How to Build an Effective Corporate Communications Strategy

Close to half of all businesses fail in the first five years. One of the biggest reasons for this failure is a lack of efficient communication.

A corporate communications strategy isn't just a matter of making sure people get along. It's about structuring your flow of information so your business operates as smoothly as possible.

If you run a factory, you would want to ensure that your manufacturing process was as smooth as possible. Running a business in the 2020s is all about making sure your ideas can move quickly as possible.

We'll walk you through a brief introduction to corporate communications.

Onboard Efficiently

Onboarding is the process of getting your new employees familiar with your company's culture, workflow, and business practices. It differs from training in that it's not just about skills, it's about helping your employees fit into your company.

If you don't onboard properly by making use of internal communications tactics, you're going to lose valuable time. It's expected that your new employees won't be at 100 percent the first week of their employment. However, with the onboarding tactics most people use, these employees only operate at 40 percent — wouldn't you rather them operate at 70?

By giving these new employees every bit of new information they need, you'll improve productivity.

Encourage Complete Thoughts

It's important to use online communication services, such as cloud computing and slack. However, the nature of the internet makes it easy to communicate in sentence fragments, cast off syntax and grammar, and fail to provide context.

Resist this. It makes it easy for misinformation to spread. It's better to be a little bit slower and communicate efficiently rather than giving people the wrong idea.

Encourage your customers to write in complete sentences. Better yet, encourage them to cast off bullet points for full paragraphs. A paragraph is a microcosm of a thought process — while bullets are okay for lists, they don't communicate abstract concepts.

Create a Language

While it's important to communicate in complete sentences and thoughts, it's also important to get your employees on the same wavelength. People communicate most efficiently when they've developed a series of signs, symbols, and images of abstract concepts.

Think about you and your friends. You might have been awkward around them the first time you hung out, but now you can communicate without batting an eye. This is because you've broken down barriers and discovered your own personal language of communication.

Creating this symbolic language is important to creating a great company culture. It will help your employees feel like they're part of something, which will make them feel appreciated. Employees who feel appreciated perform better.

Create a Corporate Communications Strategy

As you can see, a corporate communication strategy isn't just a matter of talking in "business speak". It's a matter of life or death for your business. Learn to communicate and you will succeed.

For more information, contact us today.