Communication Strategy That Works

In times of economic downturns, it's essential to ensure your communication and marketing plans are recession-proof. However, the latest research from Linkedin suggests brands will keep on building and not hold back, despite the economic picture.

You can do a few things to ensure your spending remains conservative while still reaching your goals in times of challenging external influences. But this doesn't necessarily mean less is more.

Here are some reflections on LinkedIn's latest marketing research and expert views and three tips to get you thinking.

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.

Links mentioned in this episode:

My simple measurement framework:

https://henbe.co.uk/2022/06/30/ep-81-how-not-to-fail-at-comms-a-simple-measurement-framework/

LinkedIn research

https://pressgazette.co.uk/b2b-marketers-remain-positive-despite-economic-gloom/

How to use PR to build trust in your product

One of the many ways PR can help the sales process along is through the 'know, like, trust' aspect of the customer journey with you.

The more someone hears about your business and the better informed they are, the warmer they are as a potential lead. In plain terms, this means your customer is closer to working with you than they were when they first heard of you. The customer has to travel along the 'know, like, trust' pathway with you to know your products, to like them, and to work out if they will work for them. They also need to trust you, so they will choose you over the other options that might be available out there.

Using PR this way can influence your lead generation and become an essential cog in your sales wheel.

Now I say this is for B2B, but it can be easily translated into B2C – it's just that B2B is my genius zone, so I am focussing here today.

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.

You've a new CEO and you're tasked with creating a public relations programme for her. She's been working hard to improve the company's image, and you want to ensure that the public is aware of the changes. You've been thinking about this for a while, and you've come up with a few ideas, but you're not sure which one is the best?

The first 100 days have long been a marker for success for a new CEO, either new to the role or experienced. There are lots of research and case examples to back this up.Some of you may know that my background before becoming an independent consultant was an in-house career. I have supported many incoming and outgoing CEOs as a strategic advisor or trusted advisor in all my roles pretty much so I am sharing some tips with you this week on what you could be doing should you find yourself in this position...

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.

WorkLife Week is the 10-14 October in the UK and is celebrated by the Working Families Charity. So I wanted to again this year raise some awareness of this topic for communications people and share my thoughts and experiences on this topic spurred on by this charity's work.

A recent study by the charity showed that, of the UK parents currently in work, 3 in 10 are in jobs below their skill level because their jobs offer greater flexibility. This shows a need for more high-quality part-time and flexible roles in the labour market.

Employers also need to think beyond just home and hybrid working: Nearly half of these parents (46%) work in place-based roles, which cannot be done remotely because the work has to take place in a specific location.

Working flexibly is also about being productive, and it's not easy in a comms job as sometimes you need to be 'in the thick of it', or at least that's the perception.

There's also a 'productivity stack' for you.

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.

Have you got a plan to build trust with your audience or just a communication plan? Good Public Relations (PR) is about creating trust in your brand. It's a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organisations and their public or audiences. Ethical public relations practices seek the truth and provide accurate and balanced information.

However, this is increasingly difficult in our current age. The internet has allowed for a free flow of information that has led to a new level of transparency between people, businesses and consumers.

This podcast today is inspired by a particularly challenging week communicating with my teenager and the perils of social media they are exposed to daily.

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.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Lynn PR Misinformation Cell / definitions:​​https://lynn.global/welcome-to-the-misinformation-cell/

BBC Education Survey: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/61856053

Do you wish more people were telling their friends about your company? When people are looking for recommendations on LinkedIn, you wish your name was being tagged.

When someone at an industry event is asking for examples of people in your niche, you want your brand to come up in the conversation.

What about when things do not go to plan? A network of trusted people can also help test your response in a crisis and help you out of a reputation hole.

One way to do this is through finding brand advocates, those who rave about how good you are when the going is good and when it's not so good.

Today I delve into this topic with a focus on crisis management and stakeholders and give tips on what to think about before you start, whatever your programme.

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.

It's been an odd time. It's been a time to reflect and review recent events in a few areas of my life and work. I've some new business opportunities I am working on and rethinking how I work and when. Sometimes you just need to change it up, but it's also good to reflect on how I spend my time at work and home to see if being more thoughtful about approaching this could improve anything.

I also have a teenager in the house, and trying to help them think about how to improve their behaviour led me to reflect on what has worked well for me and how it might work well for them. I also like to Champion not just essential skills on this podcast for our industry and profession but also approaches and ideas to help us feel better, work better and reach our personal goals as humans.

Reflection time is something we all talk about, and there is evidence to support that it can help improve our well-being by allowing us to reflect on thoughts and emotions and the actions we've taken. It can also help us identify areas in which we could improve.

So today, I cover reflective thinking and some tips on how it can improve your comms strategy and general well-being.

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.

Links in this episode:

Sketchnotes https://www.sketchnotes.co.uk/

OneNote (Microsoft Office needed)

MindMap apps (App Store)

Bullet Journal https://bulletjournal.com/

Remarkable 2 https://remarkable.com/

Firstly, I wanted to note the sad passing of Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II recently, which has been felt worldwide, not just in the UK. She always captured the hearts and minds of her audience when she undertook her Queen's Speech and at other times in our history.

It was national Roal Dahl story week this week in the UK, and I was thinking about how this topic is increasingly important for leaders of state, nations, and for brands in an increasingly noisy, politically challenging, and divisive world. Storytelling has long been a part of human communication. It is an important tool for conveying a message, preserving culture, and connecting people.

For brands, storytelling can be a powerful way to connect with audiences and create an emotional connection.

So today I delve into storytelling a little more and explore how it is used every day by brands to connect deeper, and some tips on how to get started or refine your own message.

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.

We need to be inspired to feel creative and fulfilled because, without inspiration, we may not be able to produce the best work possible. If we don't have the drive to do our best, then what is the point?

This inspiration can come from many different sources, but one of the most important is our own personal experiences. We can gain inspiration from our own life experiences, other people we know, or even things we see in the world. We need to be inspired to feel creative and fulfilled because if we aren't, we will likely become bored with our work and stop producing good results.

I was at a swimming event with my daughter recently, and we had the privilege of meeting some of her current swimming heroes and Olympians. Hearing their words and stories has inspired this podcast episode today, where I will talk about how to get creative in your 'every day', and improve your creativity at work.

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.

Some of the most important skills for a public relations professional are lifelong ones. You can't learn all the knowledge you'll need in a few months of school or a few years of experience.

Instead, we need to keep our skills up to date. This not only helps us learn new things, but it also keeps us competitive in our specialised field of work.

But how do you know what skills you need or where to focus your time? Today, I run through what skills I consider to be top of the pack when it comes to keeping up to date and how a skills audit can be a really effective place to start for you or your team.

It's back to school for a lot of us across the world, but especially in the UK, so I thought I would spend some time talking about skills today, how you identify what you need and what's hot to skill up on.

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.