Being a company’s first in-house communications hire can be overwhelming. There’s no playbook to follow, no predecessor to learn from, no clear path forward.
Industry veteran Lindsay Bennett knows this feeling because she’s gone through it not once, but twice. First as VP of communications at advertising agency Gale in 2022. Then as global communications and content lead at market research firm Ideally in 2025.
Below, Bennett outlines five ways professional communicators can get started when they’re the first person to occupy the role at a company.
- Learn the business
Before anything else, a company’s first communications hire should understand how the business works. How does it generate revenue? What are its biggest challenges? What are potential risks and opportunities?
To accomplish this, Bennett advises communicators to interview the company’s founders and leadership team. Get familiar with their vision. Understand how they believe a communications function can add value.
Another tip for getting up to speed: while keeping confidentiality in mind, upload transcripts from past conversations between members of the company and outside parties to a secure, private environment within an AI platform to spot trends and patterns.
“I was able to take all of our sales data and our sales calls from the last two years, plug it into Claude and have a conversation with Claude about how customers are using us,” said Bennett.
- Audit and compile
Review all the documents about the company you can find. This can include brochures, internal memos, press releases, social posts, public presentations, the policy handbook and transcripts from past town hall meetings.
Then upload all the material to a secure AI platform to create a master document you can refer to when creating your own messaging down the road. Continue updating the document as new material gets published.
“I would say to any comms person, set that up on day one,” said Bennett. “From there, when you start creating the documents that we, as comms people, create every day, that’s going to fast-track those processes.”
- Define the brand voice
If a company hasn’t had a professional communicator onboard in the past, chances are there’s no cohesive brand voice across its website, social posts and press releases. All existing messaging likely comes from a handful of employees pitching in when they can while also managing their primary responsibilities.
“What you often find is a real inconsistency of language,” said Bennett. “There is a job to get laser focused on what our positioning is and make sure every external and internal brand asset is singing to the same song.”
After defining the brand voice — is it playful? Inspirational? Purpose-driven? — the communicator should revisit all existing company messaging to make sure it aligns with the new style. Sometimes that might involve light refinement. Other times, it might require a complete overhaul.
“There’s often a bit of a cleanup job needed,” said Bennett.
- Perfect the ‘brilliant basics’
Next, the internal comms professional should turn their attention to what Bennett calls the “brilliant basics,” which means establishing a solid foundation before the day-to-day work of crafting messages begins. This can involve signing up for news alerts related to your company and industry, as well as coming up with a light strategy and editorial calendar to guide the first six months in the role.
“So much of what we do comes back to consistency and clarity,” said Bennett. “It truly is about a steady drumbeat.”
Another important part of the brilliant basics: Set up tracking tools to measure the success or failure of your work — something the leadership team can see and understand to monitor your progress.
“You don’t want to be a one-man band for long, right?” said Bennett. “You want to show what you can do and build a team because you’re doing such a great job and getting such great results.”
- Find a quick win
Finally, Bennett encourages internal communicators to find a low-stakes, yet high-visibility problem to fix or idea to champion as soon as possible to help make a good first impression. Chances are there are plenty of issues to choose from, since the company has never had someone occupy the role before.
While at Gale in 2022, Bennett’s quick win came in the form of a $600 monthly stipend for employees earning $150,000 and under to help offset the rising cost of inflation. Bennett turned the policy decision into a blog post and got the news featured on Adweek.
“What is that story that’s sitting perfectly ready to ship that can be a defining moment for you and prove your worth?” said Bennett.
