A brand-new website. Busy social media presence. Blogs bursting with content. Non-stop newsletters. At first glance, this kind of communications output appears extremely impressive. But look more closely and you’ll find out that you’re actually witnessing a pretentious or should I even say pseudo-communications.
The digital age means that organisations now have a vast variety of communications channels at their disposal. But making use of all the opportunities, generating content for every single channel, takes a lot of effort – and the pressure to be present and relevant often leads to, you guessed it, pseudo-communications. Organisation communicates a lot but is not actually saying anything. And what it is trying to say lacks a strategic intent and consistency.
So, what causes pseudo-communication? The reason is often a disconnection between business and communications strategy. That lack of alignment means that the content produced does not support the execution of business strategy. Some businesses lack a communications strategy or even a basic communications plan altogether. Communications is done on the fly. Too much room is left for creativity. And we all know that creativity has its limits too. But it also means a failure to recognise the expectations that your customers, stakeholders, and society in a wider sense place on your communications.
So how can you avoid pseudo-communications? Here’s a few questions that may help you.
- Are your business strategy and communications strategy clearly integrated? What are you trying to achieve with your communications?
- Do you understand your target audiences’ needs and expectations, and do you know how to target your communications accurately?
- Does the content you generate support your business strategy or are you creating content for content’s sake?
- Have you successfully pinned down the right tone of voice for all your communications or do you just communicate as you do?
- Are you actively communicating your views on the development of your industry, market, and society in a way that it supports your business and builds your thought leadership position?
- Are you definitely making use of the best possible communications channels and methods?
- Have you got the right communications professionals on board? Do they have the skills and the resources they need to do their jobs well?
- Are you targeting your communications budget accurately?
The job of communications professionals is not easy. If you allow communications to become a marginal, un-strategic part of your business, you run the risk of doing pseudo-communications.
The good news is that if you can find the time to do a bit of planning and get your priorities worked out, you’ve already come a long way. And a high-quality communications agency helps to give you an outside and fresh perspective to your communication practise.