In soccer, they say communication is the twelfth player. A field has eleven players on each side, but communication — the twelfth player — is perhaps most vital to a team’s success. Players need to know where teammates are heading, what to look out for, and who to guard. Communication is the glue binding the team, and in that case, silent games are both unsuccessful and boring.

The same is true in business. If your company is silent — if it’s not posting on social, sending out emails, and communicating with ecosystem partners — it will lose traction, interest, and followers. Of course, communication strategies must be more refined than just shouting into the void, and sometimes, proper communication can be hard to quantify. This is also why ongoing customer and client communications are so important; it truly is an art form, and one newer or expanding companies sometimes have difficulty mastering. If you’ve thought of the below three statements, or feel they pertain to your company, this may be the moment for a communication course correction.

Our Customer Base Has Plateaued 

While it’s never ideal to notice that your customer base has leveled off, it’s important to know that you are wise enough to see it. Having a strong sense of analytics and KPI is the basis for any company’s growth, and it’s good to know how to measure success and act accordingly. Always trust the numbers!

Perhaps your sales are down, your e-list has shrunk, or your website’s foot traffic has slowed. Sometimes this is the natural ebb and flow of the market, but more often it is due to poor communication. Keeping others informed on a regular basis — from multiple different angles — not only lets your community stay abreast but also gives your base unique ways to engage with your company (be it on social, email, web content, or fliers). 

We Hire Communication Consultants on an Ad Hoc Basis

Communication is key — as is consistency. Make no mistake, this is not a part of your company that you want to handle on a case-by-case or ad hoc basis. Your brand, following, and value will suffer. If a communications strategy is new to your company, ask yourself what you can afford and what you need. An external marketing professional will be able to diagnose what can best serve your company on its path toward growth. Sometimes a single person or team can jumpstart a company’s content calendar and communication plan, and from there that team and strategy will evolve. 

Depending on the size and scope of your brand, a communications team can encapsulate multiple employees: a graphics designer, copywriter, social media manager, email strategist, and others. Enlist an outside eye to see what your company needs immediately, a couple of months down the road, and then for its pie-in-the-sky dream team, when growth is achieved and continual.

Remember that maintaining your brand is as critical as building your brand…and it takes a similar effort and integration across all disciplines.

Lead Generation is Waning

Lead generation, or lead gen, is the building of customer interest via targeted outreach communicating your services or offerings. This is often measured via followers, website visitors, and open rates in emails. Lead gen is often tied to interest, which is to say if your numbers are falling so is interest in your company. 

Fortunately there are a number of ways to combat declining lead gen, and ways to do so that are most effective based on your brand’s tone, size, and existing outreach plans. For a deeper dive into how you can best position and communicate your brand, look no further than our communications guide, further described below:

Want to combat a plateauing customer base and waning lead generation? Your communications plans may benefit from some fresh ideas and updated strategies. Download our 7th guide in our series of 7 Steps of Marketing to understand how to best communicate with your base, which features not only your loyal customers but also potential ones waiting to be a part of your pool.

Download Step 7 Now:

[dlm_gf_form download_id=”5358″ gf_ajax=”true”]