No matter what their size, many businesses use most of their available energy just keeping things running on a day-to-day basis.
Unfortunately, there seldom seems to be much time for those tasks that can have a profound effect on a company's future, such as communicating the company's message and projecting its image.
How can a company evaluate its effectiveness in getting its message to customers and prospects? By using a communications checklist. A breakdown of communications in any one or two areas probably points to company-wide difficulties. For example, if a company is unable to maintain an up-to-date mailing list, this indicates problems in maintaining close, consistent customer contact.
Here is the communications checklist:
[ ] Mailing list: Is the customer list frequently updated? Can the list be accessed easily for ZIP-coded mailings, personalized letters, segmented sorts, or various types for specialized contacts? In other words, is your mailing list easy to use? Is every piece of mail from your company addressed to a specific individual?
[ ] Prospect list: Is there an established procedure for adding names to the prospect list? Are sales personnel expected to identify prospects and add them to the company's contact list? Are you identifying companies (including appropriate contact names listed) that you would like to do business with, if given the opportunity, and adding them to your mailing list?
[ ] Media contact list: Do you maintain a list of print and broadcast-media editors and writers? Is this list updated regularly? Do you talk with these people often enough to keep them acquainted with your company?
[ ] Newsletter: Do you send customers, prospects, and the media a regular newsletter? Is the newsletter filled with helpful information, or is it viewed by those who receive it primarily as an ad for your company? Does the newsletter go out on time, according to a definite schedule?
[ ] Advertising: Have you been running the same ads for a long time? Are you advertising in the same publications that you were several years ago? Is your company name the largest type in the ad? Do you plan your advertising carefully? Does the chief financial officer complain about the 'high cost of ad production'? Is the advertising over-dependent on one medium, such as the Yellow Pages?
[ ] News release: Do you mail news releases to the press frequently? Are you constantly looking for opportunities to let your story be told? Do you prepare releases on new products, personnel changes and promotions, and company activities?
[ ] Speaking engagements: Are your employees actively seeking speaking engagements and opportunities to give seminars and to appear on panels? Better yet, are you receiving calls about appearing before groups?
[ ] Articles: Are you viewed as a company with valuable knowledge and expertise in your particular field so that editors extend to you opportunities to write articles for trade, consumer, or business publications?
[ ] Brochures: Do customers and prospects ask for brochures? Is the customer the focus of attention in the printed materials, or are your brochures filled with irrelevant details about the company? Does the sales staff have a well-written, well-designed, customer-oriented brochure that supports their efforts with customers and prospects?
[ ] Words: Do you rely on such terms as 'leader,' 'full-service,' 'oldest,' 'number one,' 'largest,' and 'founded in 1945' to describe your company? Does it appear that people in your firm actually think that these words possess meaning for prospects and customers?
[ ] Logo: When was the corporate identity or logo last reviewed? Was it on the 'cutting edge' in 1957? What about company colors? Is your letterhead a conglomeration of everything that's happened during the past 20 years?
The purpose of this checklist is to stimulate thinking and focus attention on the importance of a company's communications. Is it given a high priority? These are the relevant questions today if a business wants to be successful in the years ahead.
Why are communications so vital to a business today? They are lifelines between a company and its various key publics-prospects, customers, employees, the media, and the outside world. A well-developed communications program keeps a business organization out in front, visible, and well-positioned to meet just about any challenge.
If a company devotes the necessary time and effort to communicate its story, all those bothersome issues such as flat sales, in-roads from competitors, disappearing customers, and a shortage of leads can be filed away for the last time.