At first glance, it seems that internal communications and external communications couldn’t be more different.
External communication is all about sharing your brand and its messaging with people outside of your organization. This includes customers, stakeholders, and investors.
Internal communication is focused on sharing key company developments with people inside your organization. It gives employees the information they need to do their jobs effectively.
Because of this primary difference between internal and external communication, many companies treat these two forms of corporate comms as separate entities. They fail to see how their approach to external comms can inspire a better kind of internal communication.
Here, we challenge that thinking. We look at the similarities and differences between internal and external comms — and share some ideas for improving internal communication at your organization.
Similarities between internal and external communications
Let’s start by looking at all the things internal and external business communication have in common.
Strategic importance
Both external and internal communications are important to the success of your business.
External communication is how you share your brand with customers and stakeholders. It’s how you convince people to trust in your brand and buy your products or services — and it has a clear impact on your bottom line.
Internal communication is aimed at your employees. It supports day-to-day operations and helps you build a strong company culture. The link may not be as obvious but internal communication also has a big impact on your company’s profitability.
That’s because, when you communicate effectively with employees, you stand to improve productivity, the customer experience, employee engagement, and employee retention, all of which affect company profits.
Therefore, both types of communication are essential to an organization — and both require a detailed schedule and strategy.
Selling the brand and what it stands for
You can use external and internal communication to sell your brand to respective audiences.
To your external audience, you sell your external brand image. You show customers and collaborators what makes your brand unique — and why they should pick you over your competitors.
To your internal communications audience, you sell your employer brand and company culture. You remind employees why your company is such a great place to work.
Comms content differs depending on your audience. But there’s a guiding principle to bear in mind. Selling your brand is easier when you create an emotional connection between your organization and your audience.
To do this, creative visuals and persuasive copy can do a lot of the heavy lifting. But you should also communicate a brand purpose that goes beyond increasing profits. You should highlight your company’s social purpose to both internal and external audiences.
You can take things further with your internal comms. Clearly communicate your purpose, values, and strategy to employees. This helps your staff find meaning in their work — and understand how their efforts contribute to business goals — which means better motivation.
To align employees with your purpose, values, and strategy, focus some of your internal communications plan on the following:
- Making your senior execs accessible and accountable. Holding monthly Q&As is a great way to align your on-the-ground team with long-term strategy goals. It’s also much easier for employees to relate to the humans behind your company than to a faceless corporation.
- Highlighting how your company has made a difference in the world. Showcase positive customer case studies to show how your company is making a difference in people’s lives. Also, share any company activities that support people or the planet.
- Featuring employee perspectives. Interview people from different departments and ask them what they do and what they like about their job. This helps people to build a bigger picture of their workplace and understand how everything fits together.
Two-way conversations
In both external and internal communications, communication used to travel one way. A brand and its leaders would speak. Customers and employees would listen.
But social media changed things dramatically. It’s now easy for customers to interact with brands, comment on their social posts, ask questions, and post their online reviews.
This shift from one-way conversations in external communication has changed expectations around workplace communications — and many organizations are now adopting a two-way approach as part of their internal comms strategy.
Companies are involving employees in the company conversation — whether they work in the office, at home, or on the frontlines of the organization. They’re giving them a voice with the help of employee surveys, two-way communication channels, and meetings where their contributions are encouraged.
Of course, making the decision to embrace two-way conversations can be a big deal for brands. They have to be prepared to respond to questions and criticism — from customers or employees. So why do it?
Involving customers and employees in your communications is good for engagement. It helps to boost trust and loyalty, which benefits both employee and customer attraction and retention.
For employees, two-way communication makes them feel valued and respected by your organization. This means they’re more likely to offer their valuable insights and perspectives — and they’re more likely to do their best work.
The need for engagement
Another similarity between internal and external communication is the need for engaging content.
This is a given in external communication. Marketing and PR teams are tasked with making a brand stand out from the competition. They employ eye-catching visuals and interactive content to grab and hold customer attention.
Typically, internal communication has lagged behind. But with the "Tiktokification" of internal communications, dry, corporate comms are becoming a thing of the past.
Just like customers, employees are more likely to engage with your content when it’s creative, interactive, and visually appealing. This is why many organizations are now posting social-media-style internal content to user-friendly, mobile-first communication channels.
The need for targeting
You maximize the impact of internal and external communications when you personalize content to your audience.
Send the same external or internal information to everyone and your recipients will start to switch off from your comms. They assume that your messages are irrelevant to them and stop reading or watching them.
So you need to segment your audiences. Then, create targeted content relevant to each group of customers or employees.
For internal communications, you can segment employees by role, location, department, tenure, and team to ensure each employee only receives information relevant to them.
Of course, there are some messages that all employees need to hear. But with proper segmentation, you don’t give retail staff an in-depth update on your work-from-home policy — or tell office-based staff about the next driver training session. Instead, all comms are appropriate and engaging.
Measuring success
Measurement is another important element of both external and internal communications. If you don’t set and track metrics, you can’t be sure that your communications are effective.
So, just as you measure the impact of your external communication campaigns, you can set internal communication metrics and KPIs. You can identify your best content and assess levels of engagement, finding ways to hone your comms going forward.
Also, in the same way that you’d conduct market research and seek customer reviews, seek feedback from employees. Use surveys to ask them about their employee experience. Find out what they think about your internal communications. Then, make informed improvements.
Differences between internal and external communications
Internal and external comms clearly have a lot in common — and there are lots of external communication principles that you can apply to your internal messaging.
However, there are some key differences between internal and external communication that you should bear in mind.
Your audience
Internal and external communications have different audiences:
- Your external communication audience includes customers, stakeholders, business partners, investors, and the media.
- Your internal communication audience includes your organization’s C-suite, managers, and employees.
There is, however, some overlap. You need to share external messages with frontline employees so they can relay a consistent message to customers.
Your communications team
Usually, different teams are responsible for external and internal communications.
External comms is often run by your PR or marketing teams. You may rely on agency or in-house staff.
To communicate effectively with your employees, you need an internal communications team. This is usually an in-house team that has regular contact with:
- The leadership team
- Marketing and PR
- Operations
- HR
Your internal comms team will work with partners throughout the organization to ensure key messages are communicated consistently and employees have access to the information they need.
Content
The content you share with internal and external audiences is very different.
External communication is all about marketing messages, customer support, and building a brand reputation. Examples of external communication content include:
- A press release discussing the latest company news
- Customer emails detailing a discount
- An industry research report
- An advertising campaign for a new product
Via your internal communication channels, you’ll tend to share business updates, strategy details, operational information, and company culture. Examples of internal communication content include:
- Rota changes
- Health and safety updates
- Details of your next company social
- Recognition for employee success
The content you serve to your internal and external audiences may differ. But there are still some fundamentals that apply to both.
Comms that demonstrate honesty and authenticity are better at building brand trust. So try to communicate openly across both internal and external communication channels.
In internal communications, this means being transparent about company goals and challenges. And it means welcoming questions and ideas from employees.
Communication goals
The goal of external communication is to promote the company. You’re aiming to:
- enhance the company’s reputation
- generate sales and leads
- build relationships with customers and stakeholders
Goals for internal communications are different. Across internal comms channels, you’ll share practical and operational information to ensure the smooth running of your organization.
But effective internal communication does more than convey essential, day-to-day guidance for employees. You can use your internal communications to:
- share company values, goals, and purpose
- strengthen co-worker relationships
- recognize and motivate employees
- facilitate collaboration
Done well, internal communications helps you to build a company culture employees are excited to be part of. This is particularly important for remote, hybrid, and frontline teams.
These employees miss out on the camaraderie of the office. It’s easy for them to feel disconnected from the organization and, as a result, less engaged in their work. Internal communications — and co-worker communication channels — provide a vital link to the organization.
So use internal communications to improve the employee experience, boost employee engagement, and reduce employee turnover. Build these goals into your internal communications strategy and you’ll create a happier, more motivated, and more cohesive organization.
Communication channels
You can use some communication channels to speak to external and internal audiences. You might use emails, webinars, conferences, and newsletters to reach employees, customers — and other company stakeholders.
However, in general, you use different communication channels for each group.
Your external audience gets updates via press releases, your company website, media news, and your social media accounts. You can also grab their attention with marketing campaigns and product launches.
Internal communication takes place over internal channels. Offline channels include company meetings and notice boards. But the best internal communications strategies make the most of digital communication tools.
Modern intranets and employee apps are a one-stop shop. They consolidate your internal communications and give internal comms teams all the tools they need to communicate with staff.
Pick a mobile-first solution and employees can access your company comms from their smartphones, which is ideal for frontline and remote workers.
You can also find internal communication platforms that provide social-media-style tools. They allow you to post interactive content on the company news feed and give employees the chance to like and comment.
Whether your comms team wants to post a company-wide update, send out a survey, celebrate team success, or provide self-serve HR functions, it’s all possible with the right comms platform.
Finding the right tool to support your internal communications strategy
There are lots of similarities between internal and external communications — and lots of ways external comms can inspire more effective and engaging internal messaging.
So segment your audience, measure success, embrace two-way conversations, and create interactive, visual content.
Don’t underestimate the benefits better internal communications can bring to your organization. It has the power to improve employee engagement, customer experience, company culture, and employee retention.
Also, remember that embracing the principles of external communication for your internal comms strategy is easier when you use mobile-first, social-media-style, digital communication tools.
Blink is an employee super-app, with all the tools you need to deliver relevant and engaging comms to employees. With Blink you can:
- Create engaging, two-way communication with news feed and instant messaging channels
- Segment your audience so they only receive relevant communications
- Launch a content and HR hub, giving employees everything they need to do their jobs well
- Measure the success of your internal comms with analytics and employee surveys
Improve internal communications at your organization. Request a Blink demo to get started today.
Internal and external communication FAQs
What is internal and external communication?
Internal communications are sent to employees within your organization. Examples of internal communication include company updates and policy documents.
External communications are intended for customers and company stakeholders. Examples of external communication include social media posts and marketing emails.
What is the difference between internal and external communication?
There are lots of differences between internal and external communications. They have different audiences and use different communication channels. They also have different goals.
Internal communication is designed to keep staff informed, engaged, and motivated. External communication is designed to promote the brand’s reputation and generate leads and sales.
