What message will your business send this year?

A new year is a great opportunity to consider what kind of message you want to communicate to people and how you're going to do it.

The psychological value of the new calendar year is shown in abundance in our personal social media accounts. Motivational memes and status updates at the start of January communicate to others, and ourselves, that we're ready for a change and a fresh start. That things will be different. It's worth making sure your business does the same. Only better.

What you want to say

For some of you, your big plans for the next 12 months may have been firmly decided upon last year. For others, you may still be looking for inspiration or the right opportunity (which is a goal in itself). Some plans may be positive. Others, like redundancies, not so much. Let's look at some ideas you may have and what you want to say about them:

You may be looking to grow. So your message may be that you're on a recruitment drive or that you're announcing a merger this year.

You may have to downsize the company because of falling demand, economic factors or an exercise in lean. Your internal communications will need to be more considerate and thoughtful of those affected.

You might want to launch a new product or service. So your message is going out to clients or customers and needs to excite them and hit the right notes for interest and sales.

You may wish to change your brand positioning or become a thought leader in your industry. A creative approach to your message content would be required, in order to stand out and show people the difference.

You may be introducing new technology and processes into the company. Change is a notoriously difficult message to get across and even the most basic changes may require a multitude of efforts.

You may have a changing management or operational structure. What's thought best for the business needs to be balanced with consideration of corporate dynamics and a delicate touch to what's being said to people.

You may even be a fresh new start up looking to plant your feet in the market or source investment. Your message needs to demonstrate your business's value to people and confidence in what you're doing.

All the above are examples of things that demand thorough planning and great execution in their communication.

The value of good communication

These messages are the kind that need to be heard by the right people and result in the outcomes you want for the future of your business. Investing in delivering the message as best you can, combined with best business efforts, vastly increases your chances of succeeding with your plans.

Poor communication (or a complete lack of it) can mean the difference between success and failure. Even with all other things in place, cutting corners here could mean that no one is interested in the jobs you've advertised. The merger leads to people jumping ship out of undue fear. Company morale plummets as redundancies are whispered about in secret. Your amazing new offering gets lost among the deluge of information faced by customers. Your new position in the market confuses stakeholders. Your cutting edge tech is derided by staff thanks to poor training material. Output stalls as people no longer know how the firm works. Investors think your business isn't worth the risk.

But doing it right; packaging the message in its best format, choosing the best person or platform to deliver it, and nailing the timings of it going out, will help swing you towards what you were really hoping for.

Your job description are tantalising enough to attract the attention of the candidates you'd like in your firm. News of the merger spins on the positives of the new business gained. People find the news of redundancies easier take when they're approached with respectful openness and definitive answers of what is and isn't happening. Your new product sparks the level of social media excitement you've been craving. The public begins to recognise your company's shift in culture and branding and understands what's behind the move. Employees embrace the new software because you've made it clear to them how it improves their work and made the training as engaging as it can be. Minimum disruption follows a change up of order because everyone knows the plan rather than a few. You secure the finance for your start up because you've convinced the right people it's viable.

This is the value in good messaging.

What do you want to tell people this year? And do you have the resources to tell it right?