We all count email and social media as important channels for reaching our target audiences — but when it comes to communication, everything speaks. Routine communications that go out to employees, leaders or customers, while often overlooked, may contain great opportunities for spreading key messages. Examples could include form letters, bills and internal memos.
Harness these overlooked opportunities by asking these questions:
Does this communication clearly explain the topic? Is it easy to follow? In other words, would your fifth-grader understand it? Take the time to assess whether the communication is clear and effective.
Is there an opening to emphasize your organization’s core values? Be sure to consider working this in, in a way that makes sense for the communication. Shared values are a key to creating alignment within and across our audience groups. We should come back to them again and again, day after day, as the basis for why we do what we do. Ultimately this approach points to our mission, or the reason we exist. The way we speak this may be different depending on the situation, but the importance of shared values holds true regardless of whether the audience is internal or external to our organization. You may be surprised at how easy and effective it can be to incorporate this kind of language.
Could the layout be improved? While writing is important, design also speaks — in fact, it’s one of the best ways to reinforce your key message. Many routine communications can benefit from tweaking or even reworking the layout. Simple graphic elements can be really helpful. Aim to make the design more visual to highlight the key takeaway. This is especially important when sharing good news. In those cases, we want to be sure no one misses the message!
For customer-directed communications, is there an opportunity to co-promote an important initiative? Is there space to include a helpful burb about another program or resource? It always works best if the secondary message relates to the topic at hand. In other words, it should never feel jarring. Think of this as advertising light. Keep the tone fresh and informational — and don’t overdo it. Limit the number of promotions to one or two. From a design perspective, try to make it feel complementary, and not intrusive, to the main communication. Keep the focus on the consumer. If the secondary message is unlikely to be helpful, you may want to skip it.
Explore my blog for more insight into communication-related topics.
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