Communication Strategy That Works

What struck me this week was my own personal ethical stance on things like trust, transparency and honesty. A situation occurred and it made me feel betrayed. What happened? I will not recommend that company and people again.

It got me thinking that content creation requires many of the same qualities I desire from a partner I work with. It is no longer just about grabbing attention or quick wins for self-gain; it's about engaging audiences with messages that resonate with their values.

So today, I explore the importance of values-based content creation, who it matters to the most, and the top 5 trends playing out in 2023.

Let's dive in!

Links/show notes:

If you're interested in starting a podcast for your business or yourself and you work in comms or marketing - find out more about my podcasting for comms managers and creators course here: https://bit.ly/StartAudioPodcast

Sources:

[1] Deloitte (2020). The Deloitte Global Millennial Survey 2020: Research Findings: https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/millennialsurvey.html

[2] Forbes (2019). Good Storytelling Is Key To Building Your Brand Value: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinessdevelopmentcouncil/2019/10/16/good-storytelling-is-key-to-building-your-brand-value/

[3] Influencer Marketing HubBencmarkreport2023https://influencermarketinghub.com/influencer-marketing-benchmark-report/

[4] Hubspot marketing trend report 2023https://www.hubspot.com/hubfs/2023%20State%20of%20Marketing%20Report.pdf

One of the top three things people ask me is how you measure the effectiveness of your communication activity. My answer is that, without knowing what your current marketing and communications activities are, and how they are performing, it's impossible to know where to focus your energy and resources. Lots of people trip up on this first step.

Many growing businesses struggle to generate enough revenue to keep their doors open. Even the most successful businesses often operate on a thin financial margin, making it difficult to invest in or make a case for the marketing, advertising, and customer service that can drive more business and increase sales. Just as you wouldn't drive without checking your rearview mirror, you shouldn't launch a marketing campaign without knowing where you are along the road.

So, in today's podcast, I'm going to share a simple tool that will enable you to track your comms and measure how it performs, thus improving your outcomes.

Let's dive in!

Links mentioned in today's episode:

My simple measurement framework

Liked Listening today? What to do next:

Get my FREE roadmap to get more strategic with communication activity in your business.

Listen to more episodes, take some training, or download a resource: Find out more here.

Hire my expertise

Whether that's support with a one-off comms project or an entire strategy for your business, drop me a line if you want to explore this further. You can also work with me 1:1 as a trainer and mentor – [email protected]

Work with me closely

If you'd like to work with me to develop and implement your communication strategy through 1:1 work, podcasts, workbooks, sharing ideas, and lots of accountability and up-skilling, then email me at [email protected] to register your interest for you or your entire team.

Leave me a voicemail on my Speakpipe page I would love to hear your feedback on this episode and thoughts on any topics I could include in future ones too.

Today, we're diving deep into the immense value well-planned campaigns can bring your overall strategy. We'll explore how effective campaigns can boost brand awareness, increase customer engagement, and ultimately drive business growth. So, join me as I connect with industry expert, Ayo Abbas, who shares her insights and experiences in designing result-driven campaigns that truly make a difference!

Ayo Abbas is an award-winning built environment marketing consultant and was recently named as the overall winner for the Digital Woman of the Year Awards 2022. She has worked in B2B marketing for 21+ years' and has worked with many of the world's leading engineering and design firms including Arup, Mace and Ramboll working on marketing projects such as the Olympic Park transformation, the redevelopment of Birmingham New Street Station and King's Cross Rail and Underground stations. She also led a marketing team of five at an ed-tech scale-up in 2019.

In February 2020, Ayo founded her own consultancy business, Abbas Marketing, offering marketing strategy and content creation services to a plethora of firms both large and small.

We cover:

• Ideas vs Execution

• Top tips

• Skills

• Planning tools

• Lots of examples!

Let's dive in!

Links in this episode:

https://www.abbasmarketing.com/about

Liked Listening today? What to do next:

Get my FREE roadmap to get more strategic with communication activity in your business.

Listen to more episodes, take some training, or download a resource: Find out more here.

Hire my expertise

Whether that's support with a one-off comms project or an entire strategy for your business, drop me a line if you want to explore this further. You can also work with me 1:1 as a trainer and mentor – [email protected]

Work with me closely

If you'd like to work with me to develop and implement your communication strategy through 1:1 work, podcasts, workbooks, sharing ideas, and lots of accountability and up-skilling, then email me at [email protected] to register your interest for you or your entire team.

Leave me a voicemail on my Speakpipe page I would love to hear your feedback on this episode and thoughts on any topics I could include in future ones too.

Are you considering starting a podcast for your business but feeling overwhelmed and not sure where to start? Look no further! In this episode, I provide you with a step-by-step checklist on how to successfully launch and manage your own podcast.

Oh and this episode is a taster for a talk I am giving for the CIPR Global network on The Dos and Don'ts of podcasting for members and non-members on 8 June 2023 where there will be a Q&A and you can ask me anything! I will also be advertising a new online training at this talk so make sure you join! Link is in the show notes folks.

Let's dive in!

Sign up for my lunchtime talk on 08/06/2023 from 12:30 - 13:30.

https://www.cipr.co.uk/CIPR/Events/Event_Display_Groups.aspx?EventKey=EA23060806

Liked Listening today? What to do next:

Get my FREE roadmap to get more strategic with communication activity in your business.

Listen to more episodes, take some training, or download a resource: Find out more here.

Hire my expertise

Whether that's support with a one-off comms project or an entire strategy for your business, drop me a line if you want to explore this further. You can also work with me 1:1 as a trainer and mentor – [email protected]

Work with me closely

If you'd like to work with me to develop and implement your communication strategy through 1:1 work, podcasts, workbooks, sharing ideas, and lots of accountability and up-skilling, then email me at [email protected] to register your interest for you or your entire team.

Leave me a voicemail on my Speakpipe page I would love to hear your feedback on this episode and thoughts on any topics I could include in future ones too.

We talk a lot about 'goals', especially at this time of the year, but often we are not clear on why we have chosen them, or how we will arrive at the outcome we want. Here are a few reasons why it's important.

Setting a clear, actionable goal is the first step towards achieving success. It signals to yourself and others what you want to achieve, and mobilizes your resources towards making it happen. Without a goal, you might be working towards something that isn't quite what you really want, or you might not be working at all. You might think you're making progress when in reality you're nowhere near your goal.

When you set a goal, you're committing to working towards a result. This can be as simple as 'I will complete this project by the deadline

So I am sharing with you why I think it's important to set strategic goals regardless of what time of year it is and how you can go about it in a simple way.

Episodes mentioned in this podcast; Ep. 04 How to measure your comms impact

Let's dive in!

Liked Listening today? What to do next:

Get my FREE roadmap to get more strategic with communication activity in your business.

Listen to more episodes, take some training, or download a resource: Find out more here.

Hire my expertise

Whether that's support with a one-off comms project or an entire strategy for your business, drop me a line if you want to explore this further. You can also work with me 1:1 as a trainer and mentor – [email protected]

Work with me closely

If you'd like to work with me to develop and implement your communication strategy through 1:1 work, podcasts, workbooks, sharing ideas, and lots of accountability and up-skilling, then email me at [email protected] to register your interest for you or your entire team.

Leave me a voicemail on my Speakpipe page I would love to hear your feedback on this episode and thoughts on any topics I could include in future ones too.

Workflow management is a critical component of any business, and its importance cannot be overstated. I recently had a conversation with a client about how we can make our case study development more efficient rather than undertaking hour-long calls. We discussed workflow systems as a way of collating and sharing information.

I also use workflow for administering my podcast and for planning content.

A PR team, in particular, can benefit greatly from workflow management in client work. Being able to assign tasks, track progress, and collaborate efficiently can help the team work more effectively and ultimately provide better results to clients. Additionally, workflow management can reduce the chance of errors and miscommunications, leading to a smoother and more streamlined team workflow overall.

So today I delve into how workflow can be used not just for project management but in our everyday work as Comms professionals.

I cover:

- What workflow is

- Examples of how it can be used

- Tips on raising this with clients and stakeholders as a way of being more efficient

- How automation and workflow are game changers for content generation

Let's dive in.

Liked Listening today? What to do next:

Get my FREE roadmap to get more strategic with communication activity in your business.

Listen to more episodes, take some training, or download a resource: Find out more here.

Hire my expertise

Whether that's support with a one-off comms project or an entire strategy for your business, drop me a line if you want to explore this further. You can also work with me 1:1 as a trainer and mentor – [email protected]

Work with me closely

If you'd like to work with me to develop and implement your communication strategy through 1:1 work, podcasts, workbooks, sharing ideas, and lots of accountability and up-skilling, then email me at [email protected] to register your interest for you or your entire team.

Leave me a voicemail on my Speakpipe page I would love to hear your feedback on this episode and thoughts on any topics I could include in future ones too.

Business events, such as trade shows, conferences, and networking sessions, can be a valuable tool in promoting your business product or service. Not only do these events provide opportunities to showcase products and services, but they also allow for face-to-face interactions with potential clients and partners. Additionally, attending industry events can provide insight into emerging trends and challenges within the market, helping marketing experts stay ahead of the curve. As such, we professionals must understand the various benefits of business events and develop strategies for leveraging them effectively.

Today I run through some simple strategies you can use to maximise your event experience and a list of quick takeaways.

Let's dive in!

Liked Listening today? What to do next:

Get my FREE roadmap to get more strategic with communication activity in your business.

Listen to more episodes, take some training, or download a resource: Find out more here.

Hire my expertise

Whether that's support with a one-off comms project or an entire strategy for your business, drop me a line if you want to explore this further. You can also work with me 1:1 as a trainer and mentor - [email protected]

Work with me closely

If you'd like to work with me to develop and implement your communication strategy through 1:1 work, podcasts, workbooks, sharing ideas, and lots of accountability and up-skilling, then email me at [email protected] to register your interest for you or your entire team.

Leave me a voicemail on my Speakpipe page I would love to hear your feedback on this episode and thoughts on any topics I could include in future ones too.

There are some huge events in the Spring calendar. I'm currently working on a big event for a client and it reminded me of this episode as I am busily briefing sponsors and speakers about how to make the most out of this opportunity. You'd be surprised how many people do not, and just rock up and talk.

But the thing is you can create a lot of authenticity and credibility by speaking at events. But it's essential to plan your time and to make sure that the time spent away from the office is worthwhile, as well as make those few minutes on a panel of experts count.

This episode is for you if you are a seasoned pro or starting out as it acts as a helpful reminder of all the things to think about when speaking at an event to make it worthwhile for you, your biz or your brand, product or service.

So let's dive in!

Liked Listening today? What to do next:

Get my FREE roadmap to get more strategic with communication activity in your business.

Listen to more episodes, take some training, or download a resource: Find out more here.

Hire my expertise

Whether that's support with a one-off comms project or an entire strategy for your business, drop me a line if you want to explore this further. You can also work with me 1:1 as a trainer and mentor - [email protected]

Work with me closely

If you'd like to work with me to develop and implement your communication strategy through 1:1 work, podcasts, workbooks, sharing ideas, and lots of accountability and up-skilling, then email me at [email protected] to register your interest for you or your entire team.

Leave me a voicemail on my Speakpipe page I would love to hear your feedback on this episode and thoughts on any topics I could include in future ones too.

I was asked to prove a theory on a stakeholder campaign recently. My first port of call? The UK census data. In the UK, we recently had a new Census in 2021, the first in ten years. The Office for National Statistics started releasing this data in June 2022, providing valuable demographic information for businesses and organisations alike. It's into the final last sets to be released, and there is a wealth of information for the taking for PR professionals.

Today I cover four reasons to use this data in your campaigns.

Let's dive in!

Liked Listening today? What to do next:

Get my FREE roadmap to get more strategic with communication activity in your business.

Listen to more episodes, take some training, or download a resource: Find out more here.

Hire my expertise

Whether that's support with a one-off comms project or an entire strategy for your business, drop me a line if you want to explore this further. You can also work with me 1:1 as a trainer and mentor - [email protected]

Work with me closely

If you'd like to work with me to develop and implement your communication strategy through 1:1 work, podcasts, workbooks, sharing ideas, and lots of accountability and up-skilling, then email me at [email protected] to register your interest for you or your entire team.

Leave me a voicemail on my Speakpipe page I would love to hear your feedback on this episode and thoughts on any topics I could include in future ones too.

A crisis communication plan before you need one can be daunting—everything from when to write one and how to get engagement on it. But it doesn't have to be, so today; I run through a quick ten-point checklist you can use to get going, however small or big your business is.

I cover:

• What to do before you start

• My ten-point checklist

• My biggest tip

• Share lots of links and my free download so make sure you check the show notes

Let's dive in!

Listen to episode 72 of the podcast for how to work with stakeholders for brand advocacy.

Links for this episode:

View or listen to my free summary guide: https://mailchi.mp/811ad97adf7a/doyouneeedacrisisplan

Listen to Episode 72 on stakeholders: https://henbe.co.uk/2022/04/28/ep-72-why-you-need-stakeholders-and-advocacy-to-be-an-integral-part-of-your-pr-strategy/

Amanda Coleman is the author of Effective Communication Strategies - get her book

Andy Barr is an expert in handling crises, especially with the media - get in touch

Liked Listening today? What to do next:

Get my FREE roadmap to get more strategic with communication activity in your business.

Listen to more episodes, take some training, or download a resource: Find out more here.

Hire my expertise

Whether that's support with a one-off comms project or an entire strategy for your business, drop me a line if you want to explore this further. You can also work with me 1:1 as a trainer and mentor - [email protected]

Work with me closely

If you'd like to work with me to develop and implement your communication strategy through 1:1 work, podcasts, workbooks, sharing ideas, and lots of accountability and up-skilling, then email me at [email protected] to register your interest for you or your entire team.

Leave me a voicemail on my Speakpipe page I would love to hear your feedback on this episode and thoughts on any topics I could include in future ones too.