Internal communications vs. external communications: What’s the difference?
Imagine you’re sitting in a meeting with executive leadership, and you just heard news that as part of the company’s reorganization, one of your teams is being absorbed by a department with a new leader. Leadership wants to make the announcement next week.
For some, this may seem like business as usual, but you know that this team has gone through lots of changes in recent years. You start wondering how will this affect their roles and how they work with the rest of the company and your customers.
In a scenario like this, the first thing you need to do is ask yourself, “Who does this impact?”
The next question to ask yourself is, “If I was in that situation receiving the news, how would it make me feel?”
These two questions are meant to give you pause and make you dig a little deeper into the change you’re about to communicate throughout the organization.
You may start to ask yourself, does this announcement need to be shared next week? Or can we build out an intentional communications strategy?
Your gut is right: Typically, unless you are undergoing a crisis, you have more time than you think to build a communications strategy that doesn’t feel rushed and ensure the message is delivered with intention.
When we get into the nuts and bolts of communications, it looks like this:
The message begins with you (the sender) and then flows to your target audiences (the recipient). There’s also a feedback loop that allows the recipient to share information to the sender. This is two-way communications.
And when it’s done right, you build trust with your employees and customers, and the best of all, turn them into loyal champions of your organization.
Before diving into building a communications strategy, it’s important to know the difference between internal and external communications — and how they both work hand-in-hand for a comprehensive communications approach.
Let’s dive into some common examples to give you some inspiration as you continue on your communications journey.
Internal Communications Examples
Internal communications refer to the exchange of information within an organization. This includes essential updates that employees need to feel empowered and to perform their jobs effectively. It’s also important employees are the first audience to learn about changes within your organization before they are shared with customers or other external audiences.
Here are some examples of when you should communicate internally before sharing information with external audiences:
Organizational changes and change management – Announcing leadership changes, restructuring, or new internal processes for collaboration.
People updates – Notifying employees about new hires, departures, promotions, and role changes.
Changes affecting customers – Ensuring internal teams are aligned on updates that affect customers before those changes are communicated externally.
Acquisitions and mergers – Keeping internal stakeholders informed about sensitive business changes before making public announcements.
Crisis communications – Providing employees with accurate information and clear guidance during a crisis before external messaging is released. Employees should never learn about major company issues or crises from the news before hearing from leadership.
New product or service launches – Educating employees about new offerings so they can effectively support customers and partners.
Policy and compliance updates – Communicating changes to company policies, legal regulations, or industry compliance standards that impact employees.
Company performance and financial updates – Sharing key business performance metrics, quarterly results, or financial changes that employees need to understand.
Employee engagement and culture initiatives – Announcing internal events, DEI efforts, training programs, or new benefits to keep employees engaged and informed.
IT and security updates – Informing employees about system changes, cybersecurity threats, or new technology implementations that affect their work.
External Communications Examples
External communications refer to information that is shared to customers or publicly. Once released, you should be okay with your message appearing on external channels if they are shared by your audience.
Pro tip: Many external messages begin with internal audiences first, ensuring alignment before being tailored for external audiences. That’s why when you look at the list below, it will be similar to the type of information that’s shared internally before it’s shared with an external audience.
Pricing or service changes – Informing employees first about these changes, then communicating updates to customers via email, website updates if necessary, and FAQs.
Acquisitions or mergers – Notifying internal teams before issuing a press release, investor communication, and media outreach.
New location openings or closures – Informing employees first, then hosting a ribbon-cutting event, inviting media, and promoting the opening through social media and local marketing.
Brand campaigns – Aligning internal teams before launching advertising, social media campaigns, and public relations efforts to reinforce brand messaging.
New product or feature launches – Educating employees first, then rolling out external messaging via press releases, website updates, and promotional emails.
Public relations efforts – Hosting a press conference, media event, or stakeholder briefing to announce a new initiative.
Customer engagement campaigns – Aligning sales and customer success teams before launching a campaign to encourage customer expansion, upsells, or renewals.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and community initiatives – Engaging employees first, then sharing public updates about sustainability programs, donations, or volunteer efforts.
Crisis management – Informing employees about the crisis and response protocols before issuing official public statements or media responses.
Investor and financial updates – Sharing financial performance with employees before distributing earnings reports and updates to shareholders and the public.
Every communications strategy starts with your internal audiences followed by your external audiences. Timing is also important when building your communications plan because each update, issue, or announcement will have a specific timeline for rolling out that news.
Real-world example: Imagine you’re announcing new pricing. Internal teams should have time to ask questions, receive training on the pricing strategy, and be equipped with FAQs before customers are informed about the pricing changes. The last thing you want is for a customer to be surprised by a price change on their invoice and overwhelm your customer success team with questions they aren’t prepared to answer. Clear messaging, education and proper timing ensures alignment, minimizes confusion, and creates a seamless experience for both employees and customers.
Once you have a strategic communications plan for your organization, you’ll have processes in place that will allow you to scale as you grow and follow a framework for sharing information. Eventually, you’ll find a steady cadence over time where your audiences expect to hear from you regularly and you are proactive rather than reactive.
If you would like help building a strategic communications plan for your organization that cohesively connects your internal communications and external communications, let’s book a free 30-minute communications consult. I’d love to learn more about your goals and how we can create a comprehensive communications strategy for your organization together.
