Effective communication is and always will be integral for success in any business, whether it’s online or offline. First off, a company requires communication within the organization to foster team effort. This ensures everyone is focused on a single direction and strives for one common goal.
More importantly, effectively communicating with your audience is crucial for successfully marketing your brand. This has never been more important in age of digital marketing where there are several communication channels you can mess up. This includes the likes of social media, your own blog, and your email list.
One wrong move on any of these factors could spell doom to your business. Take cue from this infographic created by 24 Hour Translation Services on the costly blunders of ineffective communication.
To maintain optimal communication between you and your audience, take a look at the most common mistakes that marketers make as well as how to fix them.
Failure to Communicate CORRECTLY
It is no secret that you require an excellent wordsmith to produce your content. But sometimes, brands don’t even pay attention to the simplest of details.
As an online brand, remember that appearing credible means everything. Your audiences are exposed to a myriad of brands that fail to stand out simply because of bad grammar – the worst of all communication blunders. Simple typos and grammatical mistakes can ruin the professional image that you’re trying to establish to your audience. This alone may destroy your online presence before you even begin.
In addition to grammar and spelling, the words in your content should be weaved together to form a single, solid thought. Pay attention to the flow of ideas and structure how and when key details are presented. All these will offer a smooth reading experience for your audience.
For instance, are you using the right tone and choice of words for your target audience? Will using technical terms and concepts make sense for your readers, or do should you resort to having a layman’s approach?
Another rising trend in the marketing world for 2015 and beyond is the rise of global advertising. This means big ecommerce firms in UK could be targeting your local customers in New York or LA. So if you’re still targeting English-speakers or the local market exclusively, then you’ll be swallowed by the competition eventually.
To remain competitive in 2016, you also need to look for expansion in foreign countries, possibly to non-English speakers. And for this, you’ll need the help of professional translation services that could eliminate the language barrier between you and your prospective foreign audiences.
It’s not always easy to nail your content whether you’re marketing through email, social media, or blog. In addition to partnering with a translator, you also need a fulltime proof-reader or editor for your content marketing. And as a business leader, you need to develop a close working relationship with this professional to make sure the writing tone exactly matches your brand’s personality.
Failure to Communicate ON TIME
Apart from having errors in your content, another mistake that can ruin your company’s relationship with your target audience is failing to communicate at the right time.
Remember that timing is crucial, particularly when it comes to content marketing. For example, you should know when your audience is most active in social media. Using analytics, it should be easy to figure out when they’ll have enough time to read your marketing content.
Another thing you need to pay attention to is the timeliness of your response to enquiries and direct customer feedback. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes – wouldn’t you want assistance in the soonest time possible?
Making the customer wait for a response is your one-way ticket to bad customer experience. At the very least, you should set up an autoresponder email that guarantees a quick resolution to your customer’s problem, which should be followed-up by your support team as soon as possible. Not only will this benefit your customer relationship, it will also help develop trust and buyer confidence.
Failure to Communicate ALL THE TIME (at the right time)
Last but definitely not the least is the failure to communicate regularly with your audience. This is extremely important if you want to maintain brand awareness and educate current leads.
First of all, remember that your audience probably comes into contact to numerous brands if they are truly engaged in the niche. Even if they considered buying from you in the past, they might find another brand just when they are ready to buy. This is why you need constant communication to keep your brand on top of their minds.
However, remember that you don’t need to set your schedule in stone. After all, sending a newsletter when you have no new information or promotion to offer will result to bored readers. Your audience will also notice old ideas no matter how well you repackage them. This will ultimately decrease the value of staying subscribed to your list, which may result in unsubscribes and diminished brand image.
With all these being said, you can never really send updates too often or too rarely – as long as every update comes packed with valuable information. To have more control over timing, consider using automation software for your social media and email marketing campaigns.
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