Would Your Business Benefit From New Corporate Communication Strategies?

All executives have in common a need, if not a duty, to achieve a degree of administrative skill. This includes public and internal communication, and while it is unlikely a typical executive is “un-skilled” at public speaking and other forms of information processing, the skill level varies widely between individuals. Throw in the many challenges of social and other electronic media, and a fresh strategy could give your organization a decisive edge in the current electronic climate.

The decision to implement new media tactics should not be approached as a sure-fire recipe for success, but hiring the right firm for a communication update could be a meaningful step in development. For an organization that routinely addresses the public or a large employee base, the correct consultant could tailor a development process to uniquely address the needs of your niche.

On the web site, Public Speaking Tips, the article lists several objectives to use to choose the correct regimen to develop confidence in using modern media. Even though our processes go beyond just speaking, using this list may help you visualize your development program. 

A few goals listed on Public Speaking Tips are:

• Master how to tell your personal stories
• Improve your voice and vocal production
• Learn to work with technology
• Be interviewed on TV
• Present before an international audience
• Persuade the audience to specific critical action.

There are many other useful objectives listed. A scenario to stay away from is a robotic approach that concentrates only on the visual, verbal, or audio aspects of communication. What else is there, you ask?

While visuals such as posture and hand gestures are just as important in electronic media as they are in person, they are only indicators of confidence and knowledge, and self-conscious application of symptomatic gestures will not replace your real expertise and experience in business and social culture. Electronic media has its own distance, and it is important to know how to relax within this new world and convey your validity when you are one more step removed from your audience.

Precise use of the “King’s English” coupled with perfect grammar will trigger a predictable response in a presentation, nevertheless, depending on the subject and the audience, it may not be a relevant response. And if this mode of speech and manner seems to contradict the personality or the goals of the speaker, than the response may be directly opposite to the desired one. You need to be confident you can convey yourself through new channels before any strategy will be effective.

A communication strategist, like a good athletic coach, will address the issues of preparation, projecting character and content as well as posture, gestures, animation, or wardrobe.

Business and government executives are motivated differently than dramatic actors, even though those motivations may (or may not) be similar in moral quality and purpose. Public speaking is different than acting.  The public might enjoy a confident actor on TV, but they want the real thing when they face their very real challenges. 

Not all communications are fired with emotion and critical strategy. But if it is appropriate for you to gather a group of people to present an idea to them, then developing technical skills that are right for forums such as TV, MP3, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, texting, Outlook and YouTube are essential, even for minor announcements.

After all, you want everyone in your organization to “get the memo.” Assimilation of minor details over a time can be critical to the success of a project.

A new communication strategy can put all the tools of modern media at your service, and give you important insight on how to use them to deliver your concepts, big and small, to your audience.

Have an important event coming up? Or do you want to design a new communication system for your business?

Let us know.  We can increase your effectiveness with modern tools.

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The Role of Storytelling in Effectively Promoting Your Business

When promoting your business and connecting with people, you’ll need a well-crafted narrative told with passion and conviction which communicates your unique message and the value you bring to people. 

Compelling storytelling in novels and movies holds people’s attention and stirs their minds and hearts.  Similarly, storytelling in business can have a powerful effect on attention, emotions, and thoughts; if the narrative is well-told, it will resonate with people.

Strong narratives can feature in multiple avenues of promotion, including the following:

Case studies.  In addition to using raw numbers to provide evidence of your accomplishments, add a human face to your success stories.  With an in-depth case study, you can focus on the story of a particular person who was positively affected by your product or service.  The story can start with the customer facing a certain problem, and then develop by showing in detail the solutions you devised and implemented.  These case studies should be positioned on your website and other platforms.

Press releases.  You could weave your personal story into a press release by depicting who you are and highlighting the inspirations behind your services or products.  For instance, if you started a business selling skin care products because you had struggled for years with acne or eczema, bring this out in your promotional materials.  Potential customers may identify with you and treat your story as their own.

Conference presentations.  If you deliver a presentation at a conference related to your industry, you may have beautiful charts and impressive data, however, they won’t mean much unless you’ve woven a narrative out of them. According to a story in The New York Times, “This Is Your Life (and How You Tell It),” the human brain has a liking for narratives. If you incorporate your facts into a compelling story, your audience is more apt to follow you and be engaged with your material.

Quality storytelling plays an important role in promoting your business in any medium, including blogs, case studies, videos, press releases, advertisements, magazine articles, and PowerPoint presentations.  To craft compelling narratives for different media, contact us. We’ll shape the facts and figures of your business into memorable stories that resonate with other people.