Communicating with Clients or Customers

To help you jump start the new year, we’re posting thirty-one technology and business treats, one for each day of January.

We all hear about how important it is to communicate with our clients or customers. Most of us may even have an idea of what and how we’d like to communicate. There are all sorts of technologies out there to facilitate communication: telephones, cellphones, email, email marketing tools (i.e., MailChimp, Vertical Response), social media (i.e., Twitter, Google+, Facebook), mail, websites, face-to-face, events (i.e., workshops, conferences). But, can we articulate what we’re trying to accomplish with our communication?

I know. Why did I have to go and spoil the feel-good moment by asking a question that’s really hard to answer. Even if you can answer what you’re trying to accomplish, it must be followed up with:

• how you’re going to accomplish that communication and why you’re choosing that particular communication mode;
• who is going to own that communication and makes sure it gets done and is managed;
• how will you measure outcomes to know your communication has been effective.

Another way to look at it is:

• what is your communication strategy;
• what is your message;
• what is your communication infrastructure.

I know this is hard, but as with anything worthwhile, if you put in the effort, you’ll have better results. There aren’t many businesses or organizations who are communicating regularly or even using the social media tools effectively. Puzzling through the issues, learning from your experiences, and listening to what your clients are telling you will set you apart from all the rest.