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Have you ever made a purchase because someone you actively follow on social media championed a product they recently used in their most recent post? A social media influencer is someone who has the power to influence purchasing decisions through product placement and endorsements.
Influencer marketing isn’t new. People create relevance by identifying their audience and using appropriate channels of communication. They frequently provide engaging content and support causes that influence a particular section of people.
One of the primary reasons for influencer marketing is an effective communication strategy. Let’s explore the importance of building good communication strategies.
What Is A Communication Strategy?
Communication is the process of exchanging information. A communication strategy dictates how to exchange information in the best possible way. It has three vital components:
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Purpose:
It’s the first step in developing a communication strategy. A purpose helps establish what you want to achieve.
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Target Audience:
You may want to reach out to a particular section of people (e.g. male consumers). It’s important to define who your audience is.
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Channels:
The right medium will help you convey relevant information to your target audience.
Communication strategies encourage social and behavioral change, which is why most organizations spend their resources on ensuring effective communication. It encourages interpersonal relationships, which in turn improves morale and efficiency. For example, an internal communications strategy tool like Slack can speed up interactions within an organization.
Need For A Communication Strategy
For a business to be successful, an effective communication strategy is imperative. It allows information flow across all levels. Let’s look at the importance of different communication strategies:
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Effective Distribution Of Information
Whether it’s an internal or external exchange of information, a communication strategy ensures that your message reaches the right people. If information isn’t properly distributed, employees may misinterpret their roles and responsibilities. For instance, if there is a change in the workplace policy, every employee should be given all relevant details about it.
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Standardized Communication
Communication strategies help employees refer to a standardized method of interaction. It prevents ambiguity and maintains consistency in work. For example, many organizations encourage the use of online calendars to communicate things like daily schedules, availability for meetings, etc.
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Brand Image
A strong communication strategy helps maintain a brand’s image. It’s particularly helpful for communicating with external contacts like customers, clients and sponsors. For example, good communication protocols will prompt an employee to keep their manager in the loop in case of external interactions.
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Enhanced Motivation
Effective communication strategies ensure that everybody is on the same page. It creates transparency and increases people’s trust in the organization. The more someone trusts the organization, the more invested they’ll be in the business’ objectives.
Building An Effective Communication Strategy
Here are some fundamental steps to build a good communication strategy in your organization:
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Statement Of Purpose
Try to understand why you want to develop a communication plan in the first place. Start by outlining what you want to achieve and how you want to go about it. Create a checklist for gauging the effectiveness of your strategy and ask these essential questions.
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Is my strategy helpful to achieving the overall objectives?
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Is my strategy clarifying things for everybody?
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Is there a change in everybody’s behavior and perceptions?
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Current Situation
For the next step, study your organization’s current communication process. Identify what has and hasn’t worked in the last few years. Analyze your organization’s current situation by using these tools.
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PEST Analysis:
List the Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors that influence your organization’s performance.
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SWOT Analysis:
List your organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Check if threats can be converted into opportunities and weaknesses can be converted into strengths.
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Competitor Analysis:
Study what your competitors are doing and whether you can implement similar or better strategies.
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Stakeholder Mapping
Identifying your stakeholder simply means defining your main audience. Include a list of people you may want to reach out to. One way to describe your audience is to ‘map’ them. Establish certain criteria and rank different (groups of) people accordingly. It helps you decide where you should spend most of your communication efforts.
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Key Communication Methods
For every stakeholder that you’ve identified, pick out the most appropriate method for communicating with them. Imagine that you want to publicize an article available on your website. Use different communication channels to create a buzz. Social media platforms, emails and newsletters are some of the most popular channels of communication.
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Evaluate The Strategy
A communication strategy is complete only when you evaluate its effectiveness. For example, as the head of Human Resources, you introduce new software to improve cross-functional communication. Analyze the usage frequency and gather feedback to determine its success.
Harappa Education’s Speaking Effectively course will provide you with powerful frameworks for successful communication. The PAM (Purpose, Audience and Mission) Framework will teach you how to deliver ideas with precision, use empathy and logic to connect with others and build lasting impressions. Create strong communication strategies that bridge the gaps between clarity and confusion. Become an effective communicator and design powerful strategies today!
Explore topics such as Storytelling, Importance of Storytelling, What is Communication, Process of Communication & Pyramid Principle from our Harappa Diaries section and develop effective communication strategies to deliver ideas with precision.
