Employees, customers, lenders, and the public constitute the value chain and brand building is a continuous effort, says Neeraj Kumar Lal, head – Strategy and Corporate Communications, Arohan Financial Services
Ravi Lalvani: How do you evolve the strategy for corporate communications in the company?
Neeraj Kumar Lal: There are 4 distinct customer segments as far as corporate communications is concerned and these are employees, customers in remote geographies, lenders, and the public at large.
What are the key corporate communications activities for each of these segments?
Awareness is the key for all 4 segments. For the employees, its awareness of the organization and this helps build a sense of belongingness. For the customers, the focus is on creating an awareness about the benefits and value proposition. For the lenders, it is to create awareness on value and returns. And for the public, it’s all about creating the brand awareness and equity.
What are the key corporate communication channels used for each of the four segments?
Arohan has unique top down communication platforms such as ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’ that helps create field as well as cross-functional connect. Our monthly internal newsletter, Srishti, is an active platform for sharing the latest news and developments attuned to our vision, mission and objectives, enabling employees across locations to develop a sense of belongingness and see their contributions translate into organizational objective. We ensure timely dissemination of corporate announcements and achievements of employees across the organization using a formal digital channel. This helps us to apprise our employees about the developments and value of working for a progressive organization. Corporate communications also work closely with the HR function to create employee engagement campaigns and platforms.
Use of regional language in all the above helps create clarity of understanding among the target audience that spans across remote locations in low-income geographies in the east, north-east and central parts of the country. We run various awareness campaigns on products and services. Our primary channels are our field force and printed collaterals. Customers are also reached out through centralized calling processes and they are offered non-financial products on eCommerce platforms. Press notes on financial awareness, credit plus services, social initiatives and customer success stories are also released regularly. Audio-visual media also plays a critical role in reaching out to the customers and creating instant connect.
For lenders, we use a combination of print and digital platforms to connect and create awareness. Videos, presentations, annual reports – both in print as well as digital copies – and website plays an important role in creating a 360-degree approach to connect with the investor, lender and partner category of stakeholders. Through our public relations interventions in national and business pink journals and magazines, we ensure that organizational developments and growth stories that impacts the industry and help the industry steer forward are disseminated on a timely manner. These efforts also play a crucial role in the leadership positioning of the organization.
For the general public our social media platforms actively create organizational knowhow, awareness and connect. For our MSME vertical, a separate handle allows the business to generate interest and queries on the product from a niche customer segment with unique demography. We also leverage the platforms to reach out to prospective employees and keep them well-informed of the organization’s growth story.
The CorpCom also focuses sharply on connecting with the regional media to reach out to and create awareness on the industry and the organization among people and local authorities.
What metrics are used to measure the effectiveness of corporate communications for each of the 4 segments?
Long-term and regular communications towards each of the 4 segments ensure effectiveness of the initiatives and activities. Direct as well as indirect surveys are conducted to measure the recall of the brand in terms of external stakeholders and of the level of engagement and belongingness for the internal stakeholders.
What are the results achieved in the four segments? What are the future plans?
Timely and consistent activities have resulted in increased awareness about the organization among the key stakeholder categories, which in turn helps overcome industry challenges. The brand equity is of a leading, trustworthy financial inclusion player with unique differentiators creating value for all the stakeholders. Arohan will continue to further strengthen its brand equity by way of exploring future-ready platforms enhancing overall customer experience.
