Do you admire those succinct communicators, the ones that find it incredibly easy to leave modestly at the door as they talk about themselves, or the ones that are so passionate about what they do they hypnotise you with positivity? They’re engaging aren’t they?
Communicating is essential in order to attract new clients, as well as retain them. In the world of PR this is called ‘engaging your audience’. Public relations has a very specific role here; and it can carry out that role on many different levels, and with differing degrees of success.
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You don’t have to be a motivational speaker, or an exhibitionist, just consider the importance of engaging communication – it helps build solid relationships, creates wider understanding and awareness, and invites open and honest conversations.
Here are three tips to help you create engaging communication from your business and be more engaging in your PR:
1. Be transparent
That means no sales fluff or hyperboles. Just be honest and let others within your organisation; customers, and advocates, learn about what’s going on in your business. Communicate your future plans, growth, investments, successes and achievements. Sharing this information is valuable PR, it helps create an understanding and awareness about who you are and what you do but more importantly it creates trust and loyalty as you form genuine relationships through genuine dialogue.
2. Share positive stories
Everyone loves to hear good news. We like to read it too; so consider how your business can communicate a positive vibe. Do you have a fantastic human interest story just waiting to leap into the public realm? Maybe you’ve achieved something wonderful for charity, maybe a good deed has transformed someone’s life, or maybe your company expansion plans will create masses of local employment opportunities. Communicating positivity in the face of our perpetually negative media can seem like a challenge, but try it, we all like things that make us feel good and secretly the media does too.
3. Find your enthusiasm
Enthusiasm is like a huge smile, once you’ve shared it it will be carried on. Embrace what is good about your business and be enthusiastic about it. I know there’s trepidation here, but ignore those endless rows of people that make it their job to dampen the spirit of enthusiasm. Think about your company values, good service, staff development, great after sales care; and tell everyone about it. Trust me its worth sharing, and once you do others will share for you too.
There you have it, engagement, just share your stories and celebrate communication – you’ll be an engagement expert before you know it.
Colette Lowe is the Founder and owner of Chew PR. Colette has worked in PR for over 15 years. She has seen both sides and worked for consultancy and in-house teams providing her with an insight not many see. Colette will be contributing to the Public Relations section. She is based in Wakefield, England.
photo credit: How to Earn Customer Loyalty By Focusing on Customer Experience via photopin (license)