Want to Communicate Effectively? It All Comes Down to Two Things

There are a lot of conversations in the business community as to what particular method of communication works best to engage employees, customers and prospects. 

But guess what? The selected mode of communication matters far less than two important factors – timing and relevance — especially if you want to communicate effectively.

At the end of the day -- If the information you’re sharing comes at the wrong time, no matter how important it might be, it won’t be heard. Moreover, if it is not relevant to your contacts – in other words, if it does not match their individual preferences for the type of content that engages them most – then it has just wasted time for both parties.

TIMING – Right time, right time…

1. It’s no surprise that if you send information to someone when they’re already thinking about the topic, your communication has a much better chance of being seen (heard) and understood. It’s not always easy to know what the right timing is; we never really know what’s going on with a contact from one minute to the next, or at the exact moment that our communication enters their world. However, if we can gain insights into when our information and content was viewed, that can help us “learn” what timing makes sense for different individuals – and schedule our communications accordingly.

RELEVANCE – Right Content at the right time…

2. What do you know about a contact’s preferences for the types of content that resonate best? How relevant is your communication to their current workload, or to an area of interest they have expressed in the past? When you consider these factors, you have a better chance of true engagement with your audience.

Digital Packets: Understanding and Engaging your Audience

More effective, engaging communications is happening across many organizations through the use of “digital packets” – which give you more control over how and when you share information with others. Ving allows you to create these digital packets, which can contain one or more content types that you choose, based on what you know about what your contact is most partial to (e.g. a video, audio, survey, photo, text-based file), and easily distribute that content to one or many individuals. The beauty and true benefit of these digital packets are five-fold:

1. You increase the likelihood of engagement with your contact(s)
2. You can customize each packet to meet the unique needs of each individual (for example, a short explanatory video may work best for some, while a written document resonates better with others)
3. You learn about your contacts’ preferences for timeliness and relevance through the analytical dashboard, which shows you who viewed or heard what content, and when
4. You can transmit each packet via an individual’s chosen platform of communications (email, messaging, social network)
5. Vings are reusable, so you don’t have to create something new every time you want to send the same content to a new group of individuals

People are more likely to become engaged when you send them the right content at the right time and in the right form, and when you have the ability to learn and understand what their preferences are for receiving information, you have a much greater chance of keeping and maintaining their attention, and seeing them take action.