Building an internal + external formula for success

Ragan didn’t coin the term ‘mixternal’ communications, but the roster of communications experts and professionals we talk to increasingly use it as a catch-all term to describe campaigns and initiatives that address employees and internal audiences alongside external audiences to form a unified communications strategy.

During Ragan’s Employee Communications & Culture Conference in Chicago this past April, we heard from Alexis Gilbert, senior director of global brand and communications at Dawn Foods, Heidi P.T. Upton, VP at Porter Novelli, and Bradley Akuburio, partner at Bully Pulpit Interactive, who had a conversation about their ideal ingredients for mixternal success.

Gilbert, who works at a Michigan-based local bakery ingredients manufacturer, said that the internal and external relationship is an untapped opportunity to build trust with stakeholders—or dismantle it if you aren’t careful. Over the last 18 months, they’ve seen the most mixternal success around DE&I communications.