The Boise State Online public relations bachelor’s degree recently became the Bachelor of Arts in Integrated Strategic Communications, but what does integrated strategic communications mean?
Integrated strategic communications aim to coordinate the many aspects of communication; traditional advertising, digital marketing and public relations to provide clear and consistent messages to key stakeholders.
The importance of strategic communications
In today’s fast-paced and evolving marketing and communications field, the lines of separation between traditional advertising, marketing and public relations (PR) have blurred. Public relations professionals have adapted their skill sets to encompass all strategic communications needs of an organization.
The unification of internal and external communications across various media helps an audience understand the mission of an organization.
Strategic communications aren’t only beneficial to stakeholders or customers but are also critical for employees. Integrated messaging from leadership provides employees with a clear roadmap of the organization’s future.
Coordinating all messages into one unifying strategy fills each piece of communication with purpose — promoting action, engagement or change to serve an organization’s mission.
The future of strategic communication careers
Careers in strategic communication are consistently increasing. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 9.5% growth from 2019 to 2030. Careers in strategic communications can include:
- PR Specialist
- Advertising Sales Specialist
- PR and Fundraising Manager
- Promotions Manager
- Marketing Coordinator
- Media Communications Coordinator
- Media Relations Specialist
- Director of Development
Jobs in the strategic communications field rely on foundational communication skills like public relations, strategic planning, media relations and PR writing. Alongside those foundational skills, strategic communications careers also require individuals to have research, planning, and presentation experience.
Boise State Online and integrated strategic communications
Just like the nationally ranked public relations program, students in Boise State Online’s renamed integrated strategic communications program acquire and maintain a diverse set of communication skills and tools. The skills that students develop are directly related to the skills needed in their future careers.
Students explore relevant topics like business communication, content creation, public relations and professional writing, market research and campaign strategy. Along with developing the skills needed to communicate strategically, students can customize their path through electives like multimedia storytelling, crisis management or community relations.
Through diverse courses in both internal and external communications, students have opportunities to personalize or specialize their degree plans based on their desired career goals.
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