5 ways Communications can increase the Value of your Business.
Improving your communications is an investment in your business. Good communication supports employee satisfaction, key stakeholder relationships, brand reputation, productivity, and a company's competitive advantage, which are all factors in building a valuable company.
Whether you are selling your business soon or in the future, or if you are a business leader of an organization, you need to consider activities that increase value.
The Value Builder System, a scientifically proven methodology, states there are eight drivers of value for any organization. Using a scoring system, they can tell the value of your organization.The following are four specific drivers where communication directly impacts value.
The following are four specific drivers where communication directly impacts value.
Monopoly Control - How well differentiated your business is from competitors in your industry
Customer Satisfaction - The likelihood that your customers will re-purchase and refer you.
Hub & Spoke - How your business would perform if you were unexpectedly unable to work for three months.
Growth Potential - Your likelihood to grow your business in the future and at what rate.
Here are five ways good communication will help build value in your organization and tips on how to improve them.
EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION
Quite often, employees become upset due to poor communication. If an employee doesn't know what is expected of them, they will seldom rise to their potential. [1] Communication needs to go both ways. They need to understand how to do their job and how their job affects the organization, and then they need to be able to provide feedback.
There are two key factors business leaders need to keep in mind regarding communication and employee satisfaction.
First, communication starts at the top. Business leaders need to be consistent and honest to build credibility as team leaders.
And second, important information needs to be well designed, relevant, and available for employees.
Organizations should create an employee handbook and training program with essential information, updated and accessible at the right time for the right employees. There also needs to be two-way communication with your employees, giving them an opportunity for feedback. You also need to make sure that their feedback is heard and considered.
Create an evergreen and agile communication plan where your employees are your primary audience, and then there needs to be clear two-way communication within all levels of the organization.
Good communication supports employee satisfaction which helps build a strong, agile and valuable company. Clearly communicating the organization's overall vision to its employees and providing them with clear instruction, creates a caring, and high-performing team that is ready, able and willing to support the company's potential growth.
GOOD REPUTATION
An organization recognized as authentic, caring, transparent, and credible is a brand with value.
Communicating a consistent brand message helps develop a good reputation in words and actions and needs to be done throughout the organization.
Communication plays an even more critical role in this digital age, where messages quickly reach a large audience, and conversations are created at the spur of the moment. If processes, policies and guidelines are not implemented to help employees become good brand ambassadors, a reputation crisis can potentially be just a keystroke away.
Good communication with internal and external audiences can help minimize negative consequences to the company's brand, reputation, and financial strength and help grow a positive brand image.
PRODUCTIVITY
Get the right message, to the right people, at the right time. In this digital age, the need for speed and accuracy is essential.
Listen & Respond – supporting marketing research, customer service
Send messages - advertising to a large audience online, company vision & plan to employees
Employees can work wherever they are - internet, mobile networks, software solutions
Improve customer experience - contact customer service through various methods, order online, history tracking
Digital transformation is required to stay competitive, and that means investing in online communication tools and best practices. Processes and training must be in place to use these channels well. Content must be developed for the right audience, and it needs to be relevant, timely, and concise. Conduct regular communication audits, fixing and improving channels and materials as required.
Improve communications, and you will support a more productive and lean employee environment, helping you increase revenue and reduce costs to improve your bottom line.
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
To stay competitive in today's consistently changing market, all organizations need to have a clear vision of who they are and what they want to achieve. They need to understand their audience, how they prefer to communicate, and what opportunities and tools are available to engage with these audiences.
Budgets are tight, technology is changing daily, and there is a limited market share. Businesses can't afford to not be on top of their communication game, and they need to respond quickly to changes when needed. To do this, they need a current, relevant, and strategic communication plan that supports the organization's goals.
It is hard to keep up with the rapid changes in the economy and the advancement of technology. However, a professional communications consultant can advise business leaders on communicating effectively in a changing environment. They will be able to develop a communication strategy that gets immediate results and lays a foundation to respond to future change, including helping create guidelines and repeatable processes.
Good communication is essential in helping a brand stay ahead of the competition. Be sure your communication plan is agile and strategic, has a digital-first marketing strategy, focuses on growth, and is customer-centric. As a result, you will be able to build value in your organization.
STAKEHOLDER RELATIONSHIPS
Improve your communications, and you will improve your relationships with key stakeholders.
Key stakeholders are those who influence the success of your business. To help build relationships with these audiences, you need to understand who they are and their relationship to your organization. For your target audience, which is often your ideal customer, spend extra time understanding their preferences and motivators.
Since people and the world they live in are constantly changing, ongoing research is critical to inform how you communicate with your audiences.
The outcome of your research should be an audience persona displaying their demographic, psychographic, and geographic profile details. Doing a customer journey map is also helpful in understanding how your customer interacts with your organization, and it will help you see the gaps and opportunities to improve communication. You can do these exercises using whiteboards and stickie notes if you are in person or use an online collaboration tool such as MIRO.
How you communicate with your audiences is constantly changing. So, take the time to listen, respond, and adjust as needed, and you can build valuable relationships with your key stakeholders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
To develop communications excellence and value in your organization.
Take the time to learn about your audience through online listening and other research techniques.
Create content that is on-brand and relevant to your audiences.
Respond to comments and feedback in a meaningful and respectful way.
Create a communications plan that is strategic and agile, ensuring that you respond to the needs of your audiences and your organization.
Build a positive workplace environment using communications best practices.
HOW TO GET STARTED
Do a communication assessment (gap analysis).
Discuss with a professional communication consultant to develop a strategy that works for your organization. They will know what the most important tactic is to start with, and then how to develop that plan; recommending a strategy to meet your needs and resources.
Then get the employees involved! Create policies and procedures to help them understand your expectations, and build into your schedule training time so everyone stays current with technology, trends, and best practice changes.
