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The Secrets of Effective Communication with Customers, Employees
and Partners
The
problem: Muddled messages
A common
complaint we hear in the learning field is that many organizations
are so accustomed to using institutional jargon that they
do not effectively communicate the key benefits of their
products or services to their target audiences -- not to customers,
channel partners, suppliers or even their own employees. With avenues
of communication to these audiences more varied than ever before,
this problem takes on an added degree of urgency.
Through
brochures, press releases, user manuals, print and online newsletters,
as well as corporate and product-specific websites, companies today
are challenged with speaking in a coherent voice to many
different audiences. Unfortunately, the production of these various
materials often lacks any centralized coordination. But even more
pervasive than inconsistency are broad corporate marketing messages
which are excessively vague, wordy, jargon-ridden and completely
lacking in specifics about the company's strengths, assets and goals.
The
risk of inadequate communication with customers is that they
won't buy your products and services because they won't
see the benefits. And the risk of failing to communicate key
marketing messages to employees and channel partners is that they
won't be equipped to play their specific and crucial roles in managing
and responding to the needs of your customers.
Asking
the right questions about your company's communications agenda
To
determine whether your company is communicating its underlying marketing
message as effectively as possible to its key target audiences,
ask yourself the following questions:
- What
is the main benefit of our product or service? Have we stated
it in plain English, resisting the use of jargon, and posted it
in a clearly accessible place, ideally on the opening page of
our corporate Web site?
- What
types of companies (or individuals) are our ideal customers? Is
it clear from our marketing messaging who our ideal target customer
is? What steps are we taking to get our message to this audience?
-
Is our messaging consistently worded across online, print, television
and other advertising? How about marketing collateral, press releases
and internally produced case studies?
-
What do our employees need to know about our products or services
in order to do their jobs as effectively as possible? Where are
there gaps in their knowledge now? What is our plan for improving
employee knowledge of our products and services?
-
What must our channel partners and suppliers know about our products
and services to help serve our customers' needs more effectively?
Where are the gaps in their knowledge now, and what steps are
we taking to eliminate those gaps?
-
What are the biggest misconceptions about our products or services
among our key target audiences: customers, channel partners and
suppliers, and employees? How can we fix the communication problems
that led to these misconceptions?
Now
for the hard part: Securing executive support
Now
that you've identified your company's communications problems, it's
time to produce a game plan for fixing them. An improved communications
agenda won't move forward until the company's executive team fully
understands the scope of the problem. The executive team must
also be willing to provide whatever support is necessary - in terms
of staffing, research and other resources - to help the company's
marketing and product development teams standardize and target their
messaging.
If
corporate culture is getting in the way, executives must be willing
to lead an effort to address ingrained problems with the company's
culture that may be leading to muddled communications. The discussion
on tackling these problems must involve as many stakeholders as
possible, but ultimately your company's management must be willing
to assign responsibility for implementing precise new communications
policies and for sticking with them.
The
hard work will pay off in a clearer message being delivered
to your customers, employees and partners, and, just maybe, some
new clients signing on the dotted line.
Editors note: By the way, if you take a look
at our website
(which currently uses entirely different design elements than this
newsletter) you might think "Hey! These people don't practice
what they preach!!" Well, you caught us! In fact, we're
in the process of redesigning our website -- it just so happens
that we got to our newsletter first. Check back soon for our new
look!
Join
ISA
Interested in joining an association of other training/learning
suppliers? Join ISA!
The benefits are huge. ISA will help you:
- Improve
your business and increase your sales
-
Network with peers throughout
the industry
-
Keep informed of best practices
-
Stay ahead of industry trends, research and direction
ISA--the
association of learning suppliers. More than 140 companies are
currently members of ISA, representing more than 10,000 employees
and serving more than 50,000 clients. ISA may be reached by calling
877-533-4914, e-mail info@isaconnection.org
or at www.isaconnection.org.
I'm proud to be on its board and would be happy to talk directly
with anyone interested.
--
Christine Sullivan
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