Communication strategies in a business depend on what the business aims to achieve, for instance, strengthening the brand, creating awareness, getting leads, knowing what clients want.
The point is there are many advantages of proper communication in a business.
Your communication strategies only work if they are clear and understood by all the parties involved.
How to achieve clarity in business communication strategies
Clarity should be looked at in two ways, clarity of thought and clarity of expressions. This is all part of the communication process or cycle. You see an idea is formed and then expressed.
Regarding CLARITY OF THOUGHT
Assuming what your business wants is to convince investors to fund an idea, your communication strategies won’t be the same as those intended to create brand awareness.
To ensure your message has been clearly thought out ensure you have answers to the following questions;
- What is the objective of communication?
- What is to be communicated?
- Which medium will prove to be most suitable for this purpose?
Regarding CLARITY OF EXPRESSION
People will become aware of your message based on your expression and this is where your communication strategies start to take effect in the real world.
To achieve clarity at this point you must pay attention to the following points;
Use simple words
Mark twain had a point when he said “I never write ‘metropolis’ when I can get the same price for city”
The idea is to achieve clarity and not to sound like a dictionary.
In business agreements for instance managing contractual risks will be easy if the wording effect is simplified. So, keep it simple
You don’t have to say ‘demonstrate’ when you can just say ‘show’.
Show them don’t tell them
Concrete expressions are important when you want to create visual images in the mind of your recipient.
For instance:
Rather than saying “This piece of jewelry is expensive” you can say “this beautiful neckless costs $2000”.
Instead of vague, generalized statements, give definite facts, unless you can derive a particular advantage from being vague.
Whenever possible use active constructions
Active constructions make it easy to understand a message since the message feels personal.
Look at this example;
- Your report will be discussed by a committee (Passive)
- A committee will discuss your report (Active)
From these examples you can tell that, active verbs are more specific, personal and emphatic.
Avoid excessive use of the infinitive
Infinitive is basically ‘to + verb’ and the challenge with this is that it gives an impersonal or formal impression.
Saying something like “it is my job to supervise” instead of “I supervise” makes the statement impersonal.
If one intends to succeed in an interview, they need to learn to balance the formal and informal.
Avoid using jargons
Jargons may be in the form of words or just the style of writing. Either way they can defeat the logic of communication, which is to create understanding.
Rather than saying “this is to acknowledge…” just say “thank you for your…”
CONCLUSION
The whole point of creating communication strategies in a business is to achieve certain desired ends. This means that one has to be clear about such objectives from the start.
To achieve clarity, ensure your message makes sense from the idea conception level all the way to the expression and above all pay attention to your audience, since it is through their response that you will know if the message was understood or not.
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