Strategic Communication: An Introduction to Theory and Global Practice

This newly updated third edition provides a comprehensive foundation in strategic communication, exploring core concepts, theories, and methods through research examples and practical experiences across leadership, reputation, crisis management, and organizational change.

Readers will gain practical knowledge and theoretical understanding of strategic communication through the book's updated content, including an extended chapter on crisis communications with integrated coverage of disinformation and a chapter on internal communication. The text offers new material on cognitive persuasion mechanisms and artificial intelligence applications, while providing an enhanced global perspective with fresh case studies from a broader range of regions. Learning is facilitated through improved tools, including practical examples, key points summaries, and reflective questions and exercises. This approach enables readers to define strategic communication as both an academic field and a professional practice, apply relevant theories to real communication problems, and develop practical skills for implementation.

This book is primarily designed for undergraduate students studying Strategic Communication, Corporate Communications, Public Relations, Media and Communication Studies, and Marketing, as well as reflective practitioners looking to gain a more thorough and applied introduction to the field.

Jesper Falkheimer is Professor of Strategic Communication at the Department of Communication, Lund University in Sweden.

Mats Heide is Professor of Strategic Communication at the Department of Communication, Lund University in Sweden.