“Companies are built on communication. It’s not a company without it — just a bunch of people bumping into each other.” – Miika Kenttämies, Growth Marketer, Yousician
Whether you are a startup or a full-grown organization, there’s no alternative to effective communication. We often read and talk a lot about the significance of communication in an enterprise, but how much of it do we actually realize or implement in our company? Do we have a full-fledged communication process to rely on or a team communication app? Before we start diving into this subject, it’s important to understand that there are two facets of company communication – internal and external, and we will try to cover both the aspects and their elements.
Working for a SaaS product-based startup teaches you a whole lot of things and one of them is the importance of effective, company-wide and timely communication, which plays a strong role in enabling people to stay on top of every small and big detail of the company – be it sales numbers, customer issues, marketing dynamics, product innovations, events, announcements and so on. In SMBs and fast-growing companies, fewer people tend to take up (or share) responsibilities for more things compared to larger setups. Hence, startups and SMBs cannot afford to miss out on fostering a strategic and transparent collaboration system across the company.
Effective communication is defined by a set of information with clear messaging coming from the right channels/sources at the right time for the right audience. Powerful internal communication has several benefits that can not only drive informed decision-making and employee productivity but can also enhance business profitability. Open, clear and transparent internal communications keep the executives inspired, engaged, educated and informed at all times, which makes them feel valued, involved and motivated to work towards the common company goal.
Also, regular and consistent team and company meet-ups boost employee morale, their urge to contribute further and productivity, leading to a better work environment marked with trust, confidence, and reliability. It ensures that each and every employee is aware of what is happening within the team and the company, and how his/her contribution can make a difference. Well-communicated employees are well-informed, which actually promotes a positive attitude towards work, enterprise, and team. Also, they are aware of their tasks, goals, roles, performance, strengths, and weaknesses.
Communication breeds knowledge that in turn drives the right progress desired by all in the team and the company. However, it’s important to understand that internal communication is much more than just having an organized enterprise communication system based on technology platforms and enterprise tools like Skype, Slack, Trello, Google Drive, etc. – it is more like nurturing an environment where people are not hesitant to share, express and ideate.
Basically, a start-up’s success depends a lot on how it communicates its value, passion, and uniqueness to the people within and the world outside. So, besides internal communication, external communication also plays a huge role in its overall growth. After all, the company cannot afford to ignore its external public including customers, media, competitors, community, job seekers, financial institutes, government and the general public at large. A big chunk of a company’s reputation and image lies in how the enterprise communicates and expresses its observations, ideas, and knowledge to the external stakeholders.
A startup that manages a perfect communication strategy with the external public just knows when to announce the right information at the right time through the right channel and who is the right audience to address to meet the right purpose. The expanding roles played by press releases, announcements emails, release notes, blogs, newsletters, briefings, interviews, media conferences, and events are something to reckon with, especially when it comes to getting the apt message across to the people.
Indeed, marketing communication and its varied techniques are being exploited and explored by SMBs to not only make a desirable impression on people’s minds about the brand and thereby gaining new customers but also to communicate the brand’s ideology and wisdom to make an everlasting mark on people’s hearts. In short, both short (revenue-generation) and long term (brand building) communication goals are equally important for the company and its growth and progress.
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Considering these tips and advice can greatly help a startup to have an initial process of communication ready and going. However, it should be kept in mind that internal and external communications are a lot about being spontaneous, relevant and well-equipped with the right information ready in the right format for people who want to know more about your brand. A healthy communication goes a long way to improve employee performance, team productivity, positive mindset, and above all business revenue. Mostly, companies that balance out traditional with modern means of communication fair better than others – communication blended with emotion, intelligence, passion, and compassion surely delivers the best kind of results.
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