How to choose your communication channels Fiche ARTCADEMY

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Title: How to choose your communication channels

Keywords: branding, communication, corporative image

Author: IWS

Languages: English

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Objectives/goals:

At the end of this training fiche you will have enough knowledge about what the best way is to choose your communication channels.

Description:

Making the choice of which channels you are going to use is not simple. Before deciding which communication channel you are going to use, you need to identify your target group and do some research on how they use and obtain information. It is important that you consider the complexity of the message that you want to communicate, calculate the cost of communicating and decide whether you want to be interactive with your customers.

There are so many different internal communication channels to choose from in today’s globalized and high-tech workplace, and each channel comes with its pros and cons. No two channels were created equal; you have to choose wisely depending on your message content, audience, severity, and timing.

Contents

• Identify your target audience:Find out the job titles of the people who make or influence decisions about purchasing the type of products you supply. Review the media information packs of magazines and newspapers that claim to reach your target audience. Draw up a shortlist of publications you could use for advertising or editorial coverage. Ask the sales team if they meet the key decision makers face-to-face. If they do, you can use the sales force to communicate information. Consider how you could use your website to communicate with the audience. Companies use the Internet to gather preliminary information when they are considering a purchase.
• Analyze the message you want to communicate:Use channels such as advertisements, email or short messages on social media such as Twitter to communicate a simple message, such as a price change or new product announcement. Select a channel that allows you to treat a topic in more depth if you want to explain the benefits of a new product or a strategic change in your company. Consider feature articles in magazines read by your target audience, detailed technical papers available from your website or speaking opportunities at industry conferences attended by your target audience.
• Calculate the cost of communicating through the channels you have identified:Obtain advertising rates from media publishers, ask designers and printers for quotes on producing printed documents such as technical papers and calculate the cost of direct sales calls on key decision-makers.
• Choose interactive channels:Set up a forum or product review page on your website to encourage visitors to share their views. Monitor social media for material that relates to your company. Respond to comments to build dialogue and protect your reputation.
• Work with communications professionals to develop and implement your communication strategy:Appoint a public relations consultant to handle relations with the media – ensuring that press releases appear in the right publications and gaining editorial coverage in influential media.

...Or show contents as static bullet points:

• Identify your target audience:Find out the job titles of the people who make or influence decisions about purchasing the type of products you supply. Review the media information packs of magazines and newspapers that claim to reach your target audience. Draw up a shortlist of publications you could use for advertising or editorial coverage. Ask the sales team if they meet the key decision makers face-to-face. If they do, you can use the sales force to communicate information. Consider how you could use your website to communicate with the audience. Companies use the Internet to gather preliminary information when they are considering a purchase.

• Analyze the message you want to communicate:Use channels such as advertisements, email or short messages on social media such as Twitter to communicate a simple message, such as a price change or new product announcement. Select a channel that allows you to treat a topic in more depth if you want to explain the benefits of a new product or a strategic change in your company. Consider feature articles in magazines read by your target audience, detailed technical papers available from your website or speaking opportunities at industry conferences attended by your target audience.

• Calculate the cost of communicating through the channels you have identified:Obtain advertising rates from media publishers, ask designers and printers for quotes on producing printed documents such as technical papers and calculate the cost of direct sales calls on key decision-makers.

• Choose interactive channels:Set up a forum or product review page on your website to encourage visitors to share their views. Monitor social media for material that relates to your company. Respond to comments to build dialogue and protect your reputation.

• Work with communications professionals to develop and implement your communication strategy:Appoint a public relations consultant to handle relations with the media – ensuring that press releases appear in the right publications and gaining editorial coverage in influential media.

Results

By analyzing the target audience, message, goals that you want to achieve you will know how to choose your communication channels.

Indicators

•    How big is your reach?
Nowadays for a lot of social media platforms, there are different tools, that show you how many people actually saw the content that you have uploaded.

A few examples are:
•    For the views of your website, you can use Google Analytics. With Google Analytics you can see how many people looked at your website.
•    For video views, YouTube counts how many people have watched your videos.
•    Facebook views, On Facebook you can see how many people liked your page, but Facebook also provides a metrics that shows you how many people have looked at the page of your organization.
•    Email Opens, There are tools that you can use for email that can tell you roughly how many people opened the email that you have sent.
•    How many followers do you have?
Many companies encourage people to sign up, so they can communicate with them in an ongoing way.

A few examples are
•    Email Newsletter subscribers, How many people are on your list to receive email?
•    Twitter Followers, when you decide to use Twitter, it is easy to see how many people are following you.
•    Facebook Fans, It is similar to twitter, it is easy to see how many people liked your page, by liking the page they are following you.

There are also other channels you can use like video messages, social media, public address systems, voicemail, text messages, and web casts to name a few.

Learning Outputs

Online learning

Bibliography

Description:

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/determine-appropriate-communication-channel-24098.html

Content:     http://smallbusiness.chron.com/determine-appropriate-communication-channel-24098.html

Indicators:

http://www.idealware.org/measuring-online-communications

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