The Importance of Professional Business Communications

Overview

In today’s world, business communications are a fact of life. They’re critical to getting the message out about you, your business, your products or services. As such, they need to be considered just as much as, and in some ways more, than all of your other marketing communications. But sadly, many marketers still don’t seem to understand that you only get one chance to make a first impression.

Informality Rules, But Does That Make It Right?

Hey John!

How many LinkedIn invitations, cold contact letters, phone calls or emails from businesses you don’t know and people you've never met do you receive on a weekly basis that all start with a similar salutation like that? More importantly, since when do business communications start with the word "Hey"?

Hey? Really?

By beginning a communication to a potential prospect or customer in that manner, the writer of these communications presumes a level of informality. Yet just based on my own experience (and yours as well, I’d bet), I've never heard of these people or their companies. That means when I receive a communication like this, I’m more likely to ignore it or delete it than read it.

Is that really the first impression they want to make?

What happened to beginning an email or message with a more formal business opening, such as "Dear Mr. Smith", followed by a brief sentence or two introducing themselves and/or their company?

Is that structure no longer used?

Communication Has Changed, But Has It Really?

In today’s world of instantaneous social media, text messages, tweets, and even email, it now seems to be deemed unprofessional to write and speak correctly. The general consensus seems to be that as communication styles have “evolved”, informality now rules and “reflects the way that people actually communicate today.”

That may be true, but is that really a good thing? Especially when you're trying to make an initial contact with someone?

If I receive an email or message that starts like that, I automatically delete it. This means all that effort on the part of the sender is wasted, since I have no interest in reading or hearing their message. Why? Because it’s obvious that the marketer who sent it doesn’t know me or my business. Instead, that person believes this veneer of casual informality will work to win me over and make me want to connect with them, do business with them, or at least listen to them.

Wrong.

Informality in the workplace is fine, once a relationship has been developed over a period of time. However, trying to make a new contact and begin a new relationship without taking time to communicate professionally sets a bad precedent. Is that really how you and your business want to be seen?

There’s an old saying that says, “You only get one chance to make a first impression.” Even in today’s world that saying holds true.

All Communication Represents You and Your Business

As with any form of marketing, to be effective, your message has to get through. If your emails aren’t opened or your calls aren’t returned, you’ve failed. If they’re not opened or returned because your communication style was too informal, you’ve failed. You’re only successful if your communication prompts a positive action on the part of the recipient.

If that is the case, shouldn’t you as a marketing professional want to take the time necessary to communicate professionally and correctly? Don’t you want to present your business in the best possible light? Especially if you’re trying to develop a new customer or relationship?

Remember, any and all communications you send are a reflection of you and your business. In fact, they’re often the first contact a potential customer has with your business. That means they’re literally a virtual representation of who you are, what your business does, or the value your business can provide. If your communication is not received or responded to, then your business doesn’t exist. Or at least, not in the eyes of the potential customer.

If you want to be taken seriously, you need to present a professional image, especially in your communications.

Remember, first impressions really do count.

Summary

Hey! Remember, don’t start your business communications with the word “hey.”

First impressions still count, and regardless of the medium, a professional image should be presented and maintained at all times. This means communicating with your customers, potential customers, and those with whom you want to build a new relationship in a professional manner.

Or at least until a level of familiarity and trust has been established that will allow you to communicate more informally.

By doing so, you will help yourself and your business.

© 2019 – Richard Hatheway, Catalyst Strategic Marketing

All rights reserved.

The Real Difference Between Metrics and KPIs

Every marketer knows that metrics and KPIs are important. The problem is that many, if not most marketers don’t really know why they are important or what the difference is between the two.

Unfortunately, looking online for definitions really is not helpful, as there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of articles about metrics and KPIs. No two articles even seem to agree on how to define them, so how do you know what to believe?

This article will cut through the clutter and provide clear and simple definitions and explanations that help you understand what metrics and KPIs are, as well as the differences between them.

THE SIMPLEST DEFINITION

The easiest way to understand the difference between metrics and KPIs is to first define them both as a quantifiable measurement of a strategic or tactical activity. As such, at the highest level, KPIs are strategic and metrics are tactical. Once you understand that, then they become quite easy to understand.

KPIs are a quantifiable or measurable value that reflects a business goal or objective (strategic) and how successful the business is in accomplishing that goal or objective. A metric is also a quantifiable or measurable value, but it reflects how successful the activities taking place are (tactical) to support the accomplishment of the KPI.

WHAT IS A METRIC?

In its simplest form, a metric is nothing more than a measurement you record to track some aspect of your business activity and measure the success or failure of the performance of that activity. Metrics are quantifiable, they allow you to specifically state your results and show how well the actual activities are performing with respect to a set target. 

Examples of metrics can range from something as simple as the number of times a piece of collateral was downloaded to something as complex as the percentage of net new names added to a contact database that were converted into new SQLs.

WHAT IS A KPI?

A KPI, or Key Performance Indicator, is also a measurement. Like metrics, KPIs must be very well defined and are also quantifiable. The difference is that these types of measurements relate to a specific strategic business goal and reflect how successful the business is in achieving that goal. To further clarify, KPIs define a set of values against which the metrics are measured.

Examples of KPIs may include the targeted percentage increase in market share or the targeted increase in revenue over a specific period of time.

HOW DO METRICS RELATE TO KPIs?

How they relate to each other is extremely simple: metrics support KPIs. KPIs in turn support the overall business strategic goals and objectives. That’s it.

SUMMARY

Understanding the differences between KPIs and metrics is simple once you remember to view them as quantifiable measurements that track performance to strategic vs. tactical goals and objectives.

© 2016 – Richard Hatheway, Catalyst Strategic Marketing

All rights reserved.

The Kitchen Sink Method Is NOT Marketing Strategy

Overview

Many marketers think that in order for their business to gain all the benefits that marketing has to offer, they need to include everything possible in every marketing campaign, plan or activity. That viewpoint is incorrect and this article will help you understand why.

The Uniqueness of Marketing

Marketing is a unique profession. It is also critical to business success. When done properly, marketing has the ability to drive awareness, drive new leads and prospects, as well as drive new business. However, when done poorly it can have the opposite effect.

Depending on what business goal needs to be accomplished, marketing may combine elements from numerous areas including communications, PR, advertising, broadcasting, trade shows, writing and content creation, training, sales enablement, graphics creation, audio, video and much, much more. Because of this, the marketing professional has the flexibility to choose from a huge palette of potential tools that can be used to drive a desired outcome.

However, that same flexibility is also one of the main problems with the marketing profession.

Why?

Because too many marketers use what I call the “kitchen sink method”. This “method” tries to include as many different activities/channels/tools as possible into each and every marketing program or campaign, whether or not they make sense or will actually help accomplish what needs to be done. Oftentimes this is done because the marketer does not understand their customer, their market, their competitive situation, or worse, the business goal that needs to be accomplished.

Let’s face it, many marketers today have become so obsessed with the latest new “thing” that they forget the basics. Instead of taking time for the necessary due diligence, they focus on the latest marketing buzzword to the exclusion of everything else. Buzzwords like “gamification”, “influencer marketing”, “mobile marketing” and “social selling” have become the go-to marketing approaches for too many marketers.

But in reality, those are tactics – they were never intended to be used solely as standalone marketing tools in place of a marketing strategy. They’re intended to be used as actions that support an overall marketing strategy.

And therein lies the problem.

The Kitchen Sink Is Not a Strategy

This “kitchen sink” mentality has become so pervasive because many marketers don’t know how to develop a marketing strategy that understands what the goal of marketing is. They don’t know how to determine what the proper actions, channels and tools are to reach those goals. They don’t understand that prior to beginning the development of any marketing activity, research must be done based on the business goal that needs to be accomplished, followed by the development of a marketing strategy that provides clarity and direction to guide the development of the marketing tactics. Instead, the assumption is made that by just including everything in their campaigns and programs, a strategy is not necessary and their marketing will be successful by default and have positive results.

If only it were that simple.

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the marketing profession provides the opportunity to become involved in numerous different specialty areas. It allows marketers to be exposed to and work with many different creative areas that professionals in other roles will never see. And one of the biggest differentiators between marketing and other professions is that marketing not only allows out of the box thinking, it actively encourages it.

This level of flexibility is why so many people think that marketing is easy to do. However, they don’t understand that flexibility must be paired with an understanding of the business, coupled with the knowledge of appropriate tactics and the discipline to choose the right one(s) in order to drive business success. In other words, strategy.

Marketing Strategy vs. The Kitchen Sink

Developing the marketing strategy is and always should be the first step in the creation of any marketing activity. The reason is that unless a marketing strategy is developed, putting marketing activities in place is simply tactics; it’s nothing more than a collection of tactical actions. There is no plan to coordinate or manage them, no way to effectively track or measure them, no way to judge their effectiveness, and no way to determine if they drive the business towards a desired outcome.

In other words, marketing without strategy is the kitchen sink method in action.

Developing a marketing strategy requires attention to detail that borders on the obsessive; it’s not just something you can create in a few minutes. Once you understand what the goals are, then you must determine how your marketing will accomplish them. This is the basis for creating your marketing strategy.

Having a marketing strategy means taking the necessary time to understand what the business goals and objectives are prior to developing marketing tactics. It means understanding how marketing can support those goals and objectives and help accomplish them. It means taking time to do the due diligence necessary to understand who the target customers are, what the best way to reach them is, and what the competitive situation is. All of these steps are required to be able to develop a marketing strategy that works.

Creating a marketing strategy means determining what the right channels are, what the interplay between channels will be (if any), what marketing tools and techniques will be used, and most importantly, what the KPIs and metrics are developed to track and measure the effectiveness of the marketing. Without metrics you can’t prove whether your tactics worked or not or whether your goals and objectives have been accomplished.

Once the marketing strategy has been created, then and only then do you develop the tactical plan of action that supports the strategy. It is only at this point that you begin to determine what actions need to be taken and how they support the strategy.

Compare this prescriptive approach to the kitchen sink approach.

Summary

By applying a more structured approach to developing a marketing strategy first instead of taking the kitchen sink approach, your marketing will be more effective and you will be able to accomplish the goals that you’ve set.

© 2019 – Richard Hatheway, Catalyst Strategic Marketing

All rights reserved.