Sure, Your Business Can Improve Communications – But What Does That Sound Like?

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Whenever you read business advice, you may see that the same tidbits of advice present themselves time and time again. You may be told to treat your staff well, to make sure you try and cater to the market that’s actually present, not the one you would like to serve, and to delegate authority for the wellbeing of your staff and also your personal timekeeping.

All of this is valid and necessary. Yet while these insights are hardly platitudes, they can be a little vague. After all, “treating your staff well” doesn’t particularly go into the specifics of how to do it. 

Put simply, paying them competitively, stamping out harassment and bullying with a zero-tolerance policy, developing robust (yet not eye-rolling) opportunities for team building, and investing in their office wellbeing and future skills, all of this counts.

We can also take a similar view of an insight spoken of but rarely delved into – that of “communicating more.” But what does that mean in practice, and how can it help your firm? In this post, we’ll aim to discuss all of that and more:

Defining Clear Internal Communication Channels

It’s important to be very clear about how your internal communications are to be structured. That’s not so you can read every single employee’s instant messages when desired, but so communications can be accounted for, relied upon, and kept unified. For example, you might implement a singular economy of apps that you use for everything. In some companies, that may be Microsoft Teams. 

Others may prefer apps like Slack. But don’t forget, it’s also important to consider how communications are structured not just through emails and messages but collaborative work. You may engage with apps like Notion or Evernote depending on your needs. 

What matters is developing robust communication measures and ensuring your whole team communicates using the same methods. Of course, providing work phones and laptops can make that process much easier on their part.

A Structured Approach to Announcing Events & Promotions

Nothing indicates a failure of marketing more than the phrase “I didn’t know that was happening!” In some cases, a consumer, customer, or client might be less aware because of their own day-to-day priorities away from your firm (of course, we can’t blame people for living their lives), but in many cases, it’s because your outreach might not have been sufficient.

For example, if you have an excellent event coming up, marketing this date using quality poster printing services and presenting them outside of your building can be the first step. You can also take this design and use it for your digital advertisements. 

You can work on your SEO strategy with outsourced firms to rank you more highly or conduct a press release, or you can ensure your social media channels are well-informed for at least six weeks before the event. Ideally, you can do all of these.

Keep this approach consistent from promotion to promotion, and over time you’ll curate a worthwhile outcome people can respect.

SEE ALSO: SEO Audit: Complete Guide for Beginners

Use AI Chatbots Responsibly

It’s very easy to relegate all incoming website requests from your audience to an AI chatbot, and as those tools develop, the urge will only become stronger. This is a good idea in some respects, after all, a chatbot directing your audience to your FAQ page if they ask one of those questions can save a member of your support staff from having to reiterate their point.

However, it’s also important that you don’t relegate everything to those tools. Some queries, like account-sensitive considerations, complaints, or even inquiries from corporate clients must be met with appropriate human-led approaches. In some cases, you might outsource your support to a degree, or you could open a small communications department to better relegate this incoming activity. Over time, such an approach will help you humanize your brand, while also avoiding the tendency to upset people by using artificial tools.

Where Are Your Feedback Channels?

If you run a business and deliver services or products, sooner or later someone will have an opinion on them. Of course, it’s not up to our companies to decide when and where our customers are allowed to express that opinion.

That said, you can healthily direct them to certain platforms you might monitor and have the chance to respond to. For example, you might offer a 5% discount on their second order if they review their first. You could point them to platforms like TrustPilot, Google Business review sections, and any others more specific to your particular industry.

Replying to each review, be that a heartfelt thanks for the positive response or an apology and remediation for a negative impression can be the best way forward. Inviting someone to offer a review (without telling them what to say), starts off the idea with a positive interaction. In other words, it’s hard to excoriate someone harshly in a review if they’ve been upfront, transparent, and interested in what you have to say. This is a good method of managing communication without ever limiting what people are allowed to say to you.

Embracing Crisis Communication Planning

The true test of communications is how you use them in a crisis. Perhaps an employee has written something untoward on social media due to being let go, maybe one of your suppliers has been involved in a scandal, or perhaps a celebrity interaction has taken your company by surprise and now you have a large audience fixated on you.

This can be tough to handle. Planning crisis communications in advance helps you avoid flapping around in panic. Nailing your professional consistent tone, your ability to respond timely to difficulties, and understanding how to correctly communicate the values of your brand and any corrective action undertaken can be ideal. This way, you at least have a template to work from, even if a crisis is by its very nature unpredictable.

With this advice, you’re sure to see your business communicate more in the healthiest manner.