Top 5 Tips Marketing Communication

You've worked very hard to sustain your brand through the recent economic challenges, so perhaps now is the time to re-evaluate your situation, and focus on improving your marketing communications for the road ahead.

While competitors may be taking a breather, now may be the time for you to be aggressive and take a fresh look at your plans for the future, both short and long term. Here are five tips to keep in mind as you do so.

Knowledge Of Your Target Audience Trumps Opinion

Often, middle market brands believe they fully understand the wants and needs of their customers or constituents. However, consider employing market research to uncover their awareness of your brand, and how they really feel about you and your competition on various key attributes.

Doesn't investing in research make sense before you spend your limited marketing communication budget? The good news is that research might confirm what you already know; the better news is that you might learn something new about how your audience really feels, and then be able to employ communications to correct what's bothering them or highlight what's important.

Understanding - rather than guessing - the wants and needs of your customers and prospects (as well as, perhaps, your own employees) can go a long way toward improving your marketing ROI.

Marketing Communications Audits Provide Real Value

If you haven't recently (or ever) conducted a marketing communications audit, now is the ideal time to consider this tactic. Done properly, it will help you determine when, where and how to invest your time and money. At its core, you'll be able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your existing program as a whole, as well as how effective each tactic is in communicating your objectives.

The results of this type of audit will provide you with an actionable and coordinated road map of message delivery and spending allocation, across traditional and new media, events, content marketing, promotion and employee knowledge - and, like a financial audit, a tool for improving your profitability.

Promote Your Brand's Anniversary

If your brand has an anniversary milestone coming up in the next two years, start planning for it now. It presents a unique opportunity to create a significant, fully integrated 12 to 18 month program, allowing you to focus on and energize your various constituents in a way that can't be matched by your competitors. But recognize that, to be successful, you can't just develop a new anniversary logo or throw a celebratory party. Like any other marketing tool, it must be grounded in meaningful and consistent messages.

Your corporate past is often the best criterion for your customers, prospects, employees and other audiences to judge your future performance. And, your 10th or 35th anniversary can be used to tell your story as effectively as a traditional 50th or 75th milestone.

Be Neutral When Evaluating Traditional And New Media

Don't get caught up in all the excitement about the latest new media tactic you read about. New media does offer exciting potential and will continue to grow in importance. But don't forget to consider traditional media. You might be surprised to know that, despite the advertising windfall generated by the Olympics and political advertising in 2012, total U/S. advertising dollars increased by only 0.9 percent in 2013. And, according to Kantar Media:

While network television and local newspapers decreased by only 3.4 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively, between 2012 and 2013;
Cable television increased by 7.3 percent; consumer magazines increased by 2.6 percent; outdoor increased by 4.4 percent; free standing inserts increased by 3.4 percent; and, Spanish television increased by 2.9 percent.

Without question, digital media and content marketing increased dramatically during this time. However, you must remember that there are many options to consider. While efficiency is important, more important is maintaining your neutrality to understand and evaluate the relative effectiveness of each alternative in achieving your strategic goals.

Marketing Communications Consultants Add Value

Whether you're a B2B, B2C or nonprofit marketer, your own resources are probably already stretched to the limit. Unfortunately, you may not be able to allocate the physical or intellectual capital to the short or long term tasks at hand.

So don't go it alone. Consider partnering with established, senior level consultants to help you and your team develop, refine and implement your plans.  

Look for consultants who aren't selling one particular discipline or a boilerplate "one size fits all" solution.
Importantly, any consultant you consider should have extensive experience across industries and brands, both large and small. And be sure they're willing to "tell it like it is", so candor will flourish. Apolitical, fresh eyes can be an efficient use of your resources, and can provide objectivity to the decisions you need to make.

Improving marketing communications ROI is a constant challenge. It may seem like a daunting task but, as Mark Twain said, "The secret to getting ahead is getting started.

The Organization's Communication And Energy

You may lead or work in an organization that has a lot of potential for success, but if communication in that organization is not vibrant, the chances of success are greatly diminished. Just as a well charged battery energizes the automobile, vibrant and effective communication energizes the organization.

Simply put, communication in the organization drives understanding and allows for getting something done. On the corporate level, the individual members of the organization, both leaders and working members, need communication about the organization's vision, mission, values and goals. They also need to know about the products and services and how these impact the end used, customer or client.

Members also need to know about the policies and procedures that allow the organization to function in an orderly manner to accomplish its goals. Members need to know what is important about their jobs and what contribution they make to the organization's output. They need to know the necessary levels of quality of that contribution and what performance expectations are.

On an interpersonal level, communication is also vital. We hear so much today about the importance of using social media to be connected to other people. We communicate on these media to exchange viewpoints, information and ideas. and when we do it for business purposes, we connect to people who share the kinds of work we are engaged in. We gain by belonging to these networks and others can gain from us, as well.

We need to stoke the energy in the network called "our organization." This demands lots of internal interpersonal communication, developing an internal social media. Organizations today should be energized by communication that can easily be conducted across divisions and departments, up, down and in all directions.

The organization's communication battery can remain highly charged if there is understanding of the communication process on the part of all. While personalities differ and members are from different backgrounds and cultures, the following simple suggestions ensure interpersonal communication remains effective:

-Communication is a mulch-directional process wherein parties involved seek to understand as well as be understood.

-Use a variety of means including speaking, writing and visual.

-When giving information, do so at a reasonable rate so others involved have time to digest.

-Seek feedback and ask questions to ensure all parties involved understand.
 

There are reasons communication in an organization can break down. Perhaps there is not enough action on the part of leadership to charge the battery. Or there is a culture that inhibits communication from being the organization's life blood. There can also be interpersonal conflicts.

It is important for the organization to monitor how well communication is flowing, both within the structure of the organization and inter personally. Putting energy into cultivating the positive communication that drives the organization pays off both short and long term in contributing to success.

Improve Internal Communication In Your Business

A great job of communication internally with employee. The staff needs to understand management's goals. Management in turn, needs to understand what the employees must to know in order to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. Everyone must keep the channels of communication flowing between the clients, vendors and the staff since the business is the conduit.

Communication within a business takes many forms. Just as a business owner will have a plan for their business goals, they should have a plan for their communication goals. It is a good idea to write down how the business will internally communicate all the information that needs to be distributed. Each business will have their own set of rules and regulations regarding what to communicate and how it should be done.

Information will have various degrees of importance and urgency. Also, some issues are easily understood and others will take time to understand, resolve and implement.

Keep the Lines Open
Management and staff should match the proper mode of communication with the information that needs to be sent in order to maximize impact. For example, articles or bulletins are best circulated on a routing slip throughout the office. Overall staff, department or management meetings should be used to cover the current key issues impacting the business or department. These meetings tend to be the main channel of communication between management and staff for most agencies. It should, however, be just one of the many arrows in the communication quiver.

Why Staff Meetings Fail - When a business owner is informed that the staff believes that there is a lack of communication, they often can't believe it because they have weekly staff meetings that last one to two hours. Unfortunately, quantity does not replace quality.

Staff meetings can often end up being a dumping session. Management dumps information on the staff and the staff dumps problems on management. What to do with that information is rarely discussed and issues are not usually resolved during the meeting.

The valuable information disclosed in staff meetings is often only through one-way communication. The staff is told what the customers or vendors are doing or what new program management is focusing on. This is important information and needs to be disseminated and properly discussed. Management, however, provides the staff only with the "headlines" and does not work with the staff on how this will impact them.

The staff usually gets to talk at the end of the meeting when management asks if there are any questions or comments. Typically, this ends up being dominated by the same people who like to talk about their problems. Management then takes their concerns under advisement and will supposedly report back later.

Employees should be required to come with a possible solution to the problem they want to discuss and not just use meetings to dump problems on management. Employees need to be pro-active throughout the communication process and management needs to establish and live up to high communication standards.

The first step in setting up an effective staff meeting is to set an agenda for each meeting. Meetings should be held on a regular basis and at a time that will not be a distraction. Usually early morning during the midweek is best. The meetings should last no longer than one hour.

The agenda needs to clearly spell out the key issues to be discussed including input from the staff. Everyone should see the agenda before the meeting, including copies of any supporting material, such as articles or action plans. The purpose of posting the topics before the meeting is to allow time for everyone to reflect on the key issues and start to think how it will impact the business and themselves.

Typically, when brand new information is brought up in a staff meeting, the employees think of the impact after the meeting. They feel that since their opinion was not heard it does not seem to matter. This is the nucleus of the feelings that employees have about the lack of communication in the business.

Employees resent when management makes changes that affect them, yet they were not consulted. Many times, the employee understands the issues better than the manager that makes the changes. Exploit the knowledge of the employees.

Management and staff both need to be prepared prior to the meeting to discuss the key issues. Meetings are much more effective when all the attendees know what will be discussed and what the goals are for that meeting. The biggest time waster in meetings is when new or side issues are brought up and the facts or objectives are not known.


When management has news regarding the vendors, regulations, customer service issues, etc., they need to clearly understand the following before the meeting: 1) what was happening in the past, 2) why is there a change, 2) who will be impacted by the change, 3) what is the plan for implementing the change, who is responsible and what is the time frame.

If an employee has an issue they want to bring up, it should be added to the agenda. It is their responsibility to collect the facts and to perform the first analysis before the meeting. Again, all issues brought up by anyone must have an initial solution at the  same time, otherwise it should not be added to the agenda.
The standard format for discussing each issue should include the introduction, time for discussion and an agreement on what the next step will be. If the problem needs more than a few minutes to resolve, then an individual or committee needs to be appointed with a date scheduled to report back.

All employees that attend seminars, conventions and association meetings must provide the group that would benefit from the information, a summary of the event. This way the valuable information one person learned is now imparted on the rest of the staff.

The open discussion period in a meeting should be short and limited to any accomplishments made or any lessons learned since the last meeting. Problems not on the agenda should be deferred to the next meeting, until the proper procedure is followed.

If the business is large enough, each department, such as sales meetings, manufacturing, administration, etc., should hold separate staff meetings. Issues and problems unique to any department should be addressed by that department's meeting rather then the general staff meeting. The frequency of general staff meetings should be reduced if department meetings are held.

The Forest and the Trees

Let everyone in the business know the big picture of the business. Management needs to circulate the business plan and the sales and marketing goals. Sensitive detail can be omitted, but the staff needs to know the overall vision of management.

Employees like to know that their efforts are going to a greater good. They need to see that there is an ultimate goal in mind and they are a part of the plan. Employees are more likely to do a better job when they know that they are needed and the direction they should take.

A separate meeting or retreat at least once a year with at least key managers and producers should be held to review these plans and discuss the current status of the business, where it is going and how it will get there.

Knowing the big picture also helps define the little pictures. Business goals need to be based on reasonable and attainable goals of the individuals of that business. The staff needs to know what management expects from them. The employee, however, should also set his or her own goals; otherwise it is management's goals not the employee's goals.

Individual goals, progress and shortfalls should be discussed in private at least twice a year. The annual review is the time when the goals are set, but a mid-year check-up is needed to keep the employee on track and management in the loop. The employee should understand that they should bring up any problems that are impacting their performance immediately and not wait until review time.

Communication Rules

Each business should have the following basic rule regarding communication. Each person is responsible for the proper, timely and efficient transfer of his or her communication. The staff is not excused because they were afraid to talk to management. Management is not forgiven because they did not have the time to listen to staff or properly analyze the issue.

In a business, just like in personal and social situations, poor or misunderstood communication is the root of most problems. Even the lack of communication is communicating something about the people or the circumstances. One needs to go back to the cause of a problem, not just the symptoms. Poor morale or unproductive workers is not the problem it is often the symptom of poor communication.

Conclusion

Successful firms have effective communication between employees, management, vendors and clients. Very little time is wasted repeating information or correcting errors that result from poor communication.

Great communication skills can be learned. An easy path in the direction of learning these skills is to set up a system where everyone in the firm understands how communication will take place. Staff meetings are one step along that path. So, learn to communicate effectively and watch your success grow!

Bill Scheduler is a business consultant and coach with 20 years of experience working with small business owners and individuals.