Free Online Marketing and SEO Tools? Why not!

Marketing Communications are becoming more than essential for business today. Consumers integrate more and more communication technology into their daily activities. This makes it extra easy and difficult in the same time for companies to communicate their messages. And extra expensive.

Starting and maintaining a business is an economically challenging task. No matter in what branch you operate you will need a lot of visibility, both online and offline. This requires as a minimum a website – web host, domain registration, website building, website optimization, SEO monitoring, updating and maintaining on ongoing basis. And this is just the beginning! You have not even thought about advertizing, offers, newsletter, teasers, etc. Here I am not even mentioning all other costs in connection to renting an office or simply maintaining the daily operations.

Looking at it from this perspective it looks like running your own business is next to impossible. The question here is whether it necessarily should be like that.

All the great and free business and marketing tools

If you really think that paying for services and software is absolutely necessary maybe you will miss the point here. If you though consider that price is simply a marketing trick after all you might realize that the price of opening your own business might fall drastically.

Let’s explore a few of the options you have for making you life easier and your business low cost.

1.       Webhost: There is a wide range of webhosts out there and it is important that you research a bit before you make a decision about who should host your website. Consider the importance of 24/7 live support and Control Panel with all the cool features and extra services you can use. The technical characteristics of a webhost are also very important. How much space and what speed your website requires? Is there an option for secure server? Are there website import/export features or databases? After being clear about what you need you can choose webhosting that ranges between 1 USD and over 10 USD per month. Do not limit yourself to webhosts from your own country. In many cases the big international providers will be much better for you.

2.       Domain name: Choose carefully your domain name as it is going to shape your image. Just as with webhosting you have the option to buy (actually rent) your domain name anywhere in the world and with any suffix. Prices vary a lot also there so research can save you around 10 USD per year if not more. If you need sub-domains make sure that your domain registrar allows that.

3.       Website design: I read an article for entrepreneurs written by Region Midt in Denmark and in it I saw a price of 700-800 Euro for getting your website running. Be careful as you are going to stumble upon such offers by designers, IT-specialist and many other consultants. In reality you are able to build your website on your own. It is a myth that you need a programmer for that task. Nowadays website building is made accessible for non-specialists. You only need to understand how and what your website should communicate. For this task you might want to consult a Marketing Communications Specialist or someone specializing in Online Marketing. Using Wordpress for example can give professional results with almost no effort. On top of everything else you can find countless themes and plugins in Wordpress which will make it easy for you to integrate exactly the design and the functionality you want.

Do not get carried away with buying expensive Wordpress themes. Here I want to use a moment and mention Graphene Theme. It is a completely free and fully responsive theme which can be used as you like and adjusted beyond imagination. My special thanks to the developers!

4.       SEO and Online Marketing: We are trained to think that SEO should cost a lot. It should not. Not so many out there know that Microsoft has developed a free SEO toolkit which does a lot of the work. Furthermore you can facilitate many small and bigger SEO plugins directly into your Wordpress website allowing you to count social conversion, visits, perform on-site optimization and set custom micro data, meta titles, descriptions and keywords. You can learn a lot about your website’s effectiveness by signing up for Google Analytics – it is a free and great service! Google Master Tools provide you with a lot more control and optimization options in connection to managing you website and authenticating it which helps your SEO. Last but not least you can draw on the keyword and search activity analysis provided in Google Trends and Google AdWords. You can even see your ranking in connection to different key words in Google Webmaster Tools. The only thing you cannot see there is a competitor analysis. But I am pretty sure that there is a simple and free tool for that too out there.

Yes, it might seem a bit overwhelming and it is true that it requires a certain level of understanding of those systems. But it is just like with everything else – you need to learn it in order to use it.

If you though think that it is way too complicated for you to handle, there are even free consultancy options online. Just check http://www.dcommunication-group.com/ and learn how to make your life easier and your business low cost.

DIDI

Marketing mix-up: Why everyone is all the sudden talking about social media?

Social Media: a Marketing Mix must?

 

Social Media seems to have become one of the inevitable elements of marketing mix. Have you noticed that in quite a lot of companies today there is a great demand for online marketing, primarily through social media marketing and SEO? What was wrong with our marketing strategy until now? Can we survive without social media?

Swept away by social media

 

Observing the communication reality online one can easily find out that there is a lot of pressure about implementing comprehensive social media marketing, SEO (sometimes interesting enough, called SEO optimization, which honestly does not make any sense!), online advertising, traffic control, etc. There are also numerous articles like this one found in Forbes stating that social media marketing is going to become the absolute must in 2014 and there ia a list of media seeing growth and decline.

As a business manager one gets completely swept off their feet by social media marketing promisses forgetting the uniqueness of their business and old and tried out maxima as “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Managers are convinced that optimizing their online policy is what is going to save their business. But is that true?

Is social media appropriate?

 

First and foremost, it is essential to understand that not every business is carved to be social. A simple example can be James Nicholls’ scientific research publication, “Everyday, Everywhere: Alcohol Marketing and Social Media—Current Trends” (Alcohol and Alcoholism Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 486–493, 2012). The article discusses social media tactics used by alcohol brands in the UK and their consequences including creation of lasting habits. One can easily predict that many more articles like that discussing fast food companies, candy producers, soda producers, tobacco companies, possibly even companies staying behind environmentally bad products.

 

The danger of being social

Social media is social not only because it gathers consumers and gives companies the possibility to communicate directly and more effectively with target groups. It provides consumers with the power to communicate and discuss with each other and spread news. If there is just one opinion leader out there who finds out something discrediting about your company or the way you do business it is going to spread like wild fire. Because scandal sells even more that sex. Social media means transparency and exposure at levels which you have never experienced before. Many businesses are just not ready for that.

On top of that social media means that you need to provide valuable regular updates. You might want to be funny, or clever, or innovative, or whatever you want. But you need to be able to keep it up. Nobody will follow dull updates and they will not be of any value to you. When did we all get so productive and innovative and funny that we can keep it up daily for the foreseeable future? When did we deceive ourselves into believing that we are the only ones trying to follow such a strategy? Too much funny, too much innovation, too much cleverness is at the end simply too much.

Stuffing social media with corporate messages is going at the end to have the same effect as commercials on TV. Companies need to understand that they are not wanted on social media. Users of social media are people who want to come in contact with their friends, family or like-minded. This is also the reason why apps like Facebook AdBlock are appearing all the time.

Not only that every company’s arrival on Social media is going to avert consumers who in most cases see advertising on social media as too intrusive and violating their privacy, it is going to become significantly less effective in the future. Keeping in mind Facebook’s targeting methods it basically means that both you and all your competitors will have a shot at your target group. How is that better than advertising on TV?

Having a page on social media is more acceptable but as noted above it is not for all as many businesses will be accused in manipulating consumers or creating unhealthy habits or committing another sin. Using your page as an open communication channel is all alright but it is not going to be your miracle cure. Consumers are always more likely to socialize with a brand they are familiar with. For that reason new or not popular brands need to employ heavy marketing before a social strategy can be possible. Beware also of overexposing yourself. More presence will possibly make you visible in the eyes of consumers. Depending on your strategy, that can bring around more damage than good.

Looking back at the very core of social media we encounter another one of its downsides. The almost unlimited freedom of information dissemination makes it impossible for companies to control their image without manipulating posts and comments. However, even doing that will not save them from angry consumers. Regular users are gods in the social media space. The examples of stars’ death hoax are becoming ever more. If someone writes for example that their sister was poisoned by your product and everybody needs to share it to support the grief, they will. No matter if the story was true, the shadow of doubt will fall on your product and you will face losses. Are you ready to face the hoax?

Even if you have all your polices straight and you are 100 % sure that nothing can hit you unprepared you still need to be careful when voting for social media marketing. Analyzing consumer data is still pretty much in the shadows and social media users are not aware of how and how much information is gathered and used for marketing purposes. This is dangerous and might damage your image if information on shadowy data collection is connected to your company’s name. Nowadays there are pieces of data “uncovered” everyday and consumers are getting angry. Even though you were probably just a user of a service the CSR standards demand that you research and keep your supply chain clean. Thus, you are guilty.

Much more can be said about why not to go social. But this as all decisions concerning corporate communication should be made based on your strategy. If you are certain that engaging in social media marketing will be good for you, do it. It does work for many. What you really need to do prior such a decision though, is to make sure that you have double covered all scenarios and have your crisis communication policy close to you at all times. Just in case.

Last but not least, remember to not forget to employ traditional marketing and its basic principles. They still work.

 

DIDI

Professional Communication: project an image, don't be creepy

How to create an image? How to communicate professionalism? Are there standards which can help us enhance the communication strategy?

Study Case

The answers to those questions are correlated and almost impossible to find separately. However, there are quite a lot of companies out there trying to cut down the communication costs while making efforts to score high on image rankings. I have in mind a recent experience from a big international corporation operating in the office space renting business. The experience included both online company research and visiting the local office. The research phase showed non-existing CSR policy, non-existing employee benefits, accusations of careless behavior in connection to the terrorist attack against the World Trade Center a few years back, and company-produced marketing videos. The visit at the local office revealed a high rate of employee turnover, very unusual hiring policy (hiring only for lowest hierarchy positions with no requirements for education and experience, on minimal wage), and deceiving job descriptions.

When walking through the door you are greeted way too eagerly by the staff which makes you almost uncomfortable. What they pride themselves for is great flexibility in services and high level of professional customer service. The only customer feedback is available through the corporate marketing videos though.

Communicational no go

What was observed at that company is an absolute communicational no go. The non existing CSR policy and the lack of personnel benefits in a country as Denmark where CSR is becoming more than a standard and employees are treated with special care as assets is a sign of unprofessional management. The smile of the receptionist is not enough to make up for corporate mismanagement or irresponsible behavior. It also needs to be in line with services, surroundings, corporate culture and needs to be rooted in a thorough policy. Otherwise it comes across as insincere and creepy. Smiling while doing your job needs to be just as professionally distanced as your work style. Are you flirting with the customer or servicing them? Make it clear.

Image: communication standards and guidelines

Image management, even though there is such a discipline, sounds very wrong as image management is nothing but the tip of the iceberg. Hiring a professional to work on your image does not make a lot of sense if you have not clarified what the company stays for and how it wants to be regarded by your stakeholders. Stakeholders are all individuals and groups that are or can be affected by the operating of your business and/or have an interest in your business.

You need therefore to start from identifying your business’ core characteristics and analyzing the strategic stars for your brand. After clarifying what is desired and what is possible you need to get very practical and analyze in what ways your vision and mission can be embedded in your culture and business operations.

While you make considerations about communication practices, image building and communicating your values outside of and inside the company you need to get acquainted with the professional communication standards which will be your guarantee that your communication strategy is not going to backfire by earning you critics or even lawsuits in connection to unethical behavior.

 

After you manage to create a thorough and working communication strategy completely aligned with your business operations you might want to go one step further and consider CSR. There are countless studies showing that a CSR policy is considered a plus and sometimes a definitive criterion for choosing your company as a partner, provider or employer. For the policy to work though, you once again need to be consequent. Just as you need to make sure that you have implemented a communication policy that fits your business profile you also need to do the same when engaging in CSR. If you are not careful about this you might end up being accused of using CSR as a promotional tool instead of as a sincere expression of your concern for your stakeholders and the environment. You might for example decide to fund poor children in Africa but you have to explain why it is the poor children in Africa getting your support and not the local caner organization, for example.

After completing your communication strategy you need to make sure that it covers as a minimum mission, vision, development strategy, internal communication and employee management, HR policy and benefits, corporate culture, online and traditional marketing activities, branding, crisis communication, media relations, external stakeholder management, customer relations specifically, community care and involvement, and CSR.

When you are ready you will find yourself under a stack of thick guidebooks addressing the separate topics. You will have to always make sure that they are aligned with strategy and updated regularly. Among those guidebooks you will find the one describing how you need to treat customers in order to communicate the desired corporate image.

Do you now understand why smiling a lot is not professional but creepy?

 

DIDI

Online Marketing and Website optimization. Corporate Communication in practice.

Online Marketing and website optimization seem to be the future of communication. Therefore finding the answers of the following marketing questions is essential: When setting up a website how do we do it? How do we communicate with consumers? How do we make sure that our website reflects who we are? How can we be found by consumers? What about SEO?

Setting up a website as a communication tool

We are used to think that setting up a website is a programmer’s job. They know how to do it and we trust them. However, a website is not simply a bundle of code made to look good. A website is a business’ face towards millions of consumers online. As such it needs to comply with business strategy reflecting image, vision and mission. Even more importantly, it needs to represent the business in a way communicating branch, niche, products, services and all subthemes relevant to consumer searches on the web.

There is no doubt that a website needs to be set up by a programmer. To ensure high quality though a close collaboration between the programming team and the company’s marketing or communication department is necessary. Naming, tagging, titles, highlights, products, etc. need to be done in a way facilitating both the company’s best interest and consumer searches. This is done by reviewing business strategy and pointing out what you want consumers to find about you the easiest. After setting your communication goals for your website you have different options in terms of how you are going to implement your communication strategy. You can do it either through careful coding and content management or through helping search engines understand your content (if your website has already been set up and recoding/content optimization it is not an option). Ideally, you could use both strategies.

What does our website communicate?

Monitoring your website performance in terms of visitors, time spent, visitor behavior, returning visitors, keywords can help you understand the way your website functions and is used by consumers. That is done by your Webmaster using tools as Google Analytics and Google Webmaster tools. Analyzing those parameters can give you an overview of how good a work you have done setting up a website. If for example you only have new visitors you might want to rethink website structure or content. It might be a sign that your consumers do not like either your website or your business. Which is the case, you might more or less determine by evaluating time users spent on your website. A quick look to your website’s top keywords will give you a good opportunity to find out whether you have made coding/content mistakes.

It is also very important to control how your website appears in searches and on which position it appears. As search engines (mostly) try to provide the most relevant and highly rated results to their users a low position in a search result might signal problems with either popularity or keywords settings and website structure. Keep in mind that the quality of the website in terms of speed is also taken into account when showing search results. Last but not least, be aware that a lot of the content which is not in plain text form might lower your website’s relevance evaluation as it is often skipped by search engines. Therefore you need to provide your key information in a text form.

Consumer searches and SEO

We are made to believe that SEO is the key to success online. However, Google warns that the SEO business has become a bit shadowy and thus not always a good idea. If you though decide that you want someone specializing in the field to optimize your website, you might need to take a look at Google’s warnings and guidelines. The truth is that in most cases you do not need a SEO specialist. What you need is to keep track of your website’s data and optimize content and structure in such a way that you make it easy for both search engines and consumers find what they need.

Still one of the best ways to make consumers aware of you is advertising and marketing yourself both online and offline. In addition to advertising you have the option of establishing links towards your website from different relevant web places. Some of those links you would need to pay for but others like the links on your Facebook or Google + pages will be free.

 

Basically, one of the most prominent rules in Business is to create something of value. Only after you are sure that your product is sellable it makes sense to start marketing it. Therefore think of your business and the process of communicating it as a process of discovery. You have discovered something which you want to share with others. Who are the others and how you get their interest should be what should guide you, not SEO concerns.

A small tip: when starting a business you often lack resources. But you already have a large public thanks to Social media. Use it. Use your friends as your marketers. Asking them to like your Facebook page or share it (once, do not abuse your friends) will instantly give you access to a larger target group than you have imagined.

Influencers and how to become one yourself

Influencers: The Stakeholders who own you and the Stakeholders you can lead

 

When living our lives no matter whether as individuals or as a part of organizations and the business we often make choices or have opinions which do not represent who we truly are. Sometimes we “catch” ourselves making those unnatural steps but most of the time we become unknowingly who our choices make us. The reason is that we are not born free. We are limited in so many ways by laws, culture, education, religion, etc. that we have grown up used to the idea that we must obey the rules.

Rules are indeed very important, if not the very core of society in all its forms. However, growing so obedient we have become slaves to many more rules than it is necessary in reality. Examples can be fashion, music, group rituals, diets, exercise, lifestyle in general, etc.

You will probably ask why we buy certain clothes or go to a certain club? You will not be the only one. Every business no matter how big or small wants to know that.

We do so because we are “told” so. Among us who obey there are also the so called influencers. Those are individuals who are a part of the groups to which we belong and who do not always stay ahead and behave as leaders. Those are simple people who speak the language of the crowd and understand its mechanisms. Of course, influencers are also often also public figures who beforehand have groups of followers.

Influencers are important for business from two points of view – as possible promoters/anti-brand activists and as trend creators. In the first case we talk about marketing efforts or restoring brand communication. Needless to say, this may mean the success or the failure of a brand. In the second case we talk about researching and detecting future trends predicted by behavior of influencers. Using this method can help channel the business efforts in the right direction.

This is also the reason why companies try to attract influencers as their employees or as their loyal consumers. But they fail to understand that being an influencer by “buying” an influencer’s voice is not the best practice. The reason is both that public figures are overused as corporate faces and “private” influencers are often individuals who succeed as such thanks to their strong, honest voice rooted in SOME principles. That is to say that there are no universal influencers. Somebody who is known as knowledgeable in nutrition will without a doubt be as useless to McDonald’s as they would be to Siemens if they start promoting hamburgers after swearing off all fast food throughout all their lives.

There are of course many “sneaky” ways to include an influencer’s voice in the corporate marketing but one should always beware that if an influencer is used in an attempt to manipulate the public and this information is leaked out of the organization great damage might be expected brand-wise.

The truth is that the times of manipulation are over. The only winning strategy for a company is to answer the demand, be honest and responsible. Getting the attention of influencers depends on a company’s ability to predict trends and act on them, cooperate with the public and always be a step ahead of competition.

This is the only way a company can become an influencer itself. However, besides being a market leader one way or another, the company should understand what makes one an influencer – a strong honest voice, rooted in clear principles. Companies need to understand that if they have a stand there will be somebody who will want to listen. And follow.

Social and fast - no other way to do business

Social Media Marketing and Trends

Doing some research on use of Social media as a communication tool I stumbled upon an article from 2008. The article was called Enhancing Promotional Strategies Within Social Marketing Programs: Use of Web 2.0 Social Media, written by Rosemary Thackeray, Brad L. Neiger, Carl L. Hanson and James F. McKenzie. I have to admit that I was more than surprised. At first I thought that the authors somehow had misused the term social media. Or misunderstood its uses and importance. Then I realized that the key to that mystery had all the time been right next to the title: year of publication 2008.

I was reading with amazement because I realized how much and how fast our world had changed. Back in 2008 only a small percentage of all internet users were users of some kind of social media, predominated by teenagers and young adults (up to 24 year olds). Today social media is not any more a media in the classic sense of the word. It is a part of our lives; it is a part of who we are and how we communicate.

After reading a lot of literature I still think that research is having troubles catching up with the social media reality. Because it has changed our world in a way so that everything happens ever faster and with ever more consumer involvement. And let’s face it – only the time needed to write and publish an article – around 2-3 years for academic articles - will be enough to make it obsolete.

Companies on the other hand cannot allow themselves the luxury of falling behind. That is why advice as  this the authors of the mentioned article give – be cautious and research the possibilities of incorporation of new media channels in the communication strategy – is not one to be followed. As Kotler points out in his Marketing bible, it is not any more a world where the strongest survives, it is a world where the fastest survives.

Following trends seems to be a relatively good strategy, however you position yourself willingly as number 2 or number 1000. Instead you need to create your communicative environment. It is already established that corporate communications, marketing and any business activity will be done in close cooperation with consumers – or the company will not exist for long. In practice this means that you need to stop following trends only because the others are doing it. Instead, focus on your consumers, on any other stakeholders you deem important. Research THEM, cooperate with them and facilitate communication channels approved by them. That will be your guarantee for success. On top of the fact that you will establish communication that is maximally beneficial for both sides, you will gain the appreciation of your stakeholders.

An example about why you do not need to worry about upcoming digital miracles or trends is a simple request as the one a Danish fitness chain received on their Facebook page – consumers were asking whether an iPhone app was being planned.

As long as you offer a good product and good service and you manage to engage your consumers they will always turn to you to solve whatever matter there is – from a communication issue to product specifications. Is it really necessary to explain why this is very important?

That is why you need to learn the rules of the game – be perceptive and reactive. Be proactive and helpful. Engage and be engaged. And maybe the most important of rules: whatever you do, do it fast. We are not any more living in times where waiting 4 to 6 weeks for TV shop delivery is OK, is the norm. Waiting is not acceptable. And here come tools as social media giving us the new timeframe for successful communication: now, that minute. Forgetting that risks us our costumers forgetting about us.

We don’t know what will come in the future. And that is okay. The future will most certainly not come without us. Keeping up with today’s pace is all we really can do. It is only a few who are brave enough to dare the future. Some succeed big, most fail. It is up to you which path you choose but being fast is still the rule.

 

DIDI

Exclusive Business Style

When talking about business style it becomes clear that different companies and different managers understand that term and what it is supposed to symbolize differently. Style is about presentation, about standards, about image, about who you really are. Style encompasses almost every aspect of everyday life. The image we create includes and is defined by our style.

Therefore our business style should be carefully formed and developed to perfection. Unlike many other things style cannot be faked. If we pretend to be an honest and socially responsible company while we steal from our customers and pollute the environment, it is stealing and irresponsibility that define our business style. Of course, some companies use a lot of money on public relations in an effort to cover their indiscretions and create a stable pretend-image. Money bad spent.

Another wrong interpretation of business style is that exclusivity is achieved by being different. I have seen the results of exaggerated focus on being the only one. They included mail labels which did not follow the generally accepted norms about labeling a letter, business cards which confused customers by providing unclear contact information, and last but not least 4 slogans on the back of the business cards promoting corporate responsibility and progressive innovation, while the company still did not account for any of them. That is what one can call an outside-in style, that is, a style created outside of the company, not aligned with the its values and forced onto it in the hope of becoming true.

Style is indeed a great commodity and it is understandable why companies strive to be perceived as working with great style. It is a great commodity though, only because it is a reflection of our behavior in the minds of our stakeholders, a reflection of our hard work on becoming who we are. That cannot be faked. Just think about corporations as Maersk. One can argue that it is different small things that build up their image and the perception of great style. The truth is though that their style cannot really be tracked to any of the small details in particular as all about them adds to who they are in our minds, thus creates the idea of business style.

In that sense trying to fake a business style is a condemned mission. First, it will take a lot of resources and time. Second, it will add to the stress in the company as employees will perceive the attempts to present the business in one way while working in another as schizophrenic. Last but not least, we live in an information society and truth always surfaces sooner or later. Therefore save your business the chocking impact with reality and avoid becoming a schizophrenic company. In fact the stakeholders have often a more positive attitude towards innocent-sins companies than such which pretended to be saints and turned out to be sinners. Do not forget – image is hard to build and easy to destroy, the same is valid for business style.

That is why most successful businesses demonstrate that they have understood the importance of genuine identity. Genuine identity refers to such an identity build from inside out, following the business strategy and practice. It is not a mask, product of an outside PR agency, forced onto the company’s face. Producing slogans and offering them to stakeholders, as mentioned above, is simply pure waste of resources and on top of that is dangerous.

Another common mistake regarding style development is attempting to be unique. Being unique is in fact something, everyone dreams about but there are good reasons for some equity to be established among us. The given example with the one-of-the-kind mail labels shows why. The post office got confused about who the sender was and whom they needed to deliver to. Was that a good way to differentiate the company? Following established standards is necessary in order to function in a society. Developments, innovation and revolutions are carried out in such a way that they do not bring confusion. That means that consensus should be achieved on them. Otherwise they are either dismissed or ridiculed by the conservative society.

If not that way, how do we establish an exclusive business style? Well, the simplest answer is just be exclusive in everything you do. We live in a society which values quality, simplicity, high standards, excellent services, transparency, responsible businesses, welfare, environment, care, etc. Being exclusive means that you fulfill as many as possible of the requirements of your stakeholders AND you do a bit more than required. Furthermore, it almost does not need mentioning, you have to be a reliable partner, honest and ethical and open to your local communities, perfect in legal and economic perspective, bold enough to be a leader.

After working hard enough on becoming the great company you wish to be perceived as, you can focus on the other details – presentation, communicating – directly and indirectly – your social leadership, sustaining your position. You need to accept though that it takes time and resources and the end result is often unpredictable as it depends on many internal and external factors.

What is guaranteed though is that you will gain a lot in the form of enhanced image and stakeholder trust and support. Exclusive business style today stretches beyond business and transforms companies into socio-business institutions with responsibilities for welfare, healthcare, safety, ecology, etc. No company, no matter how strong it is at carrying out business operations, will be perceived as a high-standard company as long as it does not take ownership of social issues as well.

That is why what you need to remember is: do not spend money on style attributes or image creation. Follow the highest standards of business, respect and include your stakeholders, act socially responsible and always go a bit further than required. Instead of talking too much how great you are, let others talk about you. Do not forget that every detail of your behavior talks, be thorough in developing and sustaining your public image.

DIDI

Communication (not) for all

Corporate Communication is a tool and as such it needs to be used professionally and this is the responsibility of a Communication Manager. As everyone every now and then needs a second opinion or advice this website will focus on professional communication in all its forms and uses. There will be theory, arguments, controversy, questions and answers, examples, cases and most of all an effort to bring communication into the light spot. As we ALL need and use communication in our daily lives. And we do so without really realizing it. Communication is indeed so natural for us that the majority never spares a moment to think of the importance of that seemingly simple act.

If you observe carefully those around you, you will discover how many misunderstandings, failures and problems come from miscommunication. The most striking is still that those involved have no idea about the fact that their problems often arise because of a simple mistake or failure to read their partner’s reactions. The reason is mostly that as humans we are programmed to focus on ourselves and ignore the outside world as it is too much of a complicated task to simultaneously reflect on ourselves, the others and the interactions between us, the others and the environment.

However, this “rationalization” impacts us daily and in unpredictable ways. Even if you assume that it is alright to live without a special focus on communication in your personal life, it is a mistake you will come to regret if you allow yourself to be careless about your business communication.

And here comes the first question. Do you grasp the concept of communication? As an owner or managing director you are surely quite competent when it comes to business strategy. But do you understand the importance of acceptance by the communities? Do you see the need of communication that stems from the core of the business and encompasses all the company’s activities? Do you feel it is necessary to have your employees as empowered and informed supporters of your cause? Do you realize that besides goals you need a cause? And so do the questions go on and on.

Most businessmen believe that communication is simple. You need to communicate that you are responsible, you offer good quality and you are generally better than anybody else. Well, if it was so simple there would not be so many company crashes.

The truth is that communication is not a tool you order from the store and it just starts working. It is not a dress you buy ready, reshape if necessary and wear. It is not something which could be generalized. Just as in our personal relations, the communication of a company with its publics and stakeholders is and should be unique.

That is exactly what I will focus on here. I will show how communication works in practice as all the posts here will be based on experience. I will answer questions and in doing so I will do my best to help you understand your own communication process.

DIDI