WHAT DOES A COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER DO?
Published: August 19, 2024 - The Communications Manager develops and implements a comprehensive communications strategy, and manages media relations, content creation, and asset organization while staying informed on industry best practices. This role involves coordinating internal and external communications, ensuring alignment with leadership goals, and maintaining up-to-date web content and case studies. The manager also oversees financial management for communications projects and drives innovation in communication strategies and event management.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Communications Manager
1. Communications Manager Overview
- Customer Support Oversight: Manage the response to customer support inquiries, ensuring player satisfaction through effective resolution of issues.
- Review Analysis: Compose responses to player reviews and generate insightful reports on common issues.
- Social Media Management: Oversee all social media accounts related to the games, including the creation and scheduling of posts, visuals, and videos.
- Content Scheduling: Empathetically manage customer service communications, schedule and distribute content across platforms.
- Community Insight Collection: Gather and analyze community feedback, reporting insights to the team to guide strategy.
- Data Analysis: Analyze community data and metrics to create detailed reports that inform on community needs.
- Social Media Strategy Development: Devise and implement social media initiatives aligned with client objectives.
- Engagement Facilitation: Foster interactions with consumers and fans across social platforms to enhance engagement.
- PR Strategy Execution: Develop and execute a PR plan to maintain and enhance media presence, thereby building brand awareness and promoting the product range.
- Media Relationship Management: Establish and maintain relationships with key journalists in the trade and business press.
- Content Planning: Manage the quarterly content calendar focusing on thought leadership and product promotion.
- Lead-Generation Content Creation: Produce targeted content designed to drive lead-generation efforts.
2. Communications Manager Functions
- Stakeholder Collaboration: Collaborate with key stakeholders across the group to deliver high-quality communication plans and activities.
- Content Creation: Draft, edit, and proofread financially related content.
- Client Communication Management: Ensure that Benchmark's key client firms receive timely, accurate, and clear communications to support business growth.
- Brand Management: Support the building, protecting, and enhancing of Benchmark Capital's brands.
- Communication Planning: Manage communication plans by working with the appropriate teams to anticipate future demands/priorities.
- News Coordination: Coordinate plans across the businesses to ensure a comfortable level of news flow to our clients.
- Crisis Management: Support any crisis and issue situations and respond appropriately through measured and well-thought-out communications.
- Industry Collaboration: Work with brokers, sales reps, and other industry professionals.
- Team Support: Provide overall support to all functional teams.
- Marketing and Communications: Engage in activities that bolster marketing and communications efforts.
- Editorial Management: Develop editorial calendars, make writing assignments, write content, and manage graphic design and print production.
- Production Coordination: Coordinate artwork, arrange photography, and work with printers to ensure magazines are printed and distributed on schedule and within budget.
- Message Maintenance: Maintain and update key messaging in line with new product launches.
3. Communications and Membership Manager Job Summary
- Opportunity Identification: Take the lead in identifying opportunities to address member needs and interests with content derived from reports, Playbooks, and other programmatic work.
- Content Development: Work collaboratively with partners to develop these opportunities into new publications, webinars, and other types of benefits for members.
- Data-Driven Decision Making: Make evidence-based decisions using the voice of the customer, website, and campaign analytics.
- Expert Collaboration: Interface with content experts across the organization to gain a greater understanding of programmatic work.
- Workflow Management: Manage own workflow while coordinating with project teams and management on schedules, requirements, goals, and assignments.
- Customer Service: Respond to member requests for knowledge products and provide excellent engagement and customer service by identifying and understanding member needs and providing timely and useful products.
- Relationship Management: Manage relationships with clients and partners and relay follow-up of projects.
- Communication Maintenance: Keep the client and customer informed about the claim status with timely and accurate communication.
- Action Plan Development: Develop and maintain action plans to ensure deadlines are met and to move the file toward prompt and appropriate resolution.
- Editing Skills: Edit written communications, reports, or other items daily.
- Stress Management: Comfort with working under pressure in a fast-paced environment.
4. Communications Manager Responsibilities
- Communications Planning: Develop an annual communications plan that supports strategic organizational priorities.
- Content Management: Creates and manages a multi-channel content calendar to increase brand awareness of United Church Homes through engaging storytelling.
- Content Creation: Identifies story ideas, writes posts, and works with creative partners to provide content, create social graphics and videos, and schedule posts.
- SEO Management: Researches and writes articles, secures content from freelance writers, and manages an external web agency on maintenance and new development projects to ensure the website meets stated communications, SEO, and lead generation goals.
- Media Relations: Manages corporate and community media relations; identifies proactive opportunities.
- Media Communications: Writes and distributes media releases, and maintains media lists.
- Stakeholder Relations: Maintains relationships with external stakeholders and industry partners, and screens media requests.
- Crisis Management: Develops responses, arranges interviews, writes talking points, and monitors media for organizational mentions.
- Internal Support: Manages requests from internal departments for communications support.
- Copywriting: Writes and edits copy and produces print and digital communications for a wide variety of internal and external audiences including employees, residents, donors, and the media.
- Project Coordination: Works with creative partners including graphic designers, printers, photographers, and video producers to produce and deliver projects that meet clients’ communications goals.
- Compliance Adherence: Ensures all work produced adheres to United Church Homes brand standards while following regulations of Fair Housing, HUD, and other regulatory agencies.
- Creative Management: Manages photography and videography projects and collaborates with creative partners on behalf of community clients.
- Editorial Management: Serves as the managing editor of Spirit magazine.
5. Communications Manager Details
- Communications Strategy Development: Develop and manage a comprehensive communications strategy for external audiences to share key messages through press releases, newsletters, social media, and other content.
- Leadership Collaboration: Create and lead the strategy and vision for communications with the Corporate Communications and Senior Leadership Team.
- Media Relations Management: Manage media relations and prepare executives for interviews and speeches via the development of Q&As, backgrounders, and research.
- Financial Management: Writes purchase orders and handles billing approval for all managed communications projects.
- Asset Management: Works with the Corporate Marketing Manager to develop and maintain an organized system for managing all graphic, photo, and video assets for the organization.
- Industry Research: Stays up to date on the latest communications and public relations practices.
- Strategic Innovation: Recommends new strategies and tools for achieving communications excellence and effectiveness.
- Event Management: Owns content and PR-led events (e.g., awards, roundtable debates, speaker opportunities, and webinars).
- Internal Communications: Works with the Head of Marketing and Head of HR to drive internal communications and manage the internal communications platform and content (supported by a team of content champions within the business).
- Competitor Monitoring: Monitors competitor PR presence and industry news, sharing internally as relevant.
- Product Launch Coordination: Manages the delivery of the product launch plan for each new product (internal and external).
- Web Content Management: Ensures that web content is kept up-to-date and is regularly refreshed.
- Case Study Development: Develop a bank of case studies (written and video, working with a videographer).