Have you ever heard of the game of Chinese whispers or played it as a child? Do you remember the way a simple message gets distorted along the way and how when it finally reaches the last person, the message is altogether different? Well, this is something any business or organization would definitely want to avoid when it comes to communication happening within the organization.
A good brand is built when the employees of the organization across levels, speak the same language and carry the same brand messages. The question that arises here is whether to have adhoc communication only in times of emergencies or actually develop a sustained channel of communication through which regular communication occurs. Corporate communication is defined as the entire set of activities concerned with sharing company communications with both, internal and external stakeholders. This results in creating a favorable point of view and a uniform image of the company across all channels.
In order for any communication to be effective, the three pillars of persuasive communication are important as a guideline. Inspired by Greek words, Ethos refers to the effort to convince your audience of your credibility or character. It means that before you set out to convince your audience to accept anything you say, they have to first accept you. The next is Pathos or the appeal to emotions where the effort is to persuade your audience by making an appeal to their feelings. This means that the audience is more receptive to being persuaded by someone they can identify with. And finally, is the Logos or the logical element, where it is found that facts, stories and information that ‘matters’ to your audience and you, will be present in a way that makes sense. While all these may take years to build, it can all be lost within minutes.
So, what then becomes critical is how often does one communicate and how does one communicate? To be or not to be a part of this communication cycle? Whether to do this in-house by trial and error, as and when time permits, or do it in a sustained manner with the help of an expert? In this very important decision of ‘to be’ or ‘not to be’, it’s time to let the communication specialist take over.