Corporate Communications: Number of Teams Reporting To Marketing Has Doubled in 2 Years

One of the many consequences of the social media explosion of the past decade is that it’s now much harder for companies to present a single face to the world and speak with one voice.

The proliferation of channels mean that, not only do people get their information from a much wider range of sources than before, but that many more people can also create that information.

As a result, many corporate communicators are understandably coordinating more closely with the marketing function to make sure that they control as far as possible how employees represent the company to other employees, and to the outside world. The aim of this closer collaboration is to create messages that work both internally and externally, and so simultaneously reinforce brand and culture.

Working Together

This closer collaboration is borne out by the data. Analysis of CEB’s latest benchmarking data on corporate comms teams showed that the percentage of communications leaders reporting to the chief marketing officer has more than doubled since 2014 – from 10% to nearly 23%. The CEO remains the most common reporting relationship for heads of communications, but just barely at 24%.

This change is significant because the reporting line affects resource allocation: communication leaders reporting into Marketing spend a larger portion of their budget on external communications, while those reporting into HR tend to skew internally.

So it’s no surprise that these new reporting lines come with a shift in resources toward external comms, from 42% of the overall communications budget in 2013 to nearly 47% this year. In particular, there has been a significant increase in spending on the corporate website, and a proportional decrease in employee communications.