Business Owners Especially Benefit from Clarity
The world of economics is driven by individual ambitions, group dynamics and national goals. But you could also say something similar about the world of personal relationships. The thing that bridges the gap between these widely diverse realms is communication.
When human beings are involved, clear communication is good for everyone involved. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an economics professor giving a high-level lecture or a love-smitten individual courting a partner. When you can impart information in a way that promotes understanding and action, you enable positive results, regardless of your specific goals.
Businesses Have Many Audiences
Personal relationships aside — since that topic would require a hundred blog posts written by a certified therapist — clear communication benefits your business in many ways because you serve several and likely very diverse audiences, such as your:
- Clients or customers
- Internal teams and employees
- Vendors and suppliers
- Third-party contractors — such as content writers, web designers, user experience experts and SEO firms
- Media contacts
- Investors
Each of these groups requires specific information from you. The better you can deliver clear communication, the easier your professional relationships become to manage. And that makes managing your business easier.
How to Improve Your Communications
Regardless what your business entails, you can learn to improve your communication skills. It takes commitment and desire, but you can will yourself to more clearly impart your meaning to whomever you’re trying to reach. Practice techniques that include:
- Listening. Clear communication begins by listening to your audience. They may tell you what they want and what’s important to them. Communication is a two-way process. You can’t effectively reach someone until you’ve listened to their needs and concerns.
- Learning all you can about your intended audience. Find out who they are and what they want from you or your business. Learn their language — slang, acronyms and all — and use it freely when appropriate. The most useful information becomes useless if your audience doesn’t understand what you’re trying to say.
- Making it easy for your audience to understand. People learn in different ways. Some learn by listening. Others learn by hearing. Still others have to get hands-on to learn. Tailor your delivery to give as many learning options as possible to satisfy the highest number of your intended audience.
- Understanding why your message matters to your audience. Know your goals in communicating. Are you trying to encourage action? Do you want to educate? What’s the urgency of your message? You should be able to answer these questions without hesitation. That knowledge gives your message the gravitas it needs to hit its target.
- Simplifying your message. Everyone in business has to manage hundreds of daily emails and battle a constant flow of spam. Your business communications aren’t a literary short story, so don’t make your readers wait. Get right to the point and deliver your message in the simplest of ways. Simplify your language, deliver it in a way that connects and ask for confirmation.
- Determining the emotional impact of your message. If what you’re imparting has an emotional component, consider delivering it in person. Don’t discharge an employee by email, text or phone message. Do it in person. Even positive news is more effective coming directly from you.
- Putting it in writing if you need to make sure they got it. The more complex the information, the more important it is that you give it to your audience in writing. They may need to refer back to your message. If your message is important enough, deliver written clear communication so they have it when they need it.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business to succeed. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters, and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
