Are you one of the 45% of Americans who made a New Year’s resolution? Maybe you’ve decided to get healthy, ordering takeout less frequently and hitting the gym more often. Maybe you want to focus on growing your savings account balance. Maybe you plan to spend more time connecting with your loved ones. Those are all great resolutions, and we wish you the best of luck with them.
But let’s face it: you’ve made (and maybe even broken) these resolutions before. You start off with the best intentions, but before long spin class has lost its appeal, the piggy bank’s plug has slipped, and family dinners have become scroll-fests.
So this year, how about making different kind of resolution? Resolve to become a better communicator in 2017.
Why invest in communication? Because communication is important. It provides the foundation for understanding, drives progress, and builds relationships. It is essential to getting initiatives—big or small—off the ground. The ability to cut through the white noise and connect is what sets brands apart, and that can’t happen without clear, meaningful communication.
When your external communication isn’t up to snuff, your customers and partners can’t fully grasp the products, services, and value you have to offer. They may not see how a particular offering is relevant to them, or they may form perceptions of your company that don’t align with your own. And when your internal communication is off, your employees can’t get fully onboard with new strategies and processes. Change is hard; a lack of understanding and communication makes it harder.
In a nutshell, a business that can’t communicate won’t succeed.
So where do you start? ThoughtForm has 3 Communication Resolutions that you can adopt in 2017.
1: Make it visual
It’s no news that a great image can increase your audience’s engagement and comprehension of your message, whether in an email, a report, or a presentation. Visuals often have a way of sticking with us in a way that words alone do not. Have you ever written a memo or put together some slides and thought, “How can I add some nice pictures or graphs to spice things up?”
In 2017, try starting with the visual first! Draw a napkin sketch that captures all the moving parts that make up a process, find a photo that provokes an emotional response, or create a graph that depicts a trend in an easy-to-understand way. See how much of the story you can tell with only the image, then add titles, labels, and captions to fill in the gaps.
2: Make it clear
We all want to be understood by our leaders, peers, employees, and perhaps most importantly, our customers. And you would probably already say that you value clear communication. But where does clarity fall in your priorities when you’re composing a message? And what would happen if you made it your top communication priority?
In 2017, fight the urge to use the first version—whether it’s an email, letter, script, or something else—that you come up with. Oftentimes, people feel that there isn’t time to get to everything on the to-do list, so drafting and revising fall by the wayside. This year, vow to edit and refine your communications before clicking “Send” or stepping up to the podium. Remove jargon and business-speak in favor of straight talk. Step away when you’ve been in the weeds for too long, then come back to it with fresh eyes. And be sure to test your message out to make sure that your audience really gets it.
3: Make it meaningful
How many times have you watched a presentation, read an email, or seen marketing campaign and thought to yourself, “Who cares?” Too often as communicators, we get caught up in telling audiences want we want them to hear—but that message isn’t always meaningful to them.
In 2017, consider what your audience wants to know and why, then do your very best to give it to them. Don’t be stingy with the context or details. Make the information you’re sharing personal so that you can help your audience understand not just the “what” and the “why,” but also the “so what.” Instead of just telling patrons that your office will now be open until 8:00 PM on Thursdays instead of closing at 5:00 as usual, explain that you’ve adopted these extended hours to make it easier for people who work later to fit appointments into their schedule. When you show your audience how a change will affect them and why they should care, you demonstrate that you understand them.
Whether you choose to make New Year’s resolutions or not, we can all be better communicators. The way we present ourselves in our written and verbal communications is hugely important in shaping the way our existing and potential customers and partners view us. Do we come across as professional or sloppy? Engaged or disinterested? Helpful or critical? Communication is too important to leave to chance. Need a little help getting started? Drop us a line.