We’ve all heard that a picture paints a thousand words but what about an infographic? As a wordsmith myself it’s fair to say I’ve been a bit cynical about infographics in the past. I’ve seen lots over the years and, like most things, some are better than others. However, I recently became a convert.
The world of websites has changed dramatically over the past 20 years. When I first started in communications I had some clients that didn’t even see the point of having a website. And those that did invest in a website viewed it as a one-off exercise and cost. Now the conversations are more likely to be around how often to refresh the website and how to get the best deal.
Analysing what went well and what didn’t after an event or promotion is an important part of your evaluation process. Especially if you plan to run a similar event in future. A brainstorming session is a good place to begin.
Getting your key messages right is an artform. More and more businesses and organisations are recognising the importance of having a set of key messages that reflect what they’re doing and hit the right note with their audiences.
Have you ever sat down, briefed a designer and ended up with something not remotely like what you wanted? Make sure you are on the same page so you get the right result. Nail the design brief and spend time learning their lingo. I’ve been dealing with designers for years and after a few rookie mistakes myself there are a few things you need to know and look out for.
Think you need a newsletter but don’t know where to start? Here’s my 10-step guide to producing a great newsletter. Firstly work out who your audience is and whether they want (or will read) a regular newsletter from you. Once you've nailed that you can follow my guide to figure out the best content, format, frequency etc.
Tedious isn’t it. When you’ve worked on a document for so long that you just want to see the back of it. We’ve all done it though, the moment you get it back from the printer’s you see the glaring typo that literally leaps off the page and hits you in the head.
Or as I like to say, what’s your style? When it comes to communicating with your customers or clients it’s important to adopt the right tone and to be consistent. Back in the day, companies and organisations were often quite formal in their tone. Particularly in the public sector where you wanted to avoid being seen as frivolous. News flash: Your customers or audience want to deal with real people, they want to be able to relate to your product, your company or your organisation and they want great customer service.
Everyone thinks they’re good at communicating and that’s probably because we all communicate all day, every day, right? So how come so many companies get it so wrong? That's because, even though we communicate all the time, it doesn’t mean we are automatically good at it. In fact, many individuals and companies are just terrible at it – you’ll know some of these for sure. These are my top tips for communicating well: