Strategic communication and communication strategies in a mediatized context: an exploratory study with micro, small and medium-sized companies of Bauru city (Brazil)

Abstract

In view of the mediatized scenario, organizations are challenged to rethink how they develop their processes, such as communication strategies, in order to overcome merely instrumental models. It parts from the problem that the communication strategies of organizations should consider strategic communication as the guiding principle of their actions, here understood as an integrative proposal that can guide the organizational actions, in order to interconnect the organization to the social, political and cultural context mediated. It is recognized that non-contextual communication strategies are disaggregated into purely market-based and punctual actions and do not take into account the diverse publics that are in interaction and are linked to the organizations. In this way, this exploratory work aims to identify communication strategies in micro, small and mediumsized companies in the Food Service segment in Bauru city (Brazil), seeking to recognize if these actions are developed under a purely mechanistic logic or if they allow a guiding perspective of strategic communication. As results, it was verified that, in these organizations, communication strategies worked mainly in the digital environment under a functionalist bias prevail.