Articles

By Jens Thomsen, Impact Brussels.

Are you tired of depending on other people to get the word out about your organisation or company? Impatiently waiting for the media to finally cover your activities, or for stakeholders or customers to find your website when they surf the internet?

Here is some good news: You don't have to depend on others to let the world (or at least your audience) know what your organisation does.
You can take control of your communications.

All it takes is some planning, skill and a little guts (not a lot though, so don't let anxiety hold you back). Most small organisations have what it takes to create and issue their own communications and the benefits can be significant:

You'll have the means to reach your audience whenever you wish through email, social networks, news or newsletters.

You can recycle your material on your website.

If your organisation generates news of interest to the media, you can use your content as the foundations for press releases and media relations activities.

Look at you communications as a layered birthday cake. At the top you have delicious icing and nice sugar decorations, but it all rests on bread. The bread in the cake is your production of content for your communications, the icing is media coverage and the sugar decorations could be social media contributing to your communications impact.

You can't have a birthday cake that's only icing and sugar decorations, you need the cake that it all rests on. In the same way your communications activities will be much more effective if you produce and distribute you own information material on a regular basis.

Once a month is probably the minimum, and this activity would be the bread in your 'communications cake' that you present to your audience.

Communicate as often as you can

You don't know what to write about? This may sound a little counter-intuitive, but it's true: The more often you write the easier the writing will become for you and your colleagues. If you only write a newsletter or piece of news once a month it'll be harder than if you do it every fortnight or weekly because you get into the routine of doing it.

Don't be afraid to deliver the same messages with different words or descriptions. Sometimes it takes several times for a point to get across. Focus on the points and communicate, communicate, communicate!

Creating news and information is much more about planning and persistence than about creativity. This is also the case with social media. Social networks have become, and are likely to continue to be, an even greater tool for mainstream organisations to reach their targeted audiences. It has everything to do with content, planning and execution. Nothing different in this media - just another forum for your messages.

You can read an introduction to communications planning by clicking here.

Don't make the mistake of deciding to only send out news when you have it or when you think that what you have to say is important. By assuming that you have nothing to offer, you'll soon find yourself believing that your organisation never has anything to tell to the world.

News and information material must be created, they don't pop up by themselves, and you and your colleagues must commit to creating them. 

Fixed regular deadlines and routines are by far the simplest way to keep moving forward. I know this advice may smell a bit of army boot camp and cold showers, but it'll keep your communications activities warm, I promise.

You already have what it takes

In my former career as a journalist I've come across very few topics that I wouldn't be able to write a piece of news about at least once a month. Perhaps not hot news, but information that would be useful to people interested in that particular topic.

There is an audience or constituency that is looking to you for your point of view or advise on many topics. Know the topics, know the points of view, know the audience, know the constituency and give them what they are looking to you to provide!

You and your colleagues could easily do that too, and if you have email and a website you already have more than what it takes to create and distribute information and news about your organisation. As a matter of fact you don't even need a website to keep your audience informed and up to date about your organisation's activities.

Email is such a powerful tool that you could do your communications via email alone if you had to. But a website gives much more leverage to your communications and it's often the most effective communications hub for small organisations and companies, and your organisation probably has its own website.