This article examines the nature of strategic communication, which is defined as the purposeful use of communication by an organization to fulfill its mission.

Six relevant disciplines are involved in the development, implementation, and assessment of communications by organizations: management, marketing, public relations, technical communication, political communication, and information/social marketing campaigns. The nature of the term strategic is examined, and key aspects of communication are identified. This article is based, in part, on a panel discussion involving the journal’s editors and international scholars at the International Communication Association in May 2005 in New York.