Articles
By Jens Thomsen, Impact Brussels
Times are brutal with budgets being axed in private companies and public organisations alike as the sovereign debt crisis continues to wreak havoc with the economy. Never was your ability to prove the full value of your activities and to enhance the impact of your organisation more critical than now.
Small organisations and companies are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of the downturn with limited resources at their disposal to get through tough times and at the same time remain visible on the radar screens of their members, clients, customers, employees or stakeholders.
But while you cannot change the economic tide there is absolutely no reason you should just wait for the recession to catch up with your organisation or company. You can still do a lot to bolster your organisation's position even in the current chaotic environment. Apart from excelling in your job, one effective way to gain strength and survivability is through communications that can provide your organisation with the impact and recognition you need.
Communications that work for you
You think communications is too soft an activity to make any difference in the current crisis? It can be soft if you let it. But it can also be razor sharp and powerful in supporting and building your activities or your business. And here's a rare piece of good news:
In the coming weeks I'll take you through the steps you must take to enhance your organisation's profile and impact through effective communications. If you implement these steps your organisation will be able to communicate effectively, and before you know, will start gaining visibility and impact.
And I'm not talking about the occasional press release that no one reads or infrequent newsletters distributed to Nowhere. I want you and your organisation to enjoy the benefits of effective, consistent, high-quality communications that puts you in front of the people who matter to you the most.
Obviously there is no way I can promise on your behalf that you'll make this happen. Only you and your colleagues can commit to doing the work necessary to enhance your profile. What I can promise is this: If you don't have effective communications practices in place now - if you start from scratch, you can achieve remarkably improved visibility and impact if you follow through with these recommendations.
And even if you already have communications activities in place there may still be room for improvement and you can use this ezine to perform a health check on your current practices. This may not be enough to save your neck if a budget cutting axe is already casting its dark shadow on your organisation. But if you are not yet in imminent peril effective communications could be what saves your organisation from the axe. Enough said about threats and depression! Let's get started!
Consistency rules
First a little food for initial thought. Most of your communications activities will happen online, and many marketers claim that in online marketing content is king. The same could be said about online communications, but there is an 'aber dabei': Content may be king, but consistency rules!
Delivering appealing content is an absolute necessity, but delivering appealing content consistently is what distances you from your competition. Few small and midsize organisations manage to communicate consistently. If your organisation can accomplish that, you're in for a head start.
Look at it this way: Simply by showing up on time, each time, will catapult you into the communications top league! There is a reason of course why relatively few organisations make it to the top league. The reason is poor planning and a lack of what I call 'organisational stamina'. If you don't plan your communications activities and fail to establish reliable work routines, chances are your organisation will remain among the majority of ineffective communicators. That's not where you want to be if you're worth your salt, so let's get out of the starting blocks! Here's what you should do:
Rate your communications
Take a close and ruthlessly honest look at your current communications activities (if you have such activities) and rate your organisation by asking yourself the following questions about your organisation's communications:
Do you and your colleagues possess the necessary skills to create quality content for your communications activities?
Have you prepared a communications plan that covers your activities in the coming 6 to 12 months?
Do you know exactly who your audience is, what these people are interested in and why you should try to reach out to them?
Do you have communications practices and channels in place to make sure that you reach your audience?
Do you communicate frequently and consistently - at least once a month and with appealing content?
Provided your organisation is small and offers services or goods, are your communications and marketing activities integrated in such a way that both your communications and your marketing needs are being met?
Be honest to yourself and your colleagues when you go through these questions. You are laying the foundations for your future communications impact, remember. If you answered positively to all questions you may be just fine in terms of communications. If, on the other hand, you are slightly uncomfortable giving a resounding yes to all the above questions it's probably time for you to start implementing effective communications activities that can help put your organisation in the best position to overcome internal or external crisis.
Do it now!
There is never going to be the perfect time nor will there ever be 'spare' time to devote to these issues. However, avoiding them will increase considerably the likelihood that your organisation will be left behind by those organisations that have decided that professional organisations require professional communications.
If you have other work to take care of, going through these questions should keep you busy for a few days. And please note that the questions are not about what you believe you could do in terms of communications if you wanted to, but about what you actually have in place as you read these lines.