How can you stand out, be heard and to have meaningful connection with your clients amid new communication trends?
The way we communicate in business has evolved dramatically. For SMEs, it can be difficult to decide the most economic, efficient and effective way to communicate internally and with clients. The way consumers want to receive information has changed so it pays to keep up with the latest technology and communications trends.
Email still the preferred option
According to the 2016 SME Directions Survey, 86% of small businesses said that email was still the preferred option for outbound marketing and communications. Email also looks to expand as a vital part of any company’s marketing mix with more than half of those surveyed viewing email as a prominent growth platform.
The growth of email is fueled in particular by advances in technology – namely personalisation, automation, the business intelligence metrics available and integration with systems such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms.
Social as communications tool
Social media has been on the rise for some time as a small-business communication tool. And it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Australian SMEs surveyed cited social media as the second most popular growth area for communication mediums to increase in use in 2016.
Businesses are starting to see the potential of social media, far beyond being just a broadcast platform. While it’s still used to further push content, such as blog posts, news and product promotions, forward-thinking businesses are using social to encourage and initiate conversations with clients and prospects.
Two-way conversations
One of the biggest impacts that millennials are having on business communications is their expectation of prompt, two-way conversations. People are becoming less hesitant to respond to communications and more likely to start a dialogue with businesses directly via their staff – whether it’s the sales rep or the CEO, via one of the many channels now available. They’re also becoming more comfortable engaging with businesses on social media in more conversational ways, similar to how they’d engage with friends.
Video adds personal touch
Video conferencing is now a quick, cheap and accessible communication tool. Free options such as Skype, Join.me and FaceTime, along with newcomers such as HipChat, make it easy to meet with clients or teams in dispersed geographic locations via video. It also makes it even easier to initiate video chats, with front facing cameras now on both laptops and mobile devices as a standard.
Video meetings can create a more personal and human element to the communications, further encourage two-way conversations, and bring all the benefits of body language and facial expressions, which make the communication experience richer and potentially more powerful.
Technology is making it more accessible than ever to communicate with clients in increasingly personal ways. However, this also means that your clients are becoming bombarded by messages from multiple sources, including all sorts of communications from your competitors.
To stand out, be heard and to have meaningful communications with your clients, think about taking advantage of advances in technology that are available to you right now. Also look at using multiple platforms such as email, face-to-face, social media and video calling to build a well-rounded experience.
Stephen Canning, CEO, JCurve Solutions
