Communication is essential in any area of life. Before technology advances, communication practices relied on face-to-face interactions; however, you no longer need to be physically close to an individual in order to communicate with them. Advances in technologies allows us to communicate with multiple people within seconds – either via email, text, group chat, video chat, or many other digital communication platforms. However, it can still be hard to find a balance on how to communicate efficiently in in your business.
Here are 5 tips on how to manage your business' communication:
1. Remember your First Audience
It isn't unusual for us to want to make as much digital noise as possible – there are thousands of companies making updates to their webpages and social networks every second of the day, so it is natural that you want to keep up. However, it is extremely important to remember that our employers and customers are our first audience(s). It is crucial to keep in mind that, whether the communication is external or internal, the information will somehow affect one of those audiences, so they must be your company's priority. Keep your first audience in mind, and the digital buzz will follow.
2. Define the Office Culture that you want
In the era of digital media, it is easy to fall into a path of information overload – which can lead to an employee missing an important email due to the great amount of unread emails in their inbox. To avoid that, it is important to ensure that you are communicating just the right amount; too much communication can be just as crucial as not enough communication. Define your office culture, maybe that means reserving email for essential communications, or asking employees to call or message each other on an internal chat (Basecamp is a great tool for that) for less important questions. Consistent and clear engagement between employer and employees is crucial!
3. Avoid "Bright Shiny Objects" Syndrome
While it is important to keep track of new developments in communications, it is also important to evaluate if that platform makes sense to your brand. Change is a constant in the digital world, and there are new products and services coming out daily – but that doesn't mean you have to jump right into it. It is important to ask yourself the single question: "how can my brand, employees and customers benefit from this?" before making your decision.
4. Always be willing to listen
Communication is a two-way street; it must flow between leaders and employees. It is extremely important that both your employees and customers feel empowered to share their ideas and provide you with feedback when necessary. Develop an easy method to receive comments and feedback from your first audience, and most importantly, always communicate back. Engagement is essential in the digital world.
5. Show your First Audience that They are Valued
Learning to listen also means learning how to demonstrate that you believe your employee and customer's voices are valid. Engage, share and reproduce and you will most definitely see a growth in your business communication.
At Phoenix Systems, we value business communication. With platforms such as Lifesize and Zoom, we are always able to keep in touch with our employees – no matter where in the world they might be. We hope this information was helpful and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
