Back to Basics: The Importance of a Multi-Faceted Communications Strategy
Are you feeling stuck in your marketing and communication efforts? Investing hours and hours (and hours) into the perfect sales page, website, social media content, or even newsletter, but feel like it is just disappearing into a void? It can be so discouraging to put this effort in and not have it yield the results you are after.
As we cross the 2-year mark of lives forever changed by Covid-19, one of the trends I have been noticing with clients and in my own business is how habitually we have come to look to digital modes of communication as the primary way to promote our work and how increasingly frustrating that approach is feeling.
The solution from my perspective? Find your way back to the basics. Think of digital modes of communication and promotion as just one quiver in your very deep arsenal of communication activities. Everything from the day-to-day interactions with clients or customers, to signage, t-shirts or gear, event sponsorships, pr, speaking engagements and 1:1 in person outreach is part of a comprehensive communications plan. They're all opportunities to connect with your target audience and build meaningful relationships that drive awareness and build toward your goals.
Your digital presence is of course a cornerstone piece of an effective outreach strategy, and we will always hear the stories of the breakout businesses who were catapulted into the spotlight on social media. But if you're feeling fatigued from that mode of communication, can you strip down the time you're spending there a little bit to free up some time for interactions IRL?
Is there an approach to business building that worked for you previously that has slid off your radar? In some conversations with coaching clients the value of the good old fashioned coffee date has emerged as a go to strategy lost to the Covid fog, reconnecting with relationships in your community and catching them up on how your work has evolved. Maybe you used to offer a referral program to existing customers, offered ways for people to try free samples of your product or service, or sent free t-shirts or gear to your top customers.
Building a multi-faceted communications strategy has always been important, but it seems vital now more than ever, when so much of our lives—professional, personal and everything in between—is happening online. It's so easy to get sucked into the trap of thinking that if you show up well there it will build momentum for your business. But it's really the interaction between all the pieces in your strategy that is where the magic happens—all building together to increase your profile, visibility and impact.
So have some fun revisiting strategies that have worked in the past, and that you find particularly meaningful and enjoyable.
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If you're looking for support in mapping out a well-rounded communications plan, I'm available for 1:1 coaching, and am offering a 3-hr Planning Intensive to refresh your goals, review what you're doing currently, and map out an updated plan together ($1,450). Email me leah@crafttomorrow.com to learn more or plan a time to get started.
