Where’s the Value in Communications?
Can a website, an e-newsletter, and some social media platforms solve your organization’s problems?
What if I told you yes, done right, communications could solve all of your problems? Well, maybe not all your problems, but it could certainly check off some critically important business challenges.
- Fundraising and profitability
- Employee turnover
- Reputation
- Board support
- Budget control
Somehow, over the decades, communications has been seen as a must-have, overhead chewing drain on resources. An enabling function. Something to be controlled, something you have to do – because your competitors or a board member or important donor thinks you should.
From Facebook to Twitter to Instagram, and now Tik Tok, we’ve been chasing the how, not the why.
We’ve all dutifully followed along, we’ve made the investment, set up accounts, invested in new talent or used existing talent to take on the latest thing. And some of it was really good and effective; and some of it is just an obligation, a beast to be fed, or worse, it’s grown dusty for lack of use.
Somewhere along the line, we lost the value – we forgot that communications in all its forms can change outcomes, improve performance, inspire loyalty and excitement. It can bring new people to your product, bring people together over a shared experience or aspiration. Words, images, sounds, music, can be crafted into something special, meaningful and valuable to your organization.
But how to turn communications from resource drain to an asset that actually delivers value and, dare I say, a little joy to your organization?
Start by asking a few questions.
- What is most important to our business today? And who do we need to speak to to get there?
- How does this platform help us explain and advance our mission, help us move toward our vision?
- When we post to Facebook or Instagram or TikTok, do we hear our voice?
- Are we speaking to the right people – will they be able to find us here? Does our message resonate?
- Does this effort bring us value? What does it cost us in design, staffing, advertising? Do we actually know if it’s working?
- How are we doing against our metrics? Are we making the progress we expect, or should we be looking for new ways to connect?
Those answers will allow you to make the hard choices that you’re used to making across your business: Where do we invest? What do we divest?
And it will likely remind you that communications are a core function of every business – large or small, profit or non-profit. By focusing on the best tool for the job and be willing to let go of the latest craze if it’s not serving your customers and supporters, you’ll be putting communication on the asset side of the ledger once more.
Be sure to revisit these questions as you plan your communications each fiscal year – the answers will change – and you’ll have more knowledge to support your decision making.