Most companies are started by people who find themselves handling all sorts of work outside their areas of expertise -- for months or years -- before they can bring in specialists. They must learn the ropes themselves, and keep pace in rapidly changing times. This compact handbook helps with the enormous area of day-to-day business communication.
These are the chapters in THE ELEMENTS
OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
What This Handbook Is For - A Basic Checklist of Points to Consider
- Businesses Aren't What They Used To Be - Naming Things - You Have Influence,
Not Control - Business Cards - People Expect A Business to be Businesslike
- Letterhead, Etc... - Everybody Has A Computer - Advertising, What It's
All About - In-House vs Out-House - Advertising and Public Relations Agencies
- Letters -- Public Relations, What's That All About? - What Now? Nothing
Occurs in Isolation - Brochures - Annual Reports - Don't Get Caught Doing
Anything New - Direct Mail - Mail Rooms - On Keeping Quiet - Signs - Radio
- Television - Videos - Fax - E-mail - Telephones - The Civil Wars - Meetings
- Newsletters - Websites, Internet, Intranet, and Extranet - Manuals/How-To
Documentation and Customer Support - Trade Shows and Booths - Forms - Packaging
- Shareholder Relations - A Look At The Future
A BASIC CHECKLIST OF POINTS TO CONSIDER
These are key questions that should be answered systematically every
time a new
communications project is started. The points are discussed in detail
in the book,
and examples of completed checklists are shown for different projects.
1) At whom is this communication directed?
(Who will see it, hear it, smell it, feel it...?)
Few messages are directed at everybody. Your task is made easier
by defining
your target audience clearly.
2) What do we want them to do or believe as a result?
While multiple results may be desired from a particulr communications
project,
efficiency and effectiveness depend on defining the hoped for effects
specifically
and clearly.
3) How important is this?
Before you allocate time and treasure to completion of the task, it's
important
to know how important it is to the well being of the company.
4) How do we measure the effect?
It's usually harder than we expect to measure the effect of a particular
communications activity. Yet, people want numbers to keep them warm.
5) How long is the commitment (stuck with it forever?)
Some worthwhile big projects are immediately forgotten, while some
little things
seem to be carved in stone, never to be erased. It pays to know which
is which.
6) How soon must this be done?
Some thing can't be done overnight. A good sense of time and
timing
may be critical to survival.
7) Who can help?
Who has a stake in the success of the project (or in its failure, for
that matter)?
Figure out who your champions are, what they can do, and why they do
it.
8) Who must sign off?
Never mind the people in questions 1 and 2 above...you must have approval
to
act and spend money from a person or committee whose methods you'd
better
undersand.
9) What resources are necessary?
Apart from money, that is. Do you need an empty parking lot for a photo
of the
building on a sunny day? Need constant advice from engineering? Plan
for them.
10) Estimated cost?
An obvious need, but often unknowable. You'd better be good at the
process of
calculating costs, so others can understand your logic and arrive at
the same
expectations you have.
11) How easily can this become an overwhelming problem?
Some projects by nature end cleanly. Others tend to drag on, and become
immense labors. Strive for containment.
12) Where might surprises be hiding?
Surprises are, by nature, surprising. Best to practice looking in dark
corners
and rolling with punches.
Copyright © 1997 ABQ Communications Corporation. All rights reserved.