Creative Clarity 2
5th June 2018

Over thinking in business? How to achieve clarity through simple communication.

“Communication makes the world go round. It facilitates human connections, and allows us to learn, grow and progress. It’s not just about speaking or reading, but understanding what is being said – and in some cases what is not being said.” – Richard Branson

Good communication is the most vital part of every relationship, whether it be romantic, professional, a friendship or indeed a company’s relationship with its customers.

In business, good communication is ultimately what achieves success; it builds relationships, prevents errors and misunderstandings, solves problems, achieves clarity and provokes thought – as author Anne Morrow Lindbergh once said, “Good Communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.”

But how do we achieve good communication?

This week at Big Cat, we have unveiled our brand ethos, Creative Clarity. Whether it be advertisingbrand and designPR services or digital, we think the most effective communications are the most simple.

Thanks to the rapid development of technology, our industry has evolved and how we communicate has changed massively, with a number of social media platforms accessible on a number of different vehicles and that’s without even mentioning emails and text messages.

The latest Zenith’s Media Consumption Forecasts 2018 showed that in total, the average person will spend 479 minutes a day consuming media this year, 12% more than in 2011 and it estimates the total will reach 492 minutes a day in 2020.

As we move to spending more minutes of our day on tech than we do sleeping, it brings a variety of communication challenges. Not only are we having to communicate differently but we are having to communicate a lot more, people are content hungry and they want some form of communication for those 479 minutes a day.

There is a plethora of different platforms that our communications need to suit, as well as different mindsets of all the diverse people we want to communicate with to consider as well. While some people will be sat on a train scrolling though videos with plenty of time on their hands, others will only have two minutes and be frantically searching for something else, so how do we communicate to all of these people on all their different platforms without getting lost in the chaos?

The answer is to be clear.

A lack of clarity is the cause of most, if not all, misunderstandings, frustrations, and conflicts between individuals and groups.

Clarity is key.

As an integrated marketing agency, helping people with their conversations in whatever form it may be is what we do. We work with a number of fantastic companies who have the desire to help more people, but need us to help communicate that, so here are few tips on how we do it:

  • Think clearly about how the audience will perceive your communication
  • Remember who it’s for. It’s for the audience, your customers – not you.
  • Have a plan
  • Listen! One of the most important messages in communication is to stop talking and listen more. Technology has also opened the gates to mass data, we have all the information about our audience, so use it.
  • Be consistent with your message
  • Communicate frequently at relevant times
  • Don’t communicate a number of things at once
  • Evolve with your customers and your industry
  • Be authentic

As we say on our homepage, the most effective way to get to the heart of your problem is by being direct, honest and open. It’s an approach that’s helped us create hugely effective communications in sectors such as retail, charity, healthcare, hospitality and destination marketing. It also means working with us is about as easy and straightforward as it gets.

"Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after."

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

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