Five Steps to Effective Corporate Language

Communication Competence | April 2023 Issue 

How Companies can Show their Quality

For many companies, quality poses no challenge: it goes without saying that the quality of their service is high. What poses the real challenge for them is to represent the high quality of their service in their corporate image. Why is this? One of the reasons is a lack of attention given to corporate language.

Companies don’t only provide services or products, they also represent brands. Brands are what clients recognize in the market and identify with. A brand, however, doesn’t only consist of a good logo and appealing corporate design; it also consists of smart corporate language. Corporate language is present in all parts of a company and either consciously or subconsciously perceived by clients, partners, and employees. Because of this, corporate language holds great potential and should be shaped actively.

It takes five steps to develop a company’s corporate language. These steps also define a company’s values and goals and feed them into all communicative processes. In doing so, companies can optimize their internal and external communications for them to effectively and lastingly position their brand in the market.

Authentic Corporate Language Doesn’t only Convince your Clients

Corporate language is paramount for both, internal and external communications. Internally, it shapes corporate culture. For example, when internal communication is aligned with company values and goals, it increases the staff’s motivation and identification with the employer. Accordingly, it may also enhance employee loyalty.

Externally, i.e. with partners and clients, corporate language does two things: It describes the company and creates an identity that emanates from the company’s values. Value communication creates emotions that clients identify with and ultimately opt for. This is particularly important for smaller companies because for them to create a convincing corporate image, they must ensure their values and qualities are reflected in their corporate language.

How to Accurately Describe your Company

In international comparison, Swiss companies provide services of exceptionally high quality. For Swiss SME, however, it is often difficult to describe the quality of their services to potential clients and explain how they differ from competitors. Among other reasons, this is rooted in Swiss culture, as Swiss culture disapproves of any form of exaggeration and self-praise. Clear and authentic corporate language, however, doesn’t require any feature of this sort. Rather, it seeks to describe the company in authentic words that engage and convince potential clients.

This is particularly relevant for service providers. Because in comparison to products, services require a stronger focus on the person providing them. For Swiss service providers, this attention paid to the people behind the service is often uncomfortable. Corporate language, however, can elegantly resolve this challenge.

Let’s take the example of a trustee. Trustees provide fiduciary services that are well-known and usually don’t require any further explanations, as everybody knows what a trustee does. The question then is: What does a potential client look for when choosing a trustee? They usually look for expertise, thoroughness, reliability, and, above all, trustworthiness.

The latter actually goes first. Because each client wants to trust in their trustee. And how can trustworthiness be expressed in language? Trustworthiness is transmitted by means of precise, flawless language which does not only explain what a person does but also how they do it in a style and with words that are associated with trustworthiness. In other words, the appropriate style and spelling as well as precise words and phrases reflect these values in all texts from the company portrait on the website to client correspondence. Indeed, also correspondence is important, as clients of high-quality services may be irritated by an unclear or clumsily written e-mail. Because language reflects quality.

In other words, language doesn’t only transmit values, it also creates an identity. And this is the second goal of smart corporate language: An accurately worded corporate language transmits an identity that sparks emotions and connects clients with the company. And emotions contribute to both, client acquisition and client retention.

Five Steps to Successful Corporate Language

Corporate language thus substantially contributes to corporate identity. The question that remains is how corporate language is developed. Given that language always evolves together with relevant concepts, corporate language develops hand-in-hand with the description of a company’s concepts. When a company is founded or changes are due, corporate language should be developed together with strategic concepts. This process consists of five steps.

Step 1: Define a Value-Based Mission Statement

Word a clear vision and a corresponding mission statement. Your vision will motivate you while the mission statement defines your activities and identity. Both are guided by values, and these values must be worded explicitly. A trustee, for example, could pursue the vision of becoming a trusted tax expert in his town. Accordingly, his mission will be to provide clients with comprehensive and knowledgeable advice on taxes. The language you choose in your mission statement is an integral part of your corporate culture as it inspires and guides you and your team and defines your activities. This is as important for the management as it is for employees, as also employees must know what values their company stands for.

Step 2: Value Communication in all your Messages

The values you defined in your mission statement should be represented in your corporate language. Your corporate language then feeds into every single company text – above all your slogan – for your company to be associated with these values. Likewise, these values should be reflected in everyday meetings with employees, partners, and clients. The mission statement thus also sets the guidelines for your corporate culture and helps you establish values like respect and diversity.

Step 3: Write an Engaging Company Portrait

A succinct and convincing company portrait is essential. It represents your company around the clock on your website, it presents you at fairs and events, and it feeds into your sales conversations. Portrait your company the way you would portrait a person, i.e. with an authentic character and a pinch of charm. Make it merge facts, vision, and values for it to create a brand that both, clients and staff, will identify with. If you write an engaging company portrait right at the beginning, it will help you in your decision-making, in pitches, and in client correspondence.

Step 4: Build an Authentic Web Presence

The character of your company should be represented in your entire online presentation. Ensure your elaborate company portrait is used in all company profiles on the relevant platforms. Also, the partnerships you list and ideally even your testimonials should reflect your values and practice. Ensure your internet presence is up to date.

Step 5: Sales and Correspondence

Your sales activities represent the most direct contact with clients. The sales team acquires new clients and commits them in the long run. This is why it is indispensable to ensure your sales team as well as your correspondence with clients and partners reflects your values and qualities. It is also paramount for each employee to use respectful and correct language. Templates can help increase the quality of your correspondence and save time.

The Effort Pays off

This sounds like a lot of work – and in the beginning, it is. But it pays off! Because corporate language is everywhere. It is common for employees to spend a lot of time searching for the right words and trying to write and speak in the interest of the company. Well worded texts can be reused in different formats anytime.

This last point is particularly important. Because once corporate language has been carefully worded, the company is equipped with the linguistic and conceptual fundament that sets the course, can be reused, and saves a lot of time. In so doing, not only your texts, but also the staff become active ambassadors of the company.

Read here how we help you with your corporate language. Or visit our Blog and subscribe our newsletter to receive regular expert articles and program updates.