Let’s talk. Or rather, let’s learn how to talk! When you’re communicating, whether it be internal or external, you want to make sure that your audience is primed to receive the information you are conveying.
The goal in all business communication should be to make sure that you are communicating effectively. According to the European Business Review, you’ll know you are communicating effectively when you are not only conveying your message to someone, but are also communicating your emotions and feelings along with it.
What that looks like will depend heavily on the context of your situation, which is why today we are going to go into detail about how startups can establish communication best practices that will lead to more effective communication.
We’re going to start by going into the basic components of communication, detailing the parties involved and methods by which you can get your message across. From there we will break down the top three levels of communication that are crucial for startups to establish early on. Those three categories are:
- External communication with potential/actual customers
- External communication with potential/actual investors
- Internal communication amongst team members
Then we will be giving you implementable best practices that your team can easily mold to fit your exact business size and style.
If that sounds good to you, then let’s get started by honing in on what communication really means in the context of your startup business.
Defining communication
While it may seem daunting to determine exactly what effective business communication is, you’re more familiar with the topic than you might think. The basic components of communication exist beyond the realm of business communication and are present in every interaction whether you are aware of them or not.
The basic components of communication:
When you look up the components of communication, there is a range of components, from 4 essential elements all the way up to 12! The most common list however has 6 simple elements that can be easily understood and can be found in every communication interaction.
These essential elements are: The sender, the medium, the receiver, the message, the decoding, and the feedback.
Let’s break those down for you.
The Sender: This is the initiator of the communication process, who can also be referred to as the source or communicator. They’re simply the party who has some information that they want to present to others.
The Receiver: The receiver is then logically the person on the other end of the message, who will be getting the information.
While these two components are fairly straightforward, it is the following components that can really impact the effectiveness of the intended communication. Think about it, how many times have you been in the middle of a conversation, just you and one other person, and somehow something’s gotten lost in translation? Whether you’ve been in the classic situation where the tone of a message is lost over text or had an email bounce back from the intended recipient, these are all errors within other components of communication.
The Message: This is the content or information that the sender is trying to convey to the receiver. The message includes tone and subtext, such as body language.
The Medium: The medium is simply the manner in which your message is being transmitted. This can include active mediums such as text messaging and talking, where you are taking an active role in initiating each conversation. This also refers to more passive mediums, such as your website. Your website is always communicating with potential and active customers as they browse through your content. It’s important to implement effective communication tactics across both active and passive communication mediums. There are a wide variety of communications software and mediums available for your startup to take advantage of.
The Decoding: Decoding a message is done by the receiver, as they get the message through the chosen medium from the sender. They are interpreting the message in their own way, and if communication is done effectively then they will take away the desired message with no issues.
The Feedback: In some instances, the roles will reverse and the sender of information will now receive a reply. This interaction is called feedback, and from there the communication elements can continue to repeat.
Your team will want to keep all of these elements in mind as you frame both your internal and external communication best practices. You may determine that certain messages should only come from in-person communication, aka a certain medium. Thinking about all these elements provides an easy framework as you think about your most common, most important, and even most difficult anticipated communications for your startup business. The best part is that as a startup, you have the freedom to craft a comprehensive plan from the group up, instead of piecing together frameworks made along the way.
Keep these elements in mind as we move on to our next discussion, the levels of communication you need to consider as a startup.
The three levels of communication that startups should be considering
While there will be countless communication opportunities for your business, we wanted to break down the top three types of communication you should be keeping in mind as a startup.
Active external communication
As we started to say before, active communication is made up of intentional communication that takes place in real-time. This could look like actively responding to emails, hosting live events at your business location, engaging on social media through commenting and messaging followers, and more.
Active external communication can take place over a wide variety of mediums, and can be used in a wide range of contexts. For example, you can use active communication to pursue leads, troubleshoot with clients, pitch to investors, and so on. As a startup, this may be the type of communication you are most eager to establish or most aware of. However, it is important to consider all three forms of communication before you get started, so you can have consistent and cohesive approaches across all communication levels.
Passive external communication
Passive external communication will be made up of the things that convey your message, without a team member actively participating. For example, your website can be read on the viewer’s own timeline, a billboard on the side of the road could bring in customers at any point, and handing out business cards (while active in the moment) can act as a constant passive communication channel conveying a message of availability at all hours of the day.
Keeping your passive external communication methods in mind can help you infuse mediums with multiple communication methods. For example, a website is passive but once you add a live support chat button suddenly becomes integrated with an active communication tool. This integration can help you have more effective communication, as potential and actual customers can take advantage of the tools that work best for them.
Internal communication
Internal communication will be the communication that takes place amongst your startup. This will include upward communication, as employees communicate with their managers, lateral as team members work together with their peers, and downward as managers initiate communication with their team.
Your startup should put in place defined communication expectations for upward, lateral, and downward communication. That way employees will know exactly how they should be communicating, and you can create a more collaborative and cohesive team.
Best practices at each communication level
Now that you know what the different levels of communication are, and what goes into communicating, we wanted to share a few of our favorite best practices that can be implemented for your team.
Start with the big picture
Your communication best practices should be established after you have a clear idea of your startup’s big picture. That includes having your mission and vision really defined, so that you can infuse the core of your business into each level of communication.
This might look like having your team answer the phone with a standardized greeting conveying big picture elements, having it infused in the copy of your marketing material, or having it in an easy-to-see place for your team. That way each level of communication can be consistent, as well as really focus on the value that you want to give your customers and clients.
Involve your team
The best people to help you establish best practices will be the people who will be implementing them in a day-to-day capacity. By opening up your best practices and brainstorming to your team, you can make sure that the tactics you want to employ are realistic and achievable for your team.
If you’re worried about having too many cooks in the kitchen, take advantage of multiple feedback formats. This can include surveys, a suggestion box, small roundtable brainstorming sessions, and more. Avoid overwhelming your decision makers, while also avoiding isolating the rest of your team.
Focus on the audience
Each audience at each level of communication will expect different things from your communication. When you’re establishing your best practices, you need to make sure that you are clearly defining and distinguishing between different audiences.
For example, your external communication could include investors, potential customers, active customers, media sources, and more. Each type of audience member should still experience your business’ voice through those big picture ideas, but make sure you are tailoring the presentation to be appropriate for each circumstance.
Choose the right tools
Your internal and external communication will rely on important business tools to be run effectively. These tools are likely the communication mediums that you will be using, and you want to make sure that you are investing in solutions that will work now, and scale with you as you grow in the future.
The best business tools will integrate with each other. For example, if your business phone system can connect with your internal communication platform, then you can combine your external and internal mediums for a more cohesive experience. You may also be able to find integrations into other helpful internal tools such as your CRM software.
Utilize multiple mediums
When you’re communicating, both internally and externally, it can be helpful to utilize multiple mediums to convey important messages. That way you can make sure to reach your audience even if they aren’t active on one particular medium.
While social media may be a great tool to promote current sales, upcoming events, and more, it is also one of the mediums that have very distinct demographics participating. While you may have shared information on a variety of social media channels, you may be missing entire groups of potential receivers. Don’t miss out on getting your message across just because you only shared information in a single medium type.
Check for understanding
The decoding portion of communication is where many communication errors can occur. That is why it is crucial to make sure that when you are communicating more complex information that you have points where you can check for understanding.
This could look very different depending on the medium. A great example could be something as simple as asking someone on the other end of a phone call to describe to you what they believe you are trying to communicate. That way you can check for decoding errors in real time, and easily correct any potential misunderstandings.
Repetition, repetition, repetition
The ultimate best practice with communication is to consistently convey the same message. This will help you clear up decoding errors, as well as increase the likelihood of your message being remembered.
Whether the repetition occurs within the same interaction, or across multiple interactions, it is a crucial best practice to make sure your main message is being repeated.
Our final thoughts
We hope that we have left you feeling more confident as you and your startup establish your communication best practices. From understanding what communication is, to having implementable tips on your side, we are sure that you are now a communication pro.
We briefly touched on it before, but we want to leave you with this final piece of advice. Your startup should be looking for communication tactics that can grow with your team, meaning they are easily scalable. As you get started with different mediums and messages, make sure that they can stay with you for the long run.
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