Category Archives: Talking to your employees

Be a braveheart

Case Studies, Social media, Talking to your customers, Talking to your employees

Bravery is a hard thing to define. It comes in all shapes and sizes. Here though I’m not necessarily talking ‘My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North … father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next,’ type bravery. That would be a stretch. I’m thinking more about how brave as a communicator you can be.

Being bullied by a brute nosed journalist can of course make you feel like Maximus, but how many times have you written a stock phrase in a press release such as:

“We’re delighted so and so has joined, bringing with him a breadth of expertise…”

Cosy and comfortable
Or resorted to overused sound bites, or just retreated to the cosy world of corporate jargon and acronym where you know what you’re saying might not have much impact, but hey, no one ever got fired for using corporate jargon did they?

So here’s a challenge. How brave can you be? There’s the CEO to defy, or the inhouse lawyer, or simply those people who expect to see the formulaic press release, intranet article, blog or whatever.

Maybe it’s time to put yourself out there and take a few more risks.

A lesson in communication

Talking to your customers, Talking to your employees

Have you noticed how good many schools have become at communicating with parents? I get regular text messages about school events, my daughters’ homework, as well as reminders about term dates.

They’re also good at using ‘real’ message boards (as opposed to digital ones) positioned at entrances to remind parents about events or simply to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Nice eh? It makes me smile anyway.

Many companies could do a lot worse than take a leaf out of a school’s exercise book when it comes to communicating with their customers and employees. Letter home anyone?

What’s your company doing to celebrate the Olympics?

Talking to your employees

If your preparations for the Olympics have been little more than telling your employees that they need to plan their travel time more carefully to avoid being late for work, read on…

Don’t fight it
Sometimes it’s better just to go with the flow than swim upstream. Companies currently struggling against the wave of Olympic mania gradually sweeping the country might do better to think about how they can actually strike gold for employee goodwill and engagement.

So here’s five tips to celebrate the arrival of the five rings:

  • Get some big TV screens in the office – or even small ones
  • How about a daily Olympic themed raffle?
  • Every time Britain strikes Gold; every employee gets a bonus – £5? £10? Or maybe 15 minutes off the work day…
  • Early drinks on Friday to bask in the Olympic glow
  • Relax and enjoy.

So the chief executive is a human after all…

Social media, Talking to your customers, Talking to your employees

According to a newish survey by BrandFog, CEOs who use social media are more likely to be trusted by both employees and customers.

Seems like a nice chap
And it’s true; recently I was looking for a bank account to put some money in and found some good rates at a less than well known building society. Having checked on the FSA’s website that it was in fact registered (I said it wasn’t very well known), I then had a quick peruse on their website and found an engaging blog recounting the chief exec’s gardening experiences. Gullible I may be, but I felt that here was a person to be trusted and promptly deposited my money in to his (or at least the society’s) hands.

So a blog, regular tweeting or whatever social media channel you’re using, can influence the purchasing decision; but how do you get your chief exec to engage? Inevitably, it will be the communications team trying to encourage their chief exec to use social media and almost as inevitably they’ll end up drafting content to try and make it easier.

People will spot a blogus
But here is the dilemma: tone of voice and authenticity is absolutely at the heart of getting social media right – people will spot a bogus blog (blogus?) a mile off. Making sure you can replicate his or her style while getting the right content is critical and you can only do that with regular access and their engagement in what you’re trying to do.

Of course in an ideal world, your chief exec will write it themselves and it’ll be engaging, interesting and you can sit back and watch the trust in your company and its senior management steadily grow (you might even pick up some gardening tips).

Every great beginning needs a great ending

Talking to your customers, Talking to your employees, Writing

Imagine Usain Bolt (it is Olympic year so forgive the gratuitous sprint metaphor I’m about to indulge in – hopefully the IOC won’t get me for ambush marketing either) exploding from the blocks, shattering the opposition as he disappears in a rocket fuelled haze of power and pace.

Somewhat disappointingly, despite leading all the way down the track, he fails to dip for the line and Seb Clarke, a surprise late entrant to the GBR team, pips him for Olympic gold.

My point?  

Well, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a good piece of writing always starts with a good opener. But that shouldn’t mean the finisher can’t be a blinder too.

Finish with some pace; a call to action perhaps, a firm or controversial conclusion; or another question. One tip is to try and tie the conclusion back into opening – it’s sort of a reward to the reader for making it to the end (like the comedian’s punch line).

But whatever you do, don’t slow as you approach the finish line – put your hands in the air and dip for glory (can you see what I did there) and take the acclaim for a piece well finished.