When developing a communication strategy, the focus should be on creating the personality and voice of your business. To understand how to develop your business’s communication style, you must start by asking yourself the right questions.
First and foremost, you will need to define your communication targets to adapt your communication to them. Understanding the communication style of your target audience will help when developing your business’s communication strategy.
Naturally, corporate communication must have a purpose. Your communication strategy will focus on one or more objectives. Your corporate messages will, of course, aim to achieve these goals.
If your business is several years old, it is likely to have a certain image in customers’ minds. Try to determine what this image is and find out if it matches your target and pleases your prospects. If the answer is no, think about a new image and the best way to convey this image.
As a business leader, you need to know the competition at your fingertips. Part of your communication strategy will seek to differentiate your business from the competition. This differentiation can come through a catchy slogan, new image, corporate symbol, or mascot. The means to differentiate are many. It’s up to you to figure out how to bring out a unique image that can differentiate you from the competition in an intelligent way.
After asking yourself these questions, you should be able to discern the outlines of your communication strategy. You are aware of your target, objectives, and the purpose to achieve when creating a communication plan. To achieve these goals, you must address your target.
Now that you have answered these questions and created an outline of your communication strategy, you will need to develop it. Here are six steps to creating an effective communication strategy.
Establish a budget
As everywhere else, a communication plan requires a certain budget. The first step in your communication strategy will be to define the budget you allocate to it. Establishing an annual communication budget will allow you to keep your feet on the ground and determine your human and material resources to achieve your communication objectives.
List and prioritize your goals
You know the goals of your communication strategy. The goals should be to make your company known, decrease staff turnover, increase the turnover of profits, sell a new product, and seek collaborators. The same communication campaign can meet several objectives, hence the interest of listing them all.
Know your target
In parallel to your goals are your communication targets. They can be multiple: prospects, customers, partners, employees, etc. Always take care to identify your targets and know them as much as possible to use the most appropriate means of communication. Be specific in your communication campaigns. Touching a large audience is expensive, and it is better to send the right message to the right person to optimize your communication budget.
Create your message
A controlled communication strategy goes through a thoughtful message. Each of your communication campaigns will be carried by a clear message to spread to your target. Your message will be defined both by your goals and the image of your company.
Know how to adopt a coherent corporate speech and in agreement with your target. A formal tone will be more serious to your business, while a detached tone will give it greater sympathy. It’s up to you to determine what your target will be most sensitive to, and you can plan likewise.
Choose your means of communication
A communication strategy relies on different means of communication within your reach—TV advertising, radio advertising, press relations, mailing, communication media, events, etc. Everything is feasible, provided it remains realistic with its budget. Determine the means of communication most used by your target and the most financially accessible. The most effective thing is to combine different means of communication at key times of the year.
Define your communication plan
Your communication strategy should have a timeline and a clear plan of action. It would help if you defined the communication strategy to everyone within your company to ensure that communication is clear and strong. Many organizational mistakes within businesses can be traced back to poor communication. Therefore, it is essential that your communication plan is well defined and understood by all.
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