Overcoming Tune Out: Engaging with Dynamic Communication

When it comes to marketing, there is both external and internal communication.

Internally, employees have an uncanny knack for tuning out the most well crafted corporate communication, thwarting the best efforts of internal brand managers, HR and management. Winning the battle against the workplace daily information avalanche requires a fresh approach to reignite the spark of engagement. The goal of internal communication and branding is to present a message that is ultimately received and acted upon. HR professionals succeed by successfully cutting through the communication clutter with radically new strategies as well as successful tried-and-true traditional approaches.

To be effective, it’s vitally important to “walk a mile in employees’ shoes” and discover what they respond to and what they deal with each day. Are they swimming in paperwork? Then adding one more memo or employee newsletter wouldn’t be a good option to grab their attention.

HR professionals often face the difficult task of convincing upper-level management to discontinue what isn’t working. Certain practices are entrenched in corporate culture, and change can be complicated. The reality is that how people spend their media time or respond to advertising is changing, and internal communication needs to change with it. Where and how you present your message is as important as what you have to say.

• To get a handle on where you are with your internal branding, first make a commitment to be willing to throw out anything that no longer makes sense.
• Think like your employees or customers. Where do they spend their time?
• What are their likes and dislikes?
• What do they find attractive or compelling?
• What are their biggest challenges for receiving messages and the hurdles to act on them?

When you start to think like the people you want to communicate with, you will have a better appreciation for ways to communicate and how to craft your message. It’s important to have a solid strategy so you can launch surefire methods to ensure “message received”. In return, you’ll build a more loyal employee, workplace, and customer base.

Kat Kammer

Kat Kammer is a Managing Partner at The Media Partners and a member of the Leadership Colloquium @ UMW advisory board. Connect with her on LinkedIn.