What Companies Get Wrong in Communications

Effective communication is critical for organizations and companies of all sizes, industries, and levels of maturity. From informing employees about organizational changes to engaging with customers and other stakeholders, communication is an essential tool for achieving your business goals and building positive relationships. However, despite its importance, many organizations get communications wrong, which can lead to confusion, mistrust, and lost opportunities.

These are some of the most common areas where companies tend to go wrong, along with some actionable steps that corporate communicators can take to try to right the ship.

1. Lack of Clarity and Consistency in Communications

One of the most common communication mistakes that organizations make is failing to provide clear and consistent messaging. When messages are unclear or inconsistent, it can lead to confusion, misunderstandings, and even mistrust among stakeholders.

For example, if an organization's social media messaging is inconsistent with its website or email marketing messaging, it can lead to confusion among customers, which can damage trust in the organization. How can you trust a company to provide top-tier service to you if they can't even agree with themselves? To avoid this, organizations need to ensure that their messaging is consistent across all channels and is easy to understand.

One area of focus to make this happen is for corporate communications professionals to work with other departments to develop clear and consistent messaging guidelines. You should create a messaging hierarchy that prioritizes the most important key messages, identifying target audiences and tailoring messaging to them, and developing messaging templates that can be used across all channels.

2. Failure to Listen to Stakeholders/Forgetting Who They Serve

Sometimes businesses are so focused on growth and profitability that they forget to center their messaging around those that they serve. This service-focus involves both internal and external stakeholders, who combined comprise the very reason they are in business in the first place. Companies should incorporate gratitude into their messaging and show that they are, in fact, in tune.

This pitfall frequently happens when an organization fails to listen to their principle stakeholders, including customers, employees, investors, and others who have a vested interest. When organizations fail to listen, they risk losing the support of those most important to their brand and irreparably damaging their reputation.

For example, if an organization introduces a new product or service without first consulting with its customers, it may find that the product or service is not well-received, which can lead to lost sales and negative reviews. To avoid this, make listening to stakeholders a priority.

Corporate communications professionals should work with other departments to develop a stakeholder engagement plan that includes identifying key stakeholders, developing feedback mechanisms, and regularly soliciting feedback from stakeholders. It also means being responsive to stakeholder feedback and making changes based on their input - not just pretending that you're listening.

3. Lack of Authenticity

When organizations come across as inauthentic or insincere, people see right through it and it will almost certainly damage your reputation and erode trust. When a brand’s messaging deviates from what that company is all about, they are getting it wrong. Brand messaging should be authentic and consistent. Unfortunately, many organizations fall into the trap of using buzzwords and jargon or adopting a corporate tone that comes across as artificial at best or misleading at worst.

Corporate communicators need to focus on making their messaging authentic and transparent. This means using plain language that is easy to understand and avoiding buzzwords and jargon. It also means using a tone that is appropriate for the target audience and that conveys the organization's values and personality.

Corporate communicators should once again collaborate with other departments to develop an authentic brand voice that everyone adheres to. This can start with identifying the organization's values and personality and developing messaging guidelines that reflect these qualities. It also means regularly reviewing and updating messaging guidelines to ensure that they remain relevant and effective as the company and its operating environment change over time.

4. Inappropriate Tone of Communications

Using an inappropriate tone in communication is another common communication mistake that organizations make. This can include using a tone that is too formal, too informal, or that comes across as condescending or rude. When organizations use an inappropriate tone, it can damage their reputation and erode trust among stakeholders. Humor is also something to use very carefully.

For example, if an organization's customer service representatives use a condescending tone when responding to customer inquiries, it can lead to negative reviews and lost sales. To avoid this, organizations need to ensure that they are using an appropriate tone in all of their communication.

There should be guidelines here, too. You can create these by identifying the appropriate tone for different target audiences and communication channels, providing examples of appropriate and inappropriate tone, and regularly reviewing and updating tone guidelines to ensure that they remain relevant and effective.

5. Lack of Transparency in Communications

Transparency is also a critical part of being effective in your communication. When organizations fail to be transparent, it can lead to mistrust and speculation among stakeholders. Unfortunately, many organizations fall into the trap of withholding information or being less than forthcoming in an effort to reduce some sort of risk, but end up creating additional risk instead.

Corporate communicators can prevent this by focusing on being transparent in all communications, including being upfront about organizational changes, disclosing information about products and services, and providing clear explanations for decisions and actions.

Begin this process by identifying the information that should be shared with stakeholders, create examples of transparent and non-transparent communication as guidelines, and be sure that all communications are brought forward out of a commitment to honesty and integrity.

Conclusion

Effective communications can help companies achieve their business goals and build positive relationships with stakeholders. But doing it wrong can easily lead to confusion, mistrust, and lost opportunities.

By prioritizing clarity and consistency, listening to stakeholders, being authentic, using an appropriate tone, and being transparent, you will be well on your way to improving your communication practices and achieving greater success.