Everything changes and evolves, and trends come and go. It’s no different with business communication. The way that businesses communicate with employees, customers, stakeholders, and partners is always changing. Sometimes the changes are a long time coming, and sometimes a sudden breakthrough or event makes it happen. In 2020, the pandemic led to the widespread use of video conferencing, for example. As a business owner, you have to evolve too, and adopt some of these practices to stay ahead of the game and ahead of the competition. Here are some business communication trends for you to keep up with in 2023.
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Empathy
This one isn’t a new technology or method. It’s an acknowledgement that people have gone through a tough couple of years, and they are looking for a little empathy. This has to be reflected in not just your communications with customers, but with your employees as well. The traditional discourse is no longer appropriate. You must understand your audience well and tailor your messages to them with thoughtfulness and understanding. You need to know your audience and craft your messages accordingly.
Personalization
Along the same lines, when you communicate it cannot be a one-size-fits all solution. It’s no longer acceptable to market to your customers solely on television and the radio, for instance. They need to feel like you are speaking directly to them. It must be value-driven, engaging, and helpful. When people ask questions on social media, answer them. Don’t always have a written stock answer. Sometimes you might be able to answer in a live stream or a video. Social media can be very powerful to showcase your brand’s personality and values to an audience that responds and relates to it.
SMS Communications
If there’s one thing people nowadays cannot do without, it’s their phones. They are receiving and answering messages, checking their social media, and playing games all throughout the day. You can take advantage of this with bulk SMS messaging to your customers. Text messages have a very high open rate, so your customers are likely to see your messages almost instantly. They are more likely to respond as well, since it’s something they do all day anyways. You might wonder how businesses send SMS messages to so many people. It’s simple nowadays, as there are services that allow you to send them from your laptop and make it easy to fill out contact lists and type out content.
Omnichannel Communication
While texting is a very powerful way to get your message out, there are other ways as well. Personalization isn’t just about the content you create, but about the way in which you send it. Many companies are adopting an omnichannel strategy. This means that they offer many ways to communicate with customers, from text, to email, to yes, even snail mail. It allows the customer to communicate with you through their preferred methods and devices and on their terms. In some cases, they may want you to use different methods for different things. You can send them an SMS for impending sales, but email for customer satisfaction surveys or receipts. It’s about offering them flexibility in how they engage with you.
Live Streaming
Live streaming has become an engaging way to connect with your audience in a meaningful way. You can host a livestream for your staff, or a how-to session with your customers, for example. The audience can chat and ask questions in the commenting area for additional engagement. This type of communication is not going anywhere. Despite what you might think about Covid-19, it is still affecting people’s lives, and having a large in-person event could be bad publicity. It’s great to have livestreaming to fall back on in case of an upswing in cases in your area, or for customers who don’t feel comfortable at such events. Livestreaming brings the audience into your world and makes your brand seem more human and relatable.
Engaging Content
It’s never been more important to produce well-written, informative, and engaging content. Your competitors are doing it, which is why you have to up your game. You can long-form informational blog posts, how-to videos, or infographics. Excellent content will aid with your SEO efforts, and it will keep giving you benefits for years to come. The bottom line is, you can’t entrust content as someone’s part time job or to an intern. It must be well thought out and well-written and produced to be effective.
Communication trends come and go, but these trends are here to stay. It is up to you as a business owner to adopt the ones that are appropriate for your company. Failure to keep up with the trends could see you falling behind and losing money.