We hope that when we communicate with people, they get the message. The communication is clear, it’s effective, it’s concise, everyone’s on the same page. Sometimes, though, that’s not the case. When the other person doesn’t receive the message, they don’t understand it, communication is rocky, and you don’t have a clear outcome.
Effective communication is more important than ever. Whether it’s in our personal or professional lives, we need to be able to communicate effectively in order to build relationships, share ideas, and achieve our goals. There are four things that I always keep in mind when I’m crafting any message, whether this be an email, social media post, a call with a person, or any conversation and communication that I have.
- Genuine
The first one is to be genuine in your message. This can be represented as “the heart” of the message. Communication needs to be natural. It needs to be appropriate and also be put positively. This means that we should be authentic and honest in our communication, and not try to manipulate or deceive others. When communicating genuinely, we build trust and credibility, which is essential for any successful relationship or interaction.
- Engaging
The second component is it needs to be engaging. The image to represent engaging communication is “the mind”. The message needs to be visible in the first place, and it’s very important to have the introduction or the subject line or whatever that is, needs to be able to capture the person’s attention and for them to be able to reply in the way and respond in the way that you want and to aim to get an easy yes from them. We need to find ways to capture and hold the attention of our audience. This can be achieved through various methods such as storytelling, using visuals, or asking thought-provoking questions. By making our communication engaging, we increase the chances of people remembering and acting upon what we have said.
- Consistent
The third component is to be consistent. This is represented with “the hands”. We want the message to have a presence. It needs to be done in a timely way. And especially if it’s a campaign or with social media, you want to have that consistency with your messaging and for people not to feel like it’s something that’s unexpected. We need to be reliable and consistent in our communication, both in terms of frequency and tone. By being consistent, we build a sense of familiarity and trust with our audience, which can lead to deeper connections and more meaningful interactions.
- Content
The fourth component of communication is the content itself. The image represented here is “the mouth”. The message must be purposeful and appropriate. It might be worth including a story, a diagram or framework, statistics… whatever you think will help your audience to understand what you mean. You want to be thinking about the quality of what you’re saying, how you’re saying it, and the length of the message. Use language that people will understand. Consider how you need them to respond and invite them clearly to communicate back to you as required. We need to have a clear message or objective in mind when we communicate.
Effective communication is a necessary skill in today’s world. We can build strong and meaningful relationships, share our ideas effectively, and achieve our goals by following the steps to ensure that our communication is genuine, engaging, consistent, and purposeful. These steps can help us connect with others on a deeper level and make a positive impact in the world, whether we are communicating in our personal or professional lives. We can create messages that are both powerful and effective by taking the time to thoughtfully craft our communication.
Please connect with us to discover how we can support you in crafting your communications to be effective!