, we have become familiar with a number of recurring goals that motivate companies to question their communication structures: • Topic management: setting topics and controlling communication • Transparency: open dialogue, efficient processes

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• One voice: send homogeneous messages • Integration: communication across all media These goals have been confirmed in the Corporate Newsroom study by the BRMI (Moss 2019; see Chap. 7). After all, the findings are often sobering: many messages sent to different target groups via different channels determine the day-to-day communication. This is frustrating and not compatible with the demands of digital communication. Worse still, these inefficiencies are expensive. Have managers ever noticed how often they have commissioned external agencies several times at different prices? What does it cost to produce stories twice? How expensive is it to send a video agency across the country just before a trade fair, even though the date has been known for months? A Corporate Newsroom can help to prevent these breakdowns from happening in the first place. The following statements summarise what communicators expect from a Corporate Newsroom: • • • •

“Less is more: We use our scarce resources sensibly across all channels.” “We are perceived by the public as a competent partner.” “We communicate actively.” “We understand communication as a dynamic process of change.”

After companies have defined their goals, an intensive analysis follows. This includes recording and evaluating the status quo in terms of organisation, core processes, topic management and responsibilities. In addition, all media channels must be recorded in detail. This phase is very labour-intensive. It is characterised by departmental workshops and interviews with those responsible and requires a clearly coordinated communication with the employees.

4.2.2

Communication Design Phase

When project managers aim to create the target image, the employees must be involved in the process. Companies should not forget that the changes are fundamental: the organisational structure and job descriptions are affected. As a consequence, management and personnel department must also be informed, as well as the works council (in some countries). In the communication design phase, it is important to simulate as many core processes as possible involving the employees. There is great concern about excessive bureaucracy and time-consuming coordination. Experience shows that acceptance quickly increases when team members recognise that even crisis situations are compatible with the Corporate Newsroom model. Furthermore, it is important to develop a conference system. This should be practised and trained in workshops. In addition, technical questions must be solved during this phase and a functioning topic plan must be developed. Possible architectural changes must also be taken into account and initiated (Pressesprecher 2020). After all, formerly separate departments, offices, units and

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employees are brought together. The main focus here is on measures for aesthetic interior design and acoustics such as sound-absorbing components, carpets, sails or desk elements. In the Siemens project, for example, the Corporate Newsroom was to set new architectural accents and take away the concern about anonymous work in the openplan office (Keller 2013: 35; Walther 2013: 44). An interior designer created several work zones in green and white. The workstations were arranged in a circle, based on wind turbines and rotors manufactured by Siemens. The Corporate Newsroom is open and extends over two floors. Agency reports arrive on a large news board. A conference table and a coffee corner provide space for communication.

4.2.3

Implementation Phase

When the Corporate Newsroom model is in place, all coordination with management, personnel department, works council and employees must be completed. In this phase, the Newsroom is architecturally, technically and organisationally finalised. Now it is important to accompany the actual operational start of the Corporate Newsroom over several months with external help. This shows whether • • • •

The layout of the topic desks is conclusive. The conference system works. The managing editors are accepted. The original goals are achieved in the end.

This step was neglected in the Siemens project. When the consultants moved to the Corporate Newsroom, their contracts expired, so that external feedback failed to materialise (Keller 2013: 35).

4.3

The Organisational Structure in the Corporate Newsroom

A modern structure of the communications department should be based on topics. The Corporate Newsroom model, which we regularly use in practice, differentiates between topics and channels. It also requires a coordinator that balances the topics and channels. This task is performed by the managing editor. This position is the decisive success factor for a Corporate Newsroom. This has to be emphasised because a number of companies initially started without this position, which proves to be disadvantageous in practice. The Corporate Newsroom model consists of four levels. At the top is the strategy team. The managing editor takes over the operational coordination. Figure 4.1 shows the organisational structure in the Corporate Newsroom. The basic idea of the Corporate Newsroom is the consistent separation of topics and media. Figure 4.2 shows how the managing editor coordinates a standard process. In the following, the strategy team, topic and media desk as well as the managing editor are presented.

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Fig. 4.1 The organisational structure in the Corporate Newsroom

4.3.1

Strategy Team

The strategy team is at the head of the Corporate Newsroom. The team members perform strategic communication work through planning, controlling and monitoring. The members set impulses in terms of content for the managing editor and the topic desks. The team has the right to issue directives and to make final decisions on all content issues. The strategy team is comparable to the editor-in-chief in journalistic Newsrooms. Similar to the editor-in-chief, the strategy team also exercises personnel and subject responsibility in the Corporate Newsroom.

4.3.2

Managing Editor

The managing editors are the link between topic desks and media desks. The position is of central importance and should therefore be filled by at least two people. They can defer work and represent each other in case of vacation and illness. The managing editors are informed about all topics and communication channels. They carry out operative communication work by deciding on the prioritisation of individual topics. They issue work orders to the topic and media desks. The managing editors also chair the editorial conferences. They receive proposals from the topic and media desks but have the final power of decision-making. This is modelled after the role of the managing editor in journalism who coordinates the internal processes (Moss 1998: 121). In the Corporate Newsroom, this position holds great potential for conflict. The managing editors must be experienced personalities. These persons must think journalistically, act decisively and keep an overview of topics and media. Detailed knowledge of the topics and media, on the other hand, is not absolutely necessary. This is the responsibility of the topic and media managers.

Fig. 4.2 The organisational structure in the Corporate Newsroom during a standard process

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Topic Desk

One or more topic managers sit at a topic desk. They are comparable to reporters in journalism. The employees at the topic desks are the link to the specialist departments of the company. In this way, they gain knowledge of many topics and thus embody professional competence in terms of content. The topic desk regularly proposes topics to the managing editors. It researches, produces and edits content. The topic managers also ensure the necessary coordination with the specialist departments. Whenever the topic desk delivers the texts, images or original sounds to a media desk, it informs the managing editors. The head of the topic desk takes part in the editorial conferences. The topic desks should represent the company’s content strategy. They can be geared to the business areas of the company. The assignment to the topic desks can be adjusted along the way. In addition, there are topics and projects that cannot be defined clearly. Therefore, it makes sense to set up a project desk for such cases. The size of a topic desk is variable, depending on the workload. The topic managers are responsible for their topics. They propose new topics to the managing editors and enter the information into the topic planning tool. Topic managers deliver the finished texts to the media desks and inform the managing editors about them.

4.3.4

Media Desk

The media desks represent the media channels of the company. They can each consist of one or more media managers. The media manager heads up the media desk. He or she has the right to propose topics to the managing editors when he or she thinks a topic is suitable for a medium. The media manager maintains close contact with the managing editors and participates in the editorial conferences. The role of the media manager is similar to the role of the editor in journalism (Moss 1998). Editors are the typical page makers or those responsible for the online site. They determine which topic is presented in their medium and how relevant it is. They edit and follow the news flow of the agencies. The editors work as lawyers for the reader, user or viewer. Thus, they represent the counterweight to the topic manager and ensure a principle of dual control. In the Corporate Newsroom, media managers listen into the market by following discussions on social media or in journalism. The media desks are organised according to the channels the company wants to use and according to the target groups they want to address. Possible media desks are print, online, social media, audio or video. The media managers control the various channels because they have the competence to do so. The size of the media desks depends on the workload. The media managers can adapt and publish existing material produced by the topic managers themselves for their respective media.

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The Process Organisation in the Corporate Newsroom

The workflow organisation in the Corporate Newsroom is based on working times, routines and processes. There are clear differences between companies. Figure 4.3 shows a possible daily routine in the Corporate Newsroom. Working hours depend on company agreements. For instance, a high proportion of home-based jobs have the same effect on processes as half-day jobs. Core working hours from 9 am to 5 pm make sense. Companies with a high affinity for online work must also ensure that their communication channels are up to date before 9 am. In this case, a late shift can also be useful, especially to monitor social media channels.

4.4.1

Conference System

One of the routines in the Corporate Newsroom is the conference system because it helps to structure the working day. Often the existence of a regular conference alone represents a cultural achievement. For the first time, communicators talk about their topics. They discuss content, relevance, topicality and production dates. The conference in the Corporate Newsroom is a marketplace for information, which often enables an organised exchange of content among colleagues for the first time. In addition, it becomes clear which employee is currently working on which topic—a highly relevant piece of information which, however, cannot be called up at any time in departments without a Corporate Newsroom. Depending on the size of the Corporate Newsroom, it makes sense to hold a conference at least once a day and at least a first team meeting in the morning. In the morning and early afternoon, a second and third conference can then take place, where the important topics of the day can be discussed in particular. In the conferences, the managing editor refers to the topic planning tool. The participants sound out the news situation from social media, the press or the company. They also discuss planned events or campaigns. In the conferences, responsibilities for the day are defined and core processes are reflected. The advantage of a conference system is that it makes it easy to plan foreseeable dates and events.

Fig. 4.3 Process organisation in the Corporate Newsroom: daily schedule

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Fig. 4.4 Pattern of a conference system

Even acute crisis situations can be dealt with comparatively well in an institutionalised system. In addition to the daily conferences, a topic conference should be held once a week (e.g. on Fridays) to look into the following week. A member of the strategy team and the managing editors with topic and media managers should participate. It is also advisable to hold a strategy conference once a month. This serves as a link between strategic communication planning and operational implementation. The strategy team and the managing editors should be present at this conference. Figure 4.4 shows a practical example of a conference system from a Corporate Newsroom project. In practice, it has been shown that introducing a Corporate Newsroom and thus a conference system for employees represents a cultural change. A conference has to follow certain rules in order not to get the reputation of an ineffective meeting. It is therefore appropriate to train the managing editors in this respect. They need to lead the discussion confidently so that the conference produces measurable results. All

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participants must follow the rules. Below is an overview of the important rules that should be communicated.

4.4.2

Rules of Conduct for Conferences in the Corporate Newsroom

1. We work within a tight timeframe. Therefore, we start on time and stop on time. 2. We take the meeting seriously: no phone calls, mails, chats, food intake or newspaper reading on the side. 3. We are well prepared. 4. We accept the conference leader. 5. We speak one after the other and let the other participants finish. 6. We have a guideline and keep it short. 7. We criticise the content in a moderate tone, but never become personal. 8. We take content criticism seriously. 9. We want to advance topics and put our own ego in the background. 10. We record the results.

4.5

Topic Management

A critical factor in the successful implementation of a Corporate Newsroom is a common system that efficiently manages all relevant information of the department. Each member of the Corporate Newsroom must know at all times what topics the department is currently working on. Especially the managing editors need a topic planning tool. They need to be informed about current and relevant topics, know the production dates of their media and which employees are responsible. The topic planning tool should include the following information: • • • • • •

Topic Teaser with the core message Topic manager Planned medium Publication date/deadline Status

The challenge is to provide as much information as possible and at the same time not to conceal the essentials. Overloaded Excel tables are just as unhelpful as mountains of documents stored on internal drives. An integrated system makes it possible to visualise the required information simply and clearly, ideally visible to everyone on a large screen in the Corporate Newsroom or as a dashboard on their own computer. Experience has shown that companies develop their own solutions within the framework of their internal software environment—for example on the basis of Microsoft SharePoint. In addition, there are alternative products on the market like Scompler, Dirico, Desk-net, Imory, MPM or others. Chapter 5 explains how content marketing and topic planning are linked together.

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4.6

Processes in the Corporate Newsroom

One of the central processes in the Corporate Newsroom is the path of information through the Corporate Newsroom into a specific medium. The core of the process organisation in the Corporate Newsroom is the following question: How to get a topic into the right channels?

Figure 4.5 shows a standard process in the Corporate Newsroom. The managing editor receives information from within the company. The managing editor then orders a message from topic desk 1. Figure 4.6 shows the next step: topic desk 1 provides a version for the media desk print and a copy for the media desk online/social media. Alternatively, the information could also have been sent directly from a company’s specialist department to the topic desk. In this case, the topic manager would have informed the managing editor. The managing editor would then have ordered a message from topic desk 1 as shown in Fig. 4.6. In the next step, topic desk 1 would then have delivered a version for the media desk print and a copy for the media desk online/social media. When introducing a Corporate Newsroom, it makes sense to play through a series of processes. The following examples show such cases. Process 1: Message on the subject of Bremen as a business location Topic desk 1 is called corporate. The information from within the company reaches this topic desk (Fig. 4.7). The topic manager corporate formulates a five-line teaser for this purpose. He or she sends it to the managing editor and puts the media desks cc. The managing editor quickly decides for which media the message is relevant. The media desks may express wishes. The managing editor has the final decision on the priority of the information. The message is relevant for medium 1 employees/executives, medium 2 print and medium 3 online/social media. The managing editor informs the desk corporate and orders a long version of the message with 3000 keystrokes for media desk 1 employees/executives. Media desk 2 print and media desk 3 online/social media each receive a copy. This process already shows one thing very clearly: the managing editor defines a core process by ordering a long version of the message for media desk 1 employees/executives from topic desk 1. This version only needs to be edited by media desk 1 employees/executives and can be used immediately afterwards. As a by-product, however, media desk 2 and media desk 3 also receive a raw version which they can process themselves. So, there is no reason to worry that the processes in the Corporate Newsroom will lead to bureaucracy or additional work. Topic desk 1 corporate only has to inform the managing editor briefly via a tool for content planning. As a result, however, three media desks and the original information now benefit—and not just one medium, as would be customary in a conventional organisation structure.

Fig. 4.5 The process organisation in the Newsroom: the managing editor orders a message from topic desk 1

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Fig. 4.6 Process organisation in the Newsroom: topic desk 1 provides a version for the media desk print and a copy for the media desk online/social media

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Fig. 4.7 Process organisation in the Newsroom: news process on the topic of Bremen as a business location

Process 2: Message on the subject of personnel development In this case, the information from within the company goes directly to the managing editor (Fig. 4.8). The managing editor informs the media desks. In doing so, he or she determines the priority. The message is relevant for media desk 1 employees/executives, media desk 2 print and media desk 3 online/social media. The managing editor informs topic desk 2 HR/personnel and orders a long version of the message with 3000 keystrokes for media desk 1 employees/executives. Media desk 2 print and media desk 3 online/ social media each receive a copy. The topic manager of topic desk 2 HR/personnel produces the message and obtains all necessary in-house coordination and approvals. Process 3: Message on sustainability The information comes from within the company to topic desk 1 sustainability (Fig. 4.9). A topic manager from the topic desk formulates a five-line teaser. The topic manager sends this short text to the managing editor. The media managers are

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Fig. 4.8 Process organisation in the Corporate Newsroom: news process on the subject of personnel development

put in cc. The managing editor quickly decides for which media the message is relevant. The media managers are allowed to express their wishes. The managing editor makes the final decision on the priority. In this case, the message is relevant for media desk 1 employees/executives, media desk 2 print and media desk 3 online/ social media. The managing editor informs the topic manager of topic desk sustainability and orders a long version of the message with 3000 keystrokes for media desk 1 as well as a copy for media desk 2 and media desk 3. A topic manager of topic desk sustainability produces the message. He or she obtains all necessary in-house coordination and approvals from the specialist departments. Topic desk 1 sustainability transmits the finished 3000-character text to the media desk 1 employees/executives. Media desk 2 print and media desk 3 online/social media receive a copy. The media managers of the individual media prepare the final message for their medium. They edit, shorten the text if necessary, edit the headline, add an image gallery or set links.

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Fig. 4.9 Process organisation in the Corporate Newsroom: news process on the topic of sustainability

Process 4: Message on restructuring in a French plant Here the information from within the company is sent directly to the managing editor (Fig. 4.10). The managing editor informs the media manager and the topic desk HR/personnel. The managing editor defines a priority for this. The information

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Fig. 4.10 The workflow organisation in the Corporate Newsroom: news process on the topic of restructuring in a French plant

is relevant for media desk 1 employees/executives, media desk 2 print and media desk 3 online/social media. The managing editor orders a long version of the message with 3000 keystrokes for media desk 1 and a copy for media desk 2 and media desk 3 from the manager of topic desk HR/personnel. A topic manager from the topic desk HR/personnel researches and produces the message. He or she obtains all necessary in-house coordination and approvals. The topic manager transmits the finished 3000-character message to media desk 1 employees/executives. The topic manager sends a copy to media desk 2 print and media desk 3 online/social media. The media managers of media desks 1, 2 and 3 prepare the finished message for their media. They shorten, set headlines, provide images and links.

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Fig. 4.11 The process organisation in the Corporate Newsroom: special case for foreseeable major events—earnings season

Process 5: Special case on foreseeable major events—earnings season Especially in large, listed corporations, media relations and thus the intensive support of journalists represent an important core competence of corporate communications. This function can also be implemented in a Corporate Newsroom structure. This unit should be treated like a topic desk. The procedure should correspond in essence to the procedure of the processes already discussed (Fig. 4.11). The managing editor would also give the final approval in this case. In

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addition, reporting on the upcoming earnings season would be an important topic of the monthly, weekly and daily conferences. In this way, the strategy team would be involved in the decision. The managing editor pays particular attention to deadlines and determines a fixed submission date as well as the media through which the topic will be played (in this case media desks 1, 2 and 3). These are thus warned in advance. The topic desk Investor Relations provides operational advice on the topic over a longer period of time. The topic manager Investor Relations delivers the finished texts and materials to the managing editor by the deadline. This should take place at a time that is outside the daily production peaks and leaves sufficient time for corrective work. If corrections are necessary, the managing editor will return the material to the topic manager Investor Relations. Only after final approval by the managing editor does the topic manager Investor Relations send the desired texts to media desk 1 and a copy to media desks 2 and 3. The media managers of the individual media prepare the finished message for their medium (shortening, heading, images and links). Further Processes In addition to the processes shown, numerous other processes can also be organised. For example, it is conceivable that an external agency might produce a customer magazine. This case can also be combined with a Corporate Newsroom. The magazine would be managed by a media desk for consumer media. The media manager would be responsible for the punctual publication of the magazine. He or she coordinates the agency. The media manager organises joint editorial meetings in which the media managers of the media desk consumer media as well as representatives of the relevant topic desks take part. The managing editor is informed about the results of the meetings and the respective information status. In particular, the managing editor shall be informed of the range of topics planned for the customer magazine. If any content is included that is also of interest to other media desks, these will be informed.

4.7

Conclusion and Forecast

A Corporate Newsroom is supposed to ensure effectiveness and efficiency. At the same time, quality should also increase. The structure follows the content strategy. Thus, the topic orientation determines the organisation. This creates a balance between specialisation and generalisation: the topic focus enables a strong orientation towards content-related competencies in the company on the one hand and mediation competencies on the other. Both units work without friction losses and enable a principle of dual control. In the Corporate Newsroom of an energy supplier, for example, there are experts on the topic of energy system transformation as well as experts on audio-visual forms of presentation. The processes described show very clearly the advantages of the Corporate Newsroom. Duplicate work is avoided, and reaction times are shortened. Instead of redundant information, each message is produced for several media. This saves

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resources and at the same time enables cross-media work in the sense of integrated communication. The people involved communicate transparently and coordinate closely. A clear decision hierarchy prevents superfluous parallel processes. At the same time, the Corporate Newsroom remains flexible to integrate external partners as well as outstanding events such as balance sheet reporting, campaigns or company anniversaries. The Corporate Newsroom can react quickly in the event of a crisis. A Corporate Newsroom has a much more complex structure than a Newsroom in journalism. Compared to media houses, companies have more target groups and stakeholders to serve. Marketing, media relations, product PR or speechwriters work according to different standards. A typical mistake in the introduction of Corporate Newsrooms is that companies do not immediately differentiate consistently between topics and channels. Such decisions are often politically motivated, so that the initially defined goals are missed. Companies that want to introduce a Corporate Newsroom should not act too hastily. Especially in the implementation phase, when the Corporate Newsroom actually goes live, an intensive support, correction and feedback possibility is enormously important. In order to awaken the necessary willingness to change among the employees, it is important to treat the Corporate Newsroom introduction as a change project. Regular training, workshops and question rounds are necessary to promote acceptance.

Literature Chandler, A. D. (1962). Strategy and structure – Chapters in the history of the industrial enterprise. Cambridge: The M.I.T. Press. Desk-net. (2019). How the Newsroom system can enable loyalty. Retrieved August 27, 2020, from https://desk-net.com/info/blog/newsroom-structure-builds-loyalty Keller, A.-K. (2013). Die Kampagnenmacher. Absatzwirtschaft, 4/2013, 32–35. Maletzke, G. (1963). Psychologie der Massenkommunikation. Theorie und Systematik. Hamburg: Hans-Bredow-Institut. Mediamoss. (2020). #Beispiele: Das Beste aus mehr als 50 Newsrooms. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from https://mediamoss.me/beispiele-fuer-corporate-newsrooms/ Moss, C. (1998). Die Organisation der Zeitungsredaktion. Wie sich journalistische Arbeit effizient koordinieren lässt. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag GmbH. Moss, C. (2014). Porsche und der Newsroom: Interview mit Dr. Josef Arweck. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from https://mediamossblog.com/2014/06/15/porsche-und-der-newsroom-interviewmit-dr-josef-arweck/ Moss, C. (2019). Newsroom Study: Companies want to overcome silos. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from https://mediamossblog.com/2019/11/04/newsroom-study-companies-want-to-overcomesilos/ Nielsen. (2020). Covid-19: Tracking the impact on media consumption. Retrieved August 26, 2020, from https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/article/2020/covid-19-tracking-the-impact-onmedia-consumption/ Pressesprecher. (2020). Kreativ im Wohlfühlambiente. Pressesprecher, 2/2020, 50–53. Walther, K. (2013). “Bild” und dpa als Vorbild. Wirtschaftsjournalist, 2/2013, 42–45.

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Strategic Content Marketing in the Corporate Newsroom Mirko Lange

Due to digitisation society and work are changing at an unprecedented speed. However, the main task for communicators is essentially the same: to reach target and dialogue groups in their minds and hearts. Communicators have to convince people both cognitively and emotionally. With the Corporate Newsroom model by Christoph Moss (see Chap. 4) enterprises get an organisational framework for communication. In the future those companies will be successful, that communicate relevant content at the right time to their target and dialogue groups. This principle is called content marketing (Westermann et al. 2019). However, it is valid for any kind of communication. Therefore, communicators must ask themselves how they can meet the growing demand for relevant content. For communicators it is all about: • mastering the flood and the speed of information (Onlinemarketing 2020), • coping with the ongoing digitisation, within their own organisation as well as outside of it (e.g. end devices, changed media behaviour), • the diversification of channels and formats (Roland Berger 2019). In order to use scarce resources in the best way possible, the strategic approach is a decisive success factor. That means to recognise the available options for content formats, channels and tactics. Companies have to evaluate them in order to match the goal achievement. Communication has become tremendously complex. As a consequence, it can no longer be mastered with conventional, linear ways of thinking. By the use of digital technology, companies want to avoid complexity. However, Excel sheets are just as unsuitable for this type of communication management. It is a combination of strategy and technology that leads to significantly higher output and efficient use of resources. For the individual, there is also a chance for more personal M. Lange (*) München, Germany e-mail: [email protected] # The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 C. Moss (ed.), The Corporate Newsroom, Management for Professionals, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67642-1_5

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satisfaction at work. Only the combination of a tool and a strategic framework helps to focus on the essentials.

5.1

The Content Shock

As a result of digitisation, content is available on the Internet to everyone at all times. For companies, the challenge is to make themselves heard amidst the flood of information. The world is consuming more content than ever before. And people communicate differently and in different media formats: they scroll, skip and jump from graphic to text to podcast to video and back again. All this at breath-taking speed, increasingly mobile, on the move. Everyone wants to get to the point quickly and in a compressed form. And be entertained while reading and surfing (Spiegel 2014). The consequences? More content is being produced than ever before, and the response is a “content shock” (Businessgrow 2014). People are not primarily looking for companies or products. They are always looking to satisfy their cognitive needs: they want to learn, find answers or instructions, get orientation, solve problems. For all this they need useful information. Utility is defined as the degree of satisfaction of a need (Cambridge Dictionary 2020a). As a consequence, the content benefit must correspond to the product or service benefit. Then content becomes a constant, integrated part of the company. Nevertheless, companies often show different forms of actionism: • Content actionism. An almost infinite amount of new content is produced and published daily. The tendency is rapidly increasing. • Channel actionism. Each new media channel is quickly added to the list of channels to be played and operated. Mostly unfortunately independent of the strategy, goals and suitable content. • Format actionism. Increasingly specific requirements of the various channels and search engines lead to ever higher resource requirements to produce and distribute content in all currently possible formats. The actionism in the company has different causes. The following are particularly common: Problem 1: Silo as a form of organisation For many decades, companies have been organised along departmental boundaries. It is a consequence of increased requirements, division of labour and specialisation. In these silos there are experts for print advertising, online marketing, press, TV/radio, SEO and, more recently, social media, customer relations, analytics and others. However, the problems of silos have also been evident for many years, simply summarised under waste of resources. There is little or no coordination between the silos. Different departments work on the same topic but at different times and with different goals.

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Problem 2: Channel orientation The second problem is that companies focus on their channels rather than thinking terms of topics. There is channel 1 called social media. And there is channel 2 called press. This also reflected in the organisation. Paid, owned, earned and social: Of course, the channel is the contact point to the customer in content marketing. Until a few years ago, the formats were relatively limited. Companies mainly used various advertising formats, as well as press releases and print articles from flyers to brochures. With the idea of content marketing, new formats emerged: white papers, webinars, videos, memes, snackable content and others. However, it did not take long for people to understand that even a webinar is a waste of time without useful content. There is a benefit in the new, but as soon as it is no longer new, the benefit fades away. The challenge for companies today is to manage what they say. This is where the question of the substance of content arises. Here, content can certainly be translated as benefit. And directly linked to this is the question of relevance. Why does this content have a meaning for the recipient? This is the question of the narrative, the story in which the content is embedded. Companies are doing a lot of things right when they serve these four points: • • • •

the right channels, the right formats, the right content, and all of this embedded in a story.

It is not enough to reach target and dialogue groups. Companies must also generate value. So, communicators have to answer the question why exactly this specific customer should buy from this company. Problem 3: No clear thematic profile, no strategic issues If everyone in the company communicates on their own, there is a lack of a topic profile. What does this company actually stand for? Which topics does the company like to be associated with? It looks arbitrary and vague. Organisations with topicoriented content avoid these ambiguities. This links them to the fields of action in which they demonstrate their own competence. Here they show their problemsolving skills and satisfy user needs. Content marketing that meets these requirements succeeds with a topic architecture. It makes clear to the user what a company is concerned with. In summary, a central challenge for communicators is therefore: how are the company’s own topics still perceived at all?

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Rethinking Content and Organisation: Topic Architecture

Both in the case of channel orientation and organisation in silos, too much content is produced overall. Nobody can say for sure whether the produced content is even relevant for their target group. As a consequence, a lack of attention and product preference can be measured. Brand awareness, product loyalty, patience or understanding are decreasing. Companies can earn this trust through real, personal topics. It is, therefore, elementary to be found exactly with the content that addresses the cognitive needs of the user and corresponds to the character of the company. This is the area in which the offers of an organisation are congruent with the wishes of the target groups. The answer to the question of how to organise this is topic architecture. Here, all topics, stories and contributions are clearly structured and focused on a central content mission. This can either be the brand or a central idea developed specifically for content marketing. The content is planned cross-channel in stories, whether for social media, SEO, press releases, intranet news or website text and much more. Content from companies must create more than just reach, attention and click figures. It must convert and sell. Especially if companies want to play a role in the lives of their customers in the future, it is no longer enough to simply fill channels. Competition is strong, messages are interchangeable, consumers are critical and generic emotionalisation is ubiquitous. It is necessary to convey authenticity and individual meaning with a clear story across channels—both internally and externally. To achieve this, companies must not only reposition themselves organisationally but also change their way of communicating in the long term. In order to achieve this without wasting resources, a radical cut must be made: the working methods, processes, roles and organisational form of the communications department need to be reconsidered. This results in the following tasks: • Away from channel orientation, towards topic orientation, • everything implemented in a structured way in a topic architecture, • and, in the best case, supported by a powerful, future-oriented technology. Communication today must provide context, meaning and orientation. Thanks to new methods and technologies, this necessity can now also be implemented. The utopia of integrated communication is becoming reality. This requires crossdisciplinary communication structures, a clear mission and a new quality of transparency and collaboration. To manage this complexity, a technology specialised in communication management is suitable. However, organising sophisticated communication as a complete system is not possible with silos or Excel, e-mail and Sharepoint.

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Fig. 5.1 The Strategic Content Marketing (SCOM) process

5.2.1

Strategic Content Marketing

The concept of Strategic Content Marketing (SCOM framework) is one way to manage cross-channel and topic-centred content. Its aim is to break down silos (Scompler 2020). The central element of this concept is the change-oriented approach of topic architecture. Figure 5.1 shows the process. The starting point of the Strategic Content Marketing process is the topic architecture. It forms the framework of what is discussed in communication. Part of this is topic scoring and developing meaningful stories out of the topics. The core of these stories is the respective narrative, i.e. the communication of meaning and significance for the respective dialogue group. This is what generates relevance. And the chronological classification of the stories results in the editorial calendar: it provides an overview of when people talk about what.

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Fig. 5.2 The topic architecture

These four steps form the basis of the content strategy. From this, the content planning results, i.e. the question of what kind of concrete content is best suited to tell the particular story. Content planning gives rise to the concrete concepts and briefings that form the basis for content production. These topics are only touched upon in this article. Ideally, all produced content is then stored in a central content archive so that it can be found at any time. Finally, the content is distributed, its performance is measured and the results are analysed. The conclusions are then used to recalibrate the topic plan. We have to think of content strategically, from the central idea of communication (Fig. 5.2). The reward for this preparation is a strategic framework that works similarly to guard rails or tracks. In this picture, content behaves like trains or cars. They all move within predetermined, ordered paths. Nobody can break out and simply develop content at will; there is virtually no proliferation of tracks. Such a framework enables companies to control communication and content marketing across the board, both strategically and operationally. In the ideal case, technology and methodology play hand in hand. Ideally, a company’s communications team should work together on the framework process, which comprises a total of seven WH-questions: What for? What we take care of? What about? Why? What? What we say it with? Where? This collaboration right from the start is intended to ensure that future strategic content marketing is actually understood and lived by everyone in a cross-channel and topic-centric manner. The order in which they do this is crucial for later success. It is the end of wasting resources in communication.

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The KPIs in Topic Architecture

Of course, key performance indicators (KPIs) are also used in strategic content marketing. In contrast to the usual practice in companies, the topic architecture also brings order to the system here. The concept of Strategic Content Marketing uses an advanced approach for KPIs: the different roles/teams or levels are assigned to their own KPIs, which specifically measure and evaluate the respective contribution that makes sense there. The KPIs can be used to guide the teams according to their objectives. This approach also shows that the KPIs that are usually created in content marketing are not value-adding. In the concept of Strategic Content Marketing, KPIs are assigned to each level in a precisely tailored manner. Figure 5.3 shows the KPI clusters:

5.3

Case Study: The Swiss Heilsarmee on the Path to Topic Architecture

The example of the Swiss Heilsarmee (Salvation Army) is a good illustration of how the process of implementing a topic architecture works (Heilsarmee 2020). A total of almost 40 people are directly or indirectly involved in the communication of the Heilsarmee Switzerland, with the core team consisting of around 10 people. Functionally involved are the areas of text, graphics, photo and film, customer contact, conception, fundraising, direct marketing, digital marketing, social media, translation, product manager, ambassador and the management and team leadership. Until now, the participants have only ever worked together on a case-by-case basis. Silos are not very much in place, but they exist. For a long time now, the Heilsarmee Switzerland has not been recognised in the analogue world, but primarily in the digital world, according to its size and deeds. A reserved and modest attitude towards marketing communication measures was certainly one reason for this. Another reason was the structure of the marketing and communications department. It has grown historically and has not changed for many years. The technological changes, the rapid development of communication channels and the strongly changing media usage behaviour required new expertise, new forms of interdisciplinary cooperation, new roles and more transparency after years of internal standstill. At the beginning of 2019, the management commissioned the head of marketing, Christoph Bitter, to transform the marketing and communications department in line with the changing market conditions. The biggest challenge for him was that the list of shortcomings seemed endless: there were no objectives regarding the effectiveness of the marketing and communication measures, only insufficient data analyses, hardly any monitoring, low awareness of the Heilsarmee in the digital space. Above all, there was a lack of comprehensive planning of marketing and communication activities as well as editorial planning. Many things were done, but all without a strategic basis. And nobody followed up if the activities met the needs of the market.

Fig. 5.3 The KPI clusters of Strategic Content Marketing

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The ultimate goal is to make the Heilsarmee more relevant on the Swiss market. The most important strategic lever was recognised as the need to make the organisation much more focused and efficient in its communications. Because the Heilsarmee has limited resources, these resources must be focused on the important issues and messages. Above all, the mission and values should be transmitted. In particular, the communications team wants to invest more in the digital and transform the analogue. In this way the Heilsarmee wants to comprehensively shape the customer experience. Contents are at the centre of this, because the Heilsarmee has a lot to say. But it is not simply a matter of producing and staging content, the content should rather be strategically oriented. The aim of the new concept is, therefore, to combine the idea of content marketing with that of the Corporate Newsroom. On the one hand, the Heilsarmee must react to the current news situation in an integrated manner, but on the other hand, it also wants to achieve marketing goals better and use resources more efficiently. At its core it is a new way of managing topics: away from loose campaign and channel thinking, towards topicoriented, integrated concepts with a clear content first approach. Prior to the actual work on the topics in content marketing, the team worked together in workshops to develop and document goals and store them in the chosen system. The same applies to the target and dialogue groups. They are specified for each topic and each contribution. On the one hand, this is intended to support the editors in deciding on one (or more) concrete addressees, on the other hand, all measures can later be analysed according to their assignment to the target groups (or also the objectives). In the case of Heilsarmee Switzerland, which works with the SCOM framework and the content platform Scompler, attributes were added during the course of the work, all of which were stored in the system. They help to bring even more relevance to each individual contribution during content creation. The attributes include, for example • values to be conveyed (e.g. dignity, hope, freedom and charity), • the contribution of the Heilsarmee (e.g. providing security, being there and listening, making resources available), • the intended direct effect of communication (e.g. faith, courage, confidence, life competence, feeling whole again as a human being), • journalistic formats, • sharing trigger, • tonality, • used media, • cost centres. Creating really good content is not something you do on the side. You have to invest time as well as money. And you have to focus on the right content. But how do you know which content, which topic, is good? An evaluation of all topics that are to become content brings content marketing a decisive step forward at this point.

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Our Central Promise: What for?

In the beginning, all members of the strategy team have to ask the question “Why?” (Sinek 2009) which should be translated into a more appropriate “What for?”. Ultimately, all topics of a company unite in a central promise. Ikea does not sell furniture or mattresses, let alone hot dogs, as a central topic. No, Ikea sells inspirations for the best in the world, one’s own home. Dove does not sell soap or deodorant but wants to help you find self-confidence. AirBnB has another example of a strong guiding idea: the company does not sell rooms for overnight stays, but unique discoveries with experts worldwide, the hosts. For the Heilsarmee Switzerland, the team has defined the guiding idea for itself: “We do everything humanly possible to make the good a reality”. All other topics are to be based on this guiding principle. The core story is very well addressed in this motif (Fig. 5.4):

5.3.2

Our Fields of Action: What We Take Care of?

As strategy alone does not deliver results, it must first be translated into strategic topics or fields of action. Within these fields the company operates; they define the large areas in which communication takes place. The concrete definition of these fields of action is essential for the later strategic orientation of the entire content. This is where the connection between the company and its topics is created, this is where

Fig. 5.4 The central promise of Heilsarmee Switzerland (Heilsarmee 2020)

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it becomes authentic for the customer. The fields of action actually illustrate very clearly the question of why and for what purpose the company is actually active. Surely the term or concept of walk the talk is familiar to many. It invites people or organisations to achieve congruence between their own actions and words. Exactly this congruence should be made clear in the fields of action. In addition, the feedback of a field of action with the “What we take care of?” makes clear to all employees what they are working for. In the end, the team shares the insight that it is not about sending out press releases or posting on Facebook, but about making a difference in the world. In practice, the fields of action are best developed in a workshop with the entire team. This was also the case with the Heilsarmee: together the team defined six fields of action plus four auxiliary areas. In these fields of action, it is also defined how the particular area is contributing to the core story. In this way, a consistent structure for the topics can be derived; an initial framework is created for content marketing. The Heilsarmee, for example, concretises the field of action “Living” by the sentence “... so that all people have a home”. This clarifies why the Heilsarmee does its work in shelters, homes and other forms of housing.

5.3.3

Our Topics: What About?

The strategy team now defines the actual topics within the thematic fields. Topics are defined as the reference points known to the target group. They must be formulated in such a way that the target groups have a rough idea of what the topic is about and whether it is of current concern to them. Usually no products are meant here, but rather product categories or motifs for action. In this step, the Heilsarmee’s communication team turns 8 topic fields into a total of 30 very specific topics on which the organisation must and wants to communicate. For example, in order for people to really “have a place to stay in times of need”, homes must also be seen “as part of the community”—just having a roof over one’s head is not enough. One of the decisive success factors in finding the right topic is the processing of this complex of questions in teams that are as interdisciplinary as possible. Here, other departments such as sales or customer service are allowed and encouraged to sit at the table. They should evaluate the topics using a scoring procedure. In a second step, the direction of all communication is determined. It will not be changed in the course of the work. The strategy team reviews the topics in quarterly meetings and adjusts them if necessary.

5.3.4

The Story: Why?

While “topics” are generally still abstract, i.e. they apply to a large number of target groups, “stories” aim to make the topic as concrete as possible. For each topic, individual stories are worked out on this fourth level. The decisive factor in each

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story is the narrative, the “meaningful narrative”. Only when the communication team works out the meaning of a story, i.e. the “why” for the user, does relevance emerge; only then does the user suddenly understand (so that everything makes sense) why a topic is important. Different stories create relevance for individual user groups or personas. Stories are like containers in which all measures are planned across all channels. The stories concretise the still abstract topics. They transport the topic in ever new variations according to the topicality and the different needs of the target groups. For the Heilsarmee, for example, the stories in the topic “homes as part of the community” are defined in the field of action “housing”: • • • •

direct marketing action: appeal for donations in 10/19, best case Buchseegut, home party/meeting, ...

At the Heilsarmee, current events flow into the story development, ideas are generated, but only within the framework of the preceding strategic topic specifications. Ideas that do not fit into the given topics are stored in a topic memory and are reviewed on a regular basis. This procedure ensures the necessary strategic focus of the topic selection. For the Heilsarmee, it provides an overview of all stories, no matter where in the company they are processed or initiated. Not every story makes the same sense for everyone. In order to be able to create relevance with content, there are different approaches for the development or elaboration of stories. So that the relatively abstract topics ultimately result in strong, meaningful stories that resonate with the target groups. In the SCOM framework, this process is called storyboarding: the conceptual procedure for finding stories that fit the topics. The more common term storytelling, on the other hand, refers more to the technique of telling a story, the way a story, a plot is constructed and told. For different people things have different meanings. This is reflected in the following approaches with which stories can be found or developed within the topic architecture: 1. Find stories by personas. Here it is worked out what a (still abstract) topic means specifically for a defined target group or persona. The more concrete the personas are worked out, the more individual and relevant the stories become. And the more meaningful they are for the target groups. 2. Stories are found by means of the customer journey. The aim here is to work out the importance of the topic for the customer in the current phase of the customer journey, the conversion funnel or the sales funnel. If someone is dealing with a topic for the first time, different information is certainly relevant to him than at the very end in the decision phase, shortly before the purchase of a product. In this way, different stories are created, which are connected with each other and have the best possible relevance for the target groups at the respective time. The ideal is to pick up people at the point where they are standing and to proceed step by step.

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3. Stories are found by means of emotional motivational structures. Another exciting way to develop stories is to tell them along limbic or emotional motif structures. People draw their motives from simple things: they want to assert themselves (dominance), they always want to experience something new (stimulation) or they want more security (balance). If these points are taken into account when developing stories, they automatically activate emotional motif structures—and thus become more relevant for the individual again.

5.3.5

The Content: What?

Once the stories have been worked out and stored in a system, it is time to work out their content. The actual benefit for the customer is also directly linked to the content. Benefit is defined as the degree to which a need is fulfilled (Cambridge Dictionary 2020b). And content is about cognitive needs. They correspond perfectly with the functional needs that a product or service offers. This changes the character of content and communication. Content is not only advertising for something, but an integrated part of a comprehensive range of services. The whole range of journalistic formats, techniques and know-how is used. Among the most common types of content or journalistic techniques are making connections, giving meaning and conveying insights with the help of data, facts, people, context, expertise, punch lines, goals, messages, sources, references, examples, plots, stories, creative ideas and many more.

5.3.6

The Staging: What We Say It with?

Here the elaborated contents are transformed into concrete formats, we are talking about the staging of content. By transforming the same, elaborately and carefully produced content into as many different formats as possible, teams gain three things: • significant increase in the efficiency of their work, • the greatest possible consistency of contributions and • a higher degree of adaptation and variety in communication. With this approach, the Heilsarmee team can produce content adapted to different personas or channels within their topic architecture without the need for further extensive research. When a new post is created in a story, all content types are always available. This is intended to help the team to think of all possible content types. Finally, the content types contain the contents. This is also where one of the great strengths of a topic architecture becomes apparent: no matter what formats are chosen for the final publication, the topics are always the same; in the end, they always pay equal attention to the strategic fields of action and the central idea. This is an inestimable advantage for companies, because this is how the core competence of a company is linked to its significance for the

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customer. In this way, it is ensured that every measure is always geared to the actual goal, the creation of value.

5.3.7

The Channel: Where?

Instead of starting with the channels as usual, the distribution of the content takes place at the very end of the content marketing process. In the last step of the topic architecture, the content formats are produced and optimally adapted. The team now distributes them via the previously defined channels. By optimising and adapting a piece of content to the various channels, the content is multiplied almost automatically. In this way, the company achieves an efficient omnichannel presence. The Heilsarmee produces 150 stories annually. They contain about 1000 contributions in 20 content types. In the Heilsarmee’s template collection, the available content types provide structure and orientation. At the same time, the abundance of stories and contributions allows for a sufficient degree of variance and easy customisation. All those involved know exactly that every piece of content distributed fits the company and makes a positive contribution to achieving the strategic goals. Every tweet, every posting and every video can be precisely assigned to the strategic fields. • At the level of strategic objectives: the strategic goals are in the foreground, especially trust. This is where the actual value creation through content takes place. And the strategy must be geared to this. • At the level of engagement objectives: the engagement or interaction shows whether the customers really accept the content. They consume it, react to it and ideally recommend it to others. Both are dependent on benefit and relevance. • At the level of the range targets: reaching targets comes right at the end. To achieve them, it is necessary to meet the needs of the channels. After all, the channels are responsible for distribution. If you publish an attractive format in addition, this is usually enough for traffic and clicks.

5.4

Topic Score: Evaluating Content

When is a topic a good topic? A widespread evaluation method is to filter topics by search volumes. Some companies call this demand-oriented topic management. This approach is basically correct. However, search volume alone is not sufficient to assess the quality of a topic. A more meaningful method is the evaluation of all topics of an organisation using a scoring procedure. The scoring contains those parameters that are individually suited to the company. Regardless of whether an online tool, pin boards and cards or Excel tables are used for the topic evaluation, the principle behind it is always the same: the organisation uses an evaluation process to rank all its topics. This ranking takes into account and includes those factors that are of strategic importance for the

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company. The subsequent allocation of resources is then based on this ranking. Three requirements are necessary for a topic scoring: • There is a catalogue of questions that are asked on each topic. • These questions are pre-prioritised, and the team jointly determines a factor per question. • There is a scale for answering the questions. A scale of 1–10 has proven to be a good choice, as it allows the participants to make sufficiently differentiated classifications. In practice, a list of 11 questions has proven to be very useful for the questionnaire. The question of up-to-dateness, for which the search volume is an indication, is one of them. The strategic fit should also be considered, i.e. the degree of accuracy with which the topic matches the central idea is defined at the beginning. Also, the business contribution, possible risks, the benefit one can give, the substance one has and much more can be found here. It is good if the questionnaire is discussed in the Corporate Newsroom team, preferably in an editorial meeting. The evaluation of topics works with any project size. The recommendation is, however, that the ranking should be done on the topic level and not on the story level. The topic level contains all the superordinate topics, and these must be evaluated. The stories are then only the subsequent elaboration. Stakeholders should be included here. Their involvement at this early point makes it much easier to work together later. The Corporate Newsroom team should also rate the answers. This is about the team coming to a common assessment of the importance of the questions and answers in relation to each other. The more topics are evaluated on the basis of the questionnaire, the clearer the result. Table 5.1 shows a questionnaire with exemplary questions for the evaluation of topics on the way to topic architecture: From a statistical point of view, there would be a lot to think about on the question of evaluation scales alone. But the topic scoring is not supposed to be a scientifically 100% accurate evaluation of topics. Rather it shows a ranking of individual topics in comparison to each other. For the rating, a scale with sufficient differentiation possibilities for the answers should be chosen. To offer only three or five items is too little from the evaluators’ point of view. They cannot then express their assessment in a sufficiently differentiated manner. A scale with a width of 10 has proven to be useful for the purpose of topic scoring in content marketing. Corporate Newsroom teams should name the extreme scale points and the scale points in between. They are marked with ascending numbers for orientation. A good introductory explanation at the beginning will bring all participants to the same level of understanding of how the scoring works. At the end, when all topics have been discussed, recorded and evaluated, the topic ranking, the topic score, is established. Excel experts programme a scoring table in which the ranking is automatically calculated from the scale input and weighting factor. The Corporate Newsroom team can now decide which topics are to be implemented. And, completely in line with the strategy, which topics may be dropped or postponed until later.

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Table 5.1 Exemplary questions for the evaluation of topics on the way to topic architecture Fitting accuracy on . . . 1 Strategy 2

Business

3 4

Relevance in the target group Potential benefit

5

Substance

6 7

Effort and efficiency Distribution

8

Competition

9

Sustainability

10

Passion

11

Risk-free

5.5

In more concrete terms. . . How much does the topic contribute to our positioning, brand or core story/central idea? How much does the topic help to achieve our concrete business or sales goals? How present is the topic in the target group right now?

Factor 1–10

How great is the functional or emotional need of our target group? How much substance do we have on the subject and how credible are we? How easily can a lot be achieved on this topic with little effort? How much potential does the topic have for wide dissemination? Has the competition already taken up the topic? Can we be better here? How long can the topic be used and can content be reused? How easy is it for us to make something really good out of this topic? How much risk is there in the topic for a communication crisis?

Conclusion

Corporate Newsroom teams can always evaluate their topics in a scoring process and put them in order. But for content to develop its full effect and power, it must be embedded in an overall system of strategic content marketing. Therefore, in the Strategic Content Marketing framework, topic evaluation is an important step on the way to topic architecture for the organisation. Usually, the evaluation takes place at the end of the strategy phase. In summary, a topic architecture can lead to an efficient use of resources in content marketing. The Corporate Newsroom builds the framework for a clearly structured and transparent process. All participants in the process receive clear briefings for the completion of their task. The topic architecture is available to them as a reliable guiding system for the entire communication process. This leads to a clear division of labour and unambiguous description of tasks. Once the new roles and areas of responsibility have been implemented and recognised, the usual conflicts of roles and departments are reduced. Uncertainties about one’s own areas of responsibility are resolved by organisational realignment in the Corporate Newsroom. The effect is not only a better alignment of the company to the needs of the

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customers, but also a much better focus of all communication disciplines from marketing to corporate communications on what makes sense.

Literature Businessgrow. (2014). Content Shock: Why content marketing is not a sustainable strategy. Retrieved August 27, 2020, from https://businessesgrow.com/2014/01/06/content-shock/ Cambridge Dictionary. (2020a). The meaning of “utility”. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from https:// dictionary.cambridge.org/de/worterbuch/englisch/utility?q¼Utility Cambridge Dictionary. (2020b). The meaning of “benefit”. Retrieved August 1, 2020, from https:// dictionary.cambridge.org/de/worterbuch/englisch/benefit Heilsarmee. (2020). Armut kann jeden treffen. Retrieved August 27, 2020, from https://www. heilsarmee.ch Onlinemarketing. (2020). Ranken oder gelesen werden: Die optimale Textlänge für Content auf Desktop und Mobile. Retrieved August 27, 2020, from https://onlinemarketing.de/news/ ranking-google-optimale-textlaenge-fuer-desktop-mobile Roland Berger. (2019). Strategisch, digital, agil. Wie der Effizienz- und Qualitätssprung in der Unternehmenskommunikation gelingt. Retrieved August 27, 2020, from https://www. rolandberger.com/de/Publications/Strategisch.-Digital.-Agil-Unternehmenskommunikationim-Umbruch.html Scompler. (2020). Das SCOM Framework: 12 Insider-Tipps plus Checklisten für Strategisches Content Marketing. Retrieved August 27, 2020, from https://scompler.com/scom-framework/ Sinek, S. (2009). Start with WHY. Retrieved August 27, 2020, from https://youtu.be/u4ZoJKF_ VuA Spiegel. (2014). In F-Form durch Texte springen. Retrieved August 27, 2020, from https://www. spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/lesen-im-internet-veraenderungen-der-gewohnheiten-a971179.html Westermann, A., Marten, E., Moss, C., Simon, M., & Zimmermann, R. (2019). Content marketing – More than just a buzz word? Empirical findings on the attitude of companies, agencies and publishing houses. MedienJournal, 43(2), 45–66.

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Efficiency and Effectiveness: Controlling in the Corporate Newsroom Lara Behrens, Christoph Moss, and Niklas Stog

The theoretical advantages of the Corporate Newsroom model are obvious: centralised topic development enables more consistent external communication with a more efficient internal use of resources. At the same time, the introduction of the Corporate Newsroom is linked to an internal change within the company. This threatens traditional thinking of various communication disciplines such as classic public relations (PR), advertising and online marketing. In order to counteract the resistance of these stakeholders, the company management should be involved in the introduction of the Corporate Newsroom early on. This support from top management can only be guaranteed, however, if the theoretical added value of the Corporate Newsroom can be quantified. This puts a topic at the centre of the discussion that has traditionally not been one of the core disciplines of corporate communications and is widely viewed with suspicion by many communicators: how to measure and evaluate internal efficiency, communicative output and entrepreneurial value creation. This measurability gains particular relevance in the digital age. New data sources like web analytics, social media monitoring, search engines and CRM suddenly make communicative success measurable. They provide valuable customer insights and open up underlying motives of different target groups (Digital Marketing Institute 2020).

L. Behrens · C. Moss (*) Mediamoss GmbH, Dortmund, Germany e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] N. Stog Berlin, Germany e-mail: [email protected] # The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 C. Moss (ed.), The Corporate Newsroom, Management for Professionals, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67642-1_6

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From Big Data to Smart Data: Measurability and New Data as the Key to Integrated Communication

Probably the most concise quote in the context of communication and measurability comes from Henry Ford: “Half the money I spend on advertising is waste, and the problem is I do not know which half”. (quoted in: Mödritscher 2008: 85). His remark still sums up the status quo in many companies: in most cases, top management recognises the theoretical significance of marketing and communications. Consequently, it approves the corresponding budgets for these departments. However, the exact effect of these investments remains hidden, at the expense of optimisation, control and acceptance of the entire discipline. Henry Ford’s quote also makes it clear that the discussion about measurability is as old as corporate communications itself. At the same time, the topic is experiencing a renaissance in the recent past, which is related on the one hand to the growing need to quantify the value contribution of communication in times of shareholder value and increasing competitive pressure (Luo and de Jong 2012). On the other hand, the growing importance of digital data sources such as social media monitoring, online search and web analytics raises hopes of establishing new cause–effect relationships between communication measures and the overall success of a company. For example, web analytics data provides information on how many website visits are acquired via which measures. They also show what proportion of these visits are converted into a product purchase. If you set the costs of the actions measured in this way in relation to the respective assigned sales, you arrive at the calculation of a return on investment (ROI), which in the old world of stationary trade and offline media would never have been measurable in this direct form. In addition, digital data have an invaluable advantage: they are available almost in real time. In contrast to classic market research methods, they provide unfiltered insight into the actual behaviour of consumers. The Chain of Effects The consideration of the chain of effects measure—website visit—product purchase, however, only makes sense for a few companies, namely for those that exclusively use digital channels for communication and product sales. But even for many of these so-called online pure players, the linear linkage of measure and effect is not sufficient to accommodate a much more complex consumer decision-making process. For example, a user can first come across a website by a link from a blog, then research more about the company or certain products on search engines and finally click on an online banner to buy a product. While this problem can still be partially addressed with the so-called customer journey tracking procedure, in which every contact (and not just the last click before the purchase) is included in the ROI calculation with a pre-defined weighting (Lee 2010), the effect of measures that do not directly promote sales is usually not taken into account. Particularly complex is the sensible use of digital data in industries such as fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), where a large part of marketing

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investments is still made offline and a large part of turnover is generated in stationary retail. The ability to evaluate digital data and use it to optimise marketing, communications and business success is thus becoming a decisive competitive advantage (LaValle et al. 2011).

6.2

Controlling with Efficiency Evaluation

The controlling of measures in corporate communications takes on a new significance when it comes to the reasons for structuring communications according to the Corporate Newsroom model. With the introduction of a Newsroom, many companies are aiming to improve efficiency—and of course they want to prove this. There should therefore be a model that takes key performance indicators (KPI) and efficiency into account in equal measure. The question of efficiency is originally a phenomenon of business economics and is often used to assess production processes in order to assess productivity (Cantner et al. 2007). If one refers the claim of efficiency to the evaluation of organisational structures, then it is about organisational efficiency. This refers to the extent to which an organisational structure contributes to the achievement of corporate goals (Springer Gabler n.d.-a). Thom and Ritz (2008: 224) use effectiveness and efficiency criteria that relate to the efficiency concept they have developed to assess organisational design alternatives. The concept is based on two main objectives: innovative capacity and the promotion of organisational learning (Thom and Wenger 2010: 141). The concept comprises six efficiency criteria, which are assigned to the categories economic-technical criteria, flexibility-based criteria and internal criteria for groups of demands. The efficiency criteria can be used and adapted variably depending on the company (Thom and Wenger 2010). Nevertheless, the model has so far met with relatively little response in research. Other concepts for evaluating organisational efficiency, such as the contingency theory (Miebach 2012) or the Donaldson concept of organisational fit (2001: 249), have not gained acceptance. Nevertheless, elements of the efficiency concept are promising and are therefore taken into account when developing a model for measuring efficiency in the Corporate Newsroom.

6.2.1

Efficiency Criteria in Journalism

The efficiency criteria developed by Erich Frese can form the basis for a model. A few years ago, Moss (1998) already used them to evaluate efficiency in journalism. Since content oriented corporate communications show numerous parallels to editorial work, the use of efficiency criteria is conceivable. As already stated, organisational efficiency expresses the extent to which an organisational structure contributes to the achievement of corporate goals. In any case, every action of an organisation should serve the achievement of corporate goals. Since this influence is generally not readily apparent, there is a need to define

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Fig. 6.1 Efficiency of coordination and motivation (own presentation based on Frese et al. 2019)

substitute goals that can be operationalised (Frese et al. 2019). Frese developed partial efficiency criteria for this purpose, which he combined into the generic terms of coordination efficiency and motivation efficiency (Frese et al. 2019). The following partial efficiency criteria can be distinguished (Frese et al. 2019): Resource efficiency describes the (cost-efficient) use of potential factors, i.e. people, machinery and intangible resources (such as know-how). If this is not successful, the existence of interim storage facilities and problematic resource allocation is to be expected. Market efficiency covers the comprehensive use of potentials as well as the avoidance of interdependencies on the procurement and sales market. High market efficiency requires that contacts to customers and suppliers are aligned with the goals of the overall company across all divisions. Indicators of a lack of market efficiency are, above all, lost sales opportunities and poor conditions in the processing of market transactions. Process efficiency takes into account the coordination of internal performance processes. They must be aligned with the objectives of the company as a whole at all stages of the value chain. Usually, interim storage and long lead times are seen as signs of inadequate process efficiency. Delegation efficiency measures the balance between reduced but overarching knowledge at a higher hierarchical level and detailed knowledge at a lower hierarchical level. A lack of delegation efficiency generally manifests itself in a problematic allocation of resources. Personal responsibility and manageability are decisive for motivation efficiency. Self-responsibility is the responsibility of the employee for the result of his or her work. The employee has the freedom to make his own decisions. Manageability takes into account completed task complexes and the spatial concentration of activities.

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Table 6.1 Efficiency criteria according to competitive strategies (Moss 1998: 105) Efficiency criteria Internal process efficiency External process efficiency Resource efficiency Reader market efficiency Procurement market efficiency Delegation efficiency Motivation efficiency

Strategies Cost leadership + 0 + 0 + 0 0

Differentiation 0 + 0 + 0 0 0

+ ¼ especially important; 0 ¼ auxiliary condition

Figure 6.1 shows an overview of the partial efficiency criteria. Moss (1998) applied the criteria to the organisation of editorial offices in journalism and linked them to communicative and economic goals. To this end, he transformed the efficiency criteria into journalistic working situations and differentiated, for example, market efficiency into procurement market and reader market efficiency. Since conflicts of objectives between the various efficiency criteria cannot be ruled out, a weighting based on the strategy and objectives of the company is necessary (Frese et al. 2019; Kugeler and Vieting 2012: 241–242). Moss (1998: 105) classified the efficiency criteria in journalism according to the competitive strategies of cost leadership and differentiation (Porter 2014) (Table 6.1). In the strategies of cost leadership and differentiation, the demands on the product differ. A strategy of cost leadership would be favoured by an organisational structure that enables internal process efficiency, lowers costs (resource efficiency) and keeps internal processes and research efforts (procurement market efficiency) as lean as possible. A differentiation strategy would therefore benefit from an organisational design that ensures external process efficiency and reader market efficiency. Resource efficiency, delegation efficiency and motivation efficiency are regarded as secondary conditions here.

6.2.2

Additional Criteria

Frese’s efficiency criteria are still relevant (Frese et al. 2019). For example, Kugeler and Vieting (2012), among others, use Frese’s criteria to assess organisational efficiency. They deal with process-oriented organisation, whose main characteristic is the focus on the overall process (Kugeler and Vieting 2012: 231). Process orientation is no longer a priority for the use of the efficiency criteria, it merely requires a different weighting of the efficiency criteria (Kugeler and Vieting 2012: 245). In addition to Frese’s criteria of coordination efficiency and motivation efficiency, Kugeler introduces adaptation efficiency as the third main criterion (Kugeler 2000). Adaptation efficiency describes the flexibility to react to changing framework

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conditions. It is “the higher, the easier the structure can be changed” (Kugeler and Vieting 2012). Adaptation efficiency is expressed by two measures: adjustment costs and adjustment time. These measures indicate how long it takes to adapt the organisation to changed framework conditions and what this costs—whether through structural or organisational changes or “by maintaining internal flexibility” (Kugeler and Vieting 2012: 240). Various measures can be taken to minimise adjustment costs and adjustment time. Employees with comprehensive qualifications (generalists) can take on new tasks more quickly than specialised employees (Kugeler and Vieting 2012: 240–241). This makes it possible to react flexibly to different workloads. The increased personnel costs are the disadvantages if the personnel resources cannot also be used for other departments or tasks. Another measure to reduce adjustment costs and time is “short and clearly defined decision-making processes” (Kugeler and Vieting 2012: 240). Fast reactions and high flexibility are achieved when decisionmaking competencies are distributed across all hierarchical levels. Filzmoser takes up the efficiency criteria according to Frese in order to present possibilities for the evaluation of an organisation. Frese’s coordination efficiency therefore describes the rough structure, the motivation efficiency the fine structure (Filzmoser 2010: 79). The rough structure is compared with the concepts of the target approach in order to evaluate a fit between the structure and the goals of the company. Filzmoser (2010: 79) distinguishes between the target achievement approach, the stakeholder approach and competing values. To evaluate the fine structure, the fit between the job requirement and the owner is important. A distinction is made here between requirement compatibility and incentive compatibility. Requirement compatibility describes the extent to which an employee’s qualifications enable him or her to perform the tasks assigned to him or her (Laux and Liermann 2005). Incentive compatibility indicates the extent to which the employee’s goals conform to those of the company. It is therefore a matter of the employee’s ability and will. The efficiency criteria can then be used to compare alternative organisational forms (Filzmoser 2010: 116–117).

6.2.3

Communication Efficiency

In the search for efficiency concepts, efficiency criteria or other possibilities for the evaluation of organisational structures, the term communication efficiency also appears again and again. There are various approaches for evaluating communication efficiency. From Stöber’s (2014) attempt to anchor efficiency in communication science, however, an important finding for the efficiency criteria in corporate communications can be derived: the efficiency of communicators and media institutions combined with the efficiency of recipients and consumers leads to the overall efficiency of the market, where the advantages are on one side or the other depending on the time of measurement (Stöber 2014: 191). This means for the efficiency criteria: communication efficiency and recipient efficiency result in market efficiency. Authors such as Schwarz (2013) and Pfefferkorn (2009) use the data

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envelopment analysis to measure communication efficiency. However, this requires several comparable investigation units (Schwarz 2013: 66). In order to transfer the efficiency assessment to corporate communications, a new model is presented here. It develops the respective partial efficiency criteria for corporate communications from Frese’s main criteria coordination efficiency and motivation efficiency. In addition to the efficiency criteria already shown, measurement variables are also necessary. This requires an insight into the developments of communication controlling, which evaluates the efficiency and effectiveness of communication (Pfefferkorn 2009: 9).

6.3

Developments in Communication Controlling

Communication controlling is a special form of controlling, comparable to marketing controlling for marketing work or sales controlling for sales. Communication controlling is derived from controlling approaches known from business administration (Zerfaß 2010: 29). Controlling is future-oriented (International Controller Association 2010: 14). It rather encompasses goal setting, planning and regulating (International Controller Association 2010: 14) within a company. The aim is to collect facts and to plan and control on this basis (Harenburg 2014). Controlling is a support function for management (Zerfaß 2010: 34–35). Communication management as a control function of corporate communications requires communication controlling for the planning, controlling and monitoring of communication activities (Rolke and Zerfaß 2014: 871). In addition, communication controlling is to ensure the economic viability of communication (Rolke and Zerfaß 2014: 869; PR Report 2011b). Communication causes costs as they arise in every other department of a company. Costs are caused, among other things, by the time spent on obtaining information, personnel costs, opportunity costs, external suppliers or service providers, maintenance of the homepage and other channels, events such as press conferences and production costs for communication products. As a rule, management would like to see what figures the communications department uses to justify its budget. As explained in Chap. 2, communication therefore plays an important role as a value-added contribution to corporate goals. Rolke and Zerfaß distinguish between four functions of communication (Table 6.2): The four functions of communication have an indirect influence on the added value of the company, for example, if awareness is increased and thus the sales Table 6.2 Value-oriented action in communication (own representation according to Rolke and Zerfaß 2014: 868–869) Communication as mediator of information on the company and products Communication for strategy definition and positioning of the entire organisation

Communication as a means to create such as acquaintance, credibility, authenticity and reputation Communication to build and maintain relationships in order to secure the organisation’s long-term room for manoeuvre

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success is increased. Complex interdependencies, however, make it difficult for smaller communication activities to recognise or even quantify the contribution of a measure to the added value of the company (Zerfaß 2010). For holistic communication controlling, therefore, smaller key figures must be found that make success measurable at upstream stages of the value chain. Since the goals of corporate communications are generally derived from the goals of the company, the communication goals are often operationalised and the contribution to the corporate goals made clear (Harenburg 2014). Thus, the key figures for communication can also be derived from the key figures for the company (Besson 2012: 77). Therefore, communication controlling is different in its design for each company (Besson 2012: 77). Models for Communication Controlling Over the years, various models for communication controlling have been developed, each with different names. Besson (2012) distinguishes between the terms PR evaluation and communication controlling. Since communication should first be examined and then controlled, evaluation is the requirement for controlling (ibid.). Besson recommends that evaluation be seen as a project consisting of the manager, plan, tool and report (2012: 17). The evaluation manager should be well versed in the subject matter, first develop a strategy and then the evaluation plan, select the tools accordingly and define the form of a report. The question remains as to how the contribution of corporate communications to the added value of the company and to the achievement of corporate goals can be measured. In the following, a selection of models will be presented from which insights can be gained for the development of one’s own model. In 1985, Michael Porter developed the company’s value chain model, distinguishing between primary and supporting activities (Porter 2014: 67). Communication is a soft factor in this construct and plays an auxiliary role in the value creation process. The shareholder value concept goes back to Alfred Rappaport (1986). The aim of corporate management here is to increase corporate value and thus remain attractive to shareholders. From criticism of the focus on only one stakeholder group, a research group led by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton developed the Balanced Scorecard (Springer Gabler, n.d.-b). The original financial dimension was extended by three perspectives: customer perspective, internal process perspective and learning and growth perspective. The aim of the Balanced Scorecard is to link the perspectives with the strategy. To this end, value links are used to show the interrelationships between value drivers of communication and corporate goals (Pfannenberg 2009: 3). Kaplan and Norton developed the Strategy Map for this purpose. It provides a graphical description of the corporate strategy (Pfannenberg 2009: 3). The Balanced Scorecard offers the possibility to measure the achievement of objectives by means of a target/actual comparison on the basis of the definition of small-step objectives and suitable measured variables and to derive actions from this.

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The instrument was frequently used in practice. For corporate communications, the Balanced Scorecard was adapted as the Communication Scorecard by Hering and Schuppener et al. (2004) and as the Corporate Communications Scorecard by Zerfaß. The latter combines vision, corporate strategy and corporate communications strategy and thus supports the management of the communications department (Zerfaß 2004). One model that has gained acceptance in the communications industry and is also internationally recognised is the impact level model (Rolke and Zerfaß 2014: 875; PR Report 2011b). A working group called value creation through communication of the German Public Relations Association (DPRG), together with the International Controller Association (ICV), agreed on the use of this model in 2009 (PR Report 2011b). The DPRG/ICV reference framework takes up previous approaches (Rolke and Zerfaß 2014: 875). The impact level model of communication consists of four main stages: input, output, outcome and outflow (Rolke and Zerfaß 2014). The complexity as well as the influence on the company goals increases with each step. The influence of communication, however, decreases (Rolke and Zerfaß 2014: 875). The key figures vary in complexity depending on the impact level. Figure 6.2 shows an overview of the measured variables and impact levels. On an international level, the Barcelona Principles were adopted in 2010. Five associations were involved in the development (Magee 2010; PR Report 2011a; AMEC 2010): Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Institute for Public Relations (IPR), Global Alliance, International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) and International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC). The Barcelona Principles are intended to represent industry standards on an international level but have not yet been implemented (Storcks 2014). Unlike most approaches, they do not use key figures. Rather, they represent common guidelines for communication controlling (Table 6.3). Alternative approaches are strongly influenced by mapping the value-added process of communication. Following the example of business controlling, key figures are also derived for communication and used for the control process (Haumer 2013: 19). In many of the models presented, key figures are an essential component. They represent indicators for “changes in the measured facts” (Pfannenberg 2010: 27). To define a key figure, it makes sense to create a key figure master sheet that provides information on derivation, purpose and measurement method (Pollmann and Sass 2011: 6). Key figure systems are created from individual key figures. Measurement variables can also be data that are collected anyway and have not yet been further analysed. This also increases the acceptance of communication controlling. A media resonance analysis, for example, as a classical instrument of communication evaluation, provides data on reach and resonance. With certain limitations, these figures can also be used to evaluate efficiency. In particular, it must be taken into account that the values can hardly be influenced (Besson 2012: 14). Social media activities must also be recorded as an instrument of corporate communications in controlling. The Federal Congress of Accountants and

Fig. 6.2 Effect levels, measurands and methods for enterprise communication (DPRG 2009)

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Table 6.3 The Barcelona principles (PR Report 2011a) The Barcelona Principles—the seven standards:

Importance of goal setting and measurement Measuring the effect on outcomes is preferred to measuring outputs The effect on business results can and should be measured where possible Media measurements require quantity and quality AVEs are not the value of public relations Social media can and should be measured Transparency and replicability are paramount to sound measurement

Table 6.4 Key figures for social media controlling, presented by Ariana Fischer at the Federal Congress of Accountants and Controllers 2012 (Hillmer 2012) Effect level Input Output

Outcome

Outflow

Key figure Financial key figures Resolution time Activity rate Process quality Unique visitors Share of voice Dialogue rate Topic trends Sentiment analysis Reputation index Brand awareness index Dialogue rate

Description For example, costs Average time taken to respond to a mention Average number of posts per day Number of votings for a post Key figures for measuring the reach of a page Mentions of a brand in comparison to mentions of competitors Number of posts resulting in dialogues with users in relation to all the posts posted on a page Brand or product mentioned in a context Number of positive, neutral or negative posts for a product or company in a given period

Controllers dealt with this issue in 2012 and Ariana Fischer, at that time Head of Consulting at ICOM GmbH, gave a lecture on the subject. With regard to the impact stage model of the DPRG/ICV, she presented social media indicators (Table 6.4). The function of communication controlling is to inform the communication management with information about the efficiency and effectiveness of the communication activities by observation, analysis and measurement and thus to provide a basis for the control of these activities.

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The evaluation can be carried out by external service providers or your own employees, depending on the effort involved. In any case, the results must be prepared and presented, be it as a report, in a plan, as a dashboard or as a cockpit of key figures (Zerfaß 2010: 35–36). For the visual representation, numerous instruments can be distinguished which are often web-based (Pollmann and Sass 2011: 10). The models displayed represent most of the models established in Germanspeaking countries. The Barcelona Principles were the first step towards developing a common understanding and methodology internationally. Industry associations and other associations try to set standards. Nevertheless, the topic of communication controlling remains versatile and is viewed in a differentiated way.

6.4

Data-Driven Communication: An Integrated Approach to Holistic Measurement and Cross-Departmental Integration of Communication

The core challenge in making communication measurable lies in the reduction of complexity and the evaluation of cross-channel interrelationships. Both points are crucial in order to make the work of communication disciplines comparable and thus to control them comprehensively. At the same time, the bundling and structuring of the data points available in the company is the basic prerequisite for disclosing existing expert knowledge from individual departments and making it available company wide. In addition to the enormous complexity of the content, these goals are confronted with individual interests that have to be considered before implementing a uniform measurement system. On the basis of best practices implemented by trommsdorff + drüner in companies like Coca-Cola, a five-stage approach is recommended (trommsdorff + drüner 2015). Step 1: Data and KPI Audit The first step towards a cross-departmental measurement and control system of communication consists of the inspection and evaluation of all internally existing data sources and KPI systems. The partial goal is to identify the skills and instruments developed within individual departments that are not yet fully shared with the rest of the company. A common example of this is the extensive web analytics expertise of the online marketing department, which is rarely used for strategic purposes. At the same time, many communications departments have extensive expertise and tools in social media monitoring, which are also rarely shared and used for cross-departmental purposes. This exclusive use of individual data sources by certain departments repeatedly underlines the need to have top management support from the outset in order to break open existing silos. It is also advisable to assign operational project management to an independent actor (i.e. not to one of the sub-areas of marketing and corporate communications) who has access to the data sources used and examines

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the measurement systems used to date—such as an external consulting firm, agency or the internal strategy department. Experience has shown that the fear in departments of losing the knowledge they have built up and no longer drawing political capital from it proves to be unfounded, since the implicit know-how developed over the years is difficult to imitate and at the same time creates great added value for other departments. Within the framework of the data audit, the experts who were previously active in silos often receive a higher visibility and more recognition, since the strategic value of their work is made visible for the first time at the higher management levels. Step 2: Data optimisation After the first inspection of available data sources, the second step focuses on optimising data quality. Experience has shown that the strongest fluctuations mean that a special focus should be placed on digital data sources such as web analytics, online paid media and social media monitoring. Particularly in globally active companies that cooperate with a large number of digital and media agencies, the cross-border quality and comparability of online data is insufficient. In order to standardise and improve data quality, it is therefore absolutely necessary to introduce guidelines for uniform data collection, which include the standardisation of website tagging (uniform integration of web analysis tools and measurement of website KPIs), the creation of link parameters for digital advertising media and the allocation of topics and sentiment in social media monitoring. Process descriptions and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are linked to this in order to ensure the implementation of the defined guidelines and thus to guarantee digital data quality in the long-term. In addition to standardisation, phase two will also focus on the development of new data sources. Google search data can be mentioned here as an example, which in most companies are not yet integrated into strategic measurement models. The so far insufficient use of Google data is all the more astonishing since Google is by far the market leader in almost all globally relevant markets (the only exceptions being Russia, China, Japan and South Korea) and thus provides comprehensive insights into the interests of consumers as well as the significance and lifecycles of trends. The detailed exploration of this data would go beyond the scope of this chapter. In a nutshell, however, it can be said that search data can be used as an indicator for brand- and business-relevant trends as well as for the operationalisation of seasonal events or for the resonance measurement of offline channels. In addition to the pure measurement of the online search volume for the brand, the development of a company-specific theme model is recommended, which operationalises the most important keywords for brands, industry and environment themes and makes them measurable in real time. Step 3: Data Integration Probably the most challenging task in terms of content is the definition of a holistic KPI model that reduces the mass of cross-departmental data to just a few key

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figures. The first step is the combination of statistical methods and content analyses to identify the communication-relevant variables that have a significant influence on the company’s results. The starting point for this is the definition of hypotheses about the cause–effect relationships between communication measures and the decisionmaking process of the target groups. In order to maximise the explanatory content of the model, one should not only consider factors that can be directly influenced, such as marketing and communication measures, but also external factors relevant to the industry, such as macroeconomic trends, weather data or seasonal effects. The significant variables identified in the model should then be converted into a system of key figures that brings the causal relationships worked out into a logically comprehensible sequence. For a consumer goods company, for example, effect levels such as invest, reach, awareness, commitment and sales can be used in this order, while for telecommunications providers additional levels such as customer loyalty or recommendation can be added and for automotive companies the level leads (generation of qualified sales contacts) has particular relevance (trommsdorff + drüner 2015). The designation of the target dimensions appropriate to the industry, company and discipline is highly relevant in order to create acceptance in the respective company. The majority of internal target groups will not understand the statistical calculations and analyses on which the model is based in detail, which is why an intuitive understanding of terminology and causal model is of the utmost importance. The key figures defined in the model should ideally be drawn from different, mutually complementary data sources. Digital data have the decisive advantage of providing information about the success of certain measures particularly quickly, while classical market research data guarantee a higher degree of representativeness. The linking of these data points makes it possible to expand the analytical field of view, which in empiric research is also referred to as “triangulation” (Bryman 2006: 105). Google search volume, website traffic or results from classic market research can provide information about the reach and quantitative response of an initiative or campaign. Qualitative effects can be analysed in parallel by integrating explorative methods such as social media monitoring, content analyses or focus groups. In this way, not only the overall success of a brand can be measured, but also operational levers for improving results can be identified. Step 4: Piloting The model developed in this way on the basis of historical data can only gain a foothold in the company if it is implemented at the open heart, i.e. based on currently implemented initiatives. In order to maximise the cross-departmental effect of the pilot, programmes should be selected in which a large number of communicative measures and channels are used. At the beginning it is advisable to bring together those responsible from the areas of corporate and product PR, digital marketing and social media, media planning and content development in a joint kick-off workshop. On the basis of previously defined benchmarks, the aim here is to define common

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goals for the individual subchannels and measures and to agree on a common reporting format as part of the pilot. In addition to the early involvement and integration of all stakeholders, the decisive factor for the pilot’s success is the derivation of clear recommendations based on the analysed data, the subsequent implementation of the recommendations and the resulting improvement of the overall result. In order to ensure this chain of action, most companies need to adapt their existing planning, decision-making and implementation processes, which in most cases include time-consuming preliminary processes, an exclusively ex-post evaluation of the communication success and timeconsuming coordination between communication disciplines and the legal department. The short-term availability of insights and recommendations, together with increasingly short media cycles, requires a more agile approach that ensures the timely implementation of recommendations. In addition to shorter communication and decision-making paths, which are core components of the Corporate Newsroom model, this also implies more selective planning of budgets before the campaign starts. In concrete terms, this means that a certain proportion of the total available communications investment is withheld in order to be available for the short-term adjustment of measures. The defined pilot should therefore include the shortest possible reporting cycles and a regular joint discussion of the performance of the measures and the options for action derived from them. In addition to conducting weekly status meetings, it is advisable to set up an online reporting platform that makes the most important key figures visible in real time and integrates data from various sources. Stage 5: Steadiness After completion of the pilot and in case of positive results, the final step is the sustainable embedding of the tracking model into the structure and processes of the company. Structurally, the integration of the latter reporting tool into the company’s IT infrastructure is of paramount importance. The added value of such a tool lies on the one hand in the automated and rapid availability of information from different data sources and on the other hand in the resulting higher internal efficiency. Even more decisive, however, is the establishment of a common, cross-departmental understanding of success and failure, which manifests itself in the structure of this online tool and the key figures that can be viewed by all stakeholders. It is crucial that this understanding is defined within the company and is subject to the influence and interests of external agencies and data providers. This internalisation of infrastructure thus enables more objective decision-making and a significant increase in cost and performance transparency. At the same time, it is necessary to build up internal expertise in the analysis and interpretation of these data. The competencies of communication professionals in PR and marketing must go beyond the conception and implementation of measures in the medium-term and place an even stronger emphasis on data-related content and methods. Only in this way can the common view developed within the framework of

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communication performance management be transformed into common action in order to finally make the theoretical vision of integrated communication a reality.

6.5

The Corporate Newsroom Efficiency Model

The preceding five steps describe what the structure of a holistic controlling in corporate communications and marketing should look like. In order to be able to specify the probably most important step—the definition of uniform key figures— for the Corporate Newsroom, an efficiency model based on the Frese efficiency criteria will be presented on the following pages. The efficiency criteria are combined with communication controlling instruments. For this purpose, evaluation methods such as media monitoring, social media analysis, employee surveys, evaluation of Intranet and Internet pages are brought together with the efficiency criteria and weighted. In communications, however, it is not possible to express everything in quantitative measures. Therefore, the system contains both quantitative and qualitative metrics. First, however, the criteria are questioned in detail. The efficiency criteria are divided into process efficiency, resource efficiency, market efficiency, delegation efficiency and motivation efficiency. Process efficiency in corporate communications The speed of a department’s work processes depends on the level at which they take place. Here it is necessary to differentiate between internal department processes and internal company processes—in some cases there are even internal department processes. A distinction must be made between processes that affect employees in the communications department and processes that affect colleagues within the company. Processes that affect the completion of a product, for example, are included in this distinction. Resource efficiency in corporate communications According to Frese, the sensible use of personnel, technology and know-how is the most important aspect of resource efficiency. This can also save costs in communications and increase responsiveness in the department. This does not mean the reduction of personnel, but rather the efficient organisation of employees. Market efficiency in corporate communications Moss (1998) divided market efficiency for journalism into reader market efficiency and procurement market efficiency. Corporate communications also address readers, for example, for the products employee magazine or press releases, but with different target groups. This also applies to other communication products such as annual reports, CSR publications, social media activities or specialist reporting. At the heart of corporate communications is efficiency in addressing the various target groups. In corporate communications, market efficiency means target group efficiency and is divided into communication efficiency and recipient efficiency (Stöber 2014). This distinction is also a distinction between active and passive activity in corporate communications.

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Communication efficiency focuses on actively controllable performance. Recipient efficiency measures what ultimately reaches the recipients and how it is perceived. Delegation efficiency in corporate communications In the Corporate Newsroom, the managing editor plays a key role by steering the topic and channel managers. The balance of autonomy and coordination costs plays a decisive role here. Motivation efficiency in corporate communications The parameters for this criterion can be measured qualitatively and quantitatively, for example, when opinions can be measured through surveys. In addition to Frese’s proven efficiency criteria, extensions were also presented. Adaptation efficiency consists of adaptation costs and adaptation time. It describes the flexibility to react to changing conditions. The adaptation efficiency is “the higher, the easier the structure can be changed” (Kugeler and Vieting 2012: 239). This criterion is no longer taken into account for the model, as it would be necessary to assess the time and cost of adaptation. This would not be accommodated in the desired rhythm and should instead be questioned separately from the model. Similar to Thom and Wenger (2010), the criteria in the efficiency system are broken down into sub-factors. Each sub-factor has to be evaluated quantitatively or qualitatively and classified on a three-point scale from negative (1 point), through medium (2 points) to positive (3 points). The classification is then rated according to the importance of the sub-factor for the overall goal. In order to be able to evaluate the overall situation, the possible sum of all sub-factors per sector must be calculated. It must then be defined which values are acceptable or which should be achieved. The Corporate Newsroom Efficiency Model presented on the following pages shows examples of measured variables and their classification (Table 6.5). The measured quantities are of different origin. The system and the measured variables are adapted to the general conditions of a company, for example, with the products of the communications department. This is also the case with communication control models (Lautenbach 2014: 894). Above all, however, the target values must be defined individually, as there are major differences between companies. The concrete target values should be defined by the Corporate Newsroom’s strategy team or in consultation with the company-wide controlling department. The survey is carried out continuously. This makes it possible to react quickly and control the work of the communications department. It is important that such an instrument is jointly adapted to one’s own circumstances and needs as well as supported. This ensures that the system is not seen as a method of control but as a helpful instrument. In order to apply the Corporate Newsroom Efficiency Model, different steps must be prepared within the department. The strategy team should define the goals of communication and controlling for itself or coordinate them with the relevant departments in the company. In addition, the strategy team should adapt the definition of the individual sub-criteria to the department’s goals and define target values and metrics. There should be a person responsible for maintaining the model.

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Table 6.5 The Corporate Newsroom Efficiency Model Efficiency criteria Process efficiency

Measured variables Regular exchange is important for the transparency in the department. Frequent planning conferences increase the flow of information A topic plan ensures transparency of topics and avoidance of duplicate work The employees receive training in order to fulfil their tasks

Resource efficiency

Target group efficiency ! communication efficiency

The employees of the department use a system in which all data, contacts and appointments are available. This reduces maintenance and usage to one system The employees receive training in order to fulfil their tasks

Number of press releases per month

Number of posts per month on social media

Specifications Numbers of planning conferences per week (3) more than one time per week (2) 1 (1)