Building effective business, community, or personal relationships have one thing in common: strong communication skills.
Casual conversations and formal whitepapers could be part of your messaging strategy. However, getting out the word doesn't stop there. Think about the blogs, emails, and social media posts you write. They are forms of communication. Phone calls, pitches and speeches are also part of any communication strategy. Even how you position your arms or move your eyes communicates to your audience.
Writing and speaking communication skills are necessary for relationships to stay intact and maintain trust.
Jargon Confuses Your Audience
Your audience will not care that you have intimate familiarity with your industry jargon. That's for you and your colleagues to use -- with each other, not in your marketing.
The 60-year-old urban legend about the plumber is a good example:
"A plumber wrote to the Bureau of Standards saying that he had found hydrochloric acid good for cleaning out clogged drains.
The bureau wrote back, 'The efficacy of hydrochloric acid is indisputable, but chlorine residue is incompatible with metallic permanence.' The plumber replied that he was glad the bureau agreed. The bureau tried again, writing, 'We cannot assume responsibility for the production of toxic and noxious residues with hydrochloric acid, and suggest that you use an alternate procedure.' The plumber again said that he was glad the bureau agreed with him.
Finally, the bureau wrote to the plumber, 'Don't use hydrochloric acid; it eats the hell out of the pipes.'"
Avoid relying heavily on jargon, especially if you are writing marketing content. Readers expect you to know your business. That's why they come to you. Industry acronyms repel audiences just as quickly as a good story attracts them.
7 More Things to Do Now to Improve Your Communication Skills
You can incorporate several more strategies in your messaging. These include the following seven tips:
1. Sharpen Your Storytelling Skills
It turns out that the best way to someone's heart isn't through their stomach. We capture people's hearts by appealing to their brains. Stories that motivate and inspire follow a recognized story arc that creates a character-driven connection through oxytocin synthesis. https://hbr.org/2014/10/why-your-brain-loves-good-storytelling
Stories get our attention by creating tension and sharing emotion. Using a narrative at the beginning of your presentation can inspire your team because they relate to the characters and want to emulate overcoming challenges.
We are pre-programmed to trust a community of like-minded individuals. Take the time for narratives in your marketing. People want to hear stories about how your product or service has helped others in similar situations.
2. Briefly State Your Response
Nearly 100 hundred years ago, human knowledge doubled every 25 years. Today, it doubles every 12 hours.
When someone asks you for information, think twice about how much you tell -- even if you know everything about the topic. Refrain from withholding information, but recognize that providing a lengthy and comprehensive answer can be challenging. You can't guarantee how your audience will receive it. Too much infomration, and they zone out. Too little, and they may brush you aside. Instead, answer the question in two minutes or about 300 words.
Brevity is best. If you monopolize the conversation or write a lengthy email, your listener/reader won't remember what you said. They're too busy figuring out how to get the TL;DR answer they need.
3. Develop Strong Visuals
Two out of every three people are visual learners who take in and remember information from images, infographics and other visual media. Visual materials support your message in a way no other media can. No wonder memes have become widely popular: a single picture can paint a thousand words.
In an endless ocean of words, visuals boost memory, creating message stickiness. When communicating, include relevant charts, pictures, videos and other visuals that support your message.
Even your gestures can support -- or detract from -- your message.
4. Work on Your Paraverbal Communication Skills
What you don't say while communicating is more critical to your message than your words. Your paraverbal skills can engage your listening audience if you use an acceptable:
- pitch (the auditory sound quality of your voice)
- tone (how you use your pitch) or
- pace (the rate at which you speak).
Your voice is your signature, but you should be aware that a high pitch suggests that the speaker is nervous or terrified. A lower-range pitch may make the listener think the speaker is laid back or even lazy.
How you combine varying pitches is the tone. A low, growling pitch may make you sound defensive, and yelling in higher ranges could make you appear angry, even if you aren't.
Most English speakers say about 160 words per minute, depending on their dialect. Anxious speakers increase their words-per-minute count, and calm speakers -- notably, influential leaders -- speak more slowly.
Varying pitch, tone, and pace can make you an engaging speaker. A communication coach can help you improve your paraverbal skills.
5. Use Empathy
Not too long ago, a young rescue center vet came across two baby elephants, less than a year old and orphaned. Like humans, elephants are social creatures who depend on their herd for many of their needs, including emotional support and safety.
Nappers by nature, elephants sometimes sleep standing and sometimes lying down. The calves, also known as pinkies, often snuggle next to their moms for a good sleep.
At the rescue center, the pinkies Rupa (beauty) and Ashi (joy/laughter) could not sleep until the vet came up with an ingenious solution: he dressed them in socks and jammies, just like humans do with their babies.
He relied on his empathy to understand the needs of these two babies.
Empathy is about perspective, and it's vital to communication. By understanding your audience's feelings, you can better connect with them.
You can incorporate empathy in your communication through:
- listening actively
- avoiding assumptions
- delaying your evaluation and solutions.
6. Practice Listening to Others
As counter-intuitive as it may seem to stop talking when communicating, listening is essential to good communication. It's the one strategy that connects all the others because listening helps you understand the message.
Active listening means:
- Looking at the speaker
- Waiting your turn to speak
- Nodding your head
- Summarizing what the speaker said
- Asking questions.
Avoid glancing at your phone, watch, or other distractions.
What to Expect When Working with a Coach
Knowing who needs to hear your message --internally in your organization or externally in your sphere of influence -- is critical when establishing effective communication protocols. Knowing how to present that message is even more necessary. Many people turn to a virtual communication coach to help create and deliver their messages.
A communication coach can help you:
- align your message with your goals
- identify internal and external audiences
- simplify and market your message
- help you refine the delivery
- determine the communication frequency
Your coach will conduct an initial consultation to help you define what aspect of communication you'd like to work on, including articulating your message and delivering it. Depending on your goals, you will identify your message's audience, style, tone, and frequency.
One of our clients, for example, came to us needing to prepare for a board presentation. As the CEO, he was used to discussing his cryptocurrency business with various stakeholders. However, at this particular meeting, he would need to persuade several potential well-known investors to allow their names to be associated with the company. We worked on using well-placed pauses as emphasis and a way to control his nerves.
Coaching can help you with your written communication goals as well. A coach may help you analyze strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to your current communication strategy, whether that's your branding, marketing or other messaging.
Communication should never be a hit-or-miss initiative. Fortunately, coaching strategies can help you get your message across.