This is a great time of year for sports. March Madness, pro basketball and hockey are all going on; baseball is knocking at the door and the NFL draft is around corner. And if you’re a sports fan like me, it’s more fun to watch when you win. And, how do you win? You need to score. Where am I going with this? The dietary supplement industry is really good at playing defense, but we’re lacking on offense. And you can’t win in sports or business if you don’t play offense.
Good communication can strengthen your offense. Here are five tips to help your communication efforts:
- Do Some Scouting: Monitor your competitors’ social media channels, look for trends and listen to what your customers/clients are saying to help
- Develop a Game Plan: Figure out a plan for when and how you want to communicate across your channels. How often does your internal team need updates? How often do you want to post to social media? Do you time your news announcements? There are many schools of thought on timing—the most important thing is to communicate regularly.
- Set Your Line-Up. Just like on the court or field, you need to have the right people in the right positions to succeed—especially when it comes to communication. Your communication team should have strong writing skills and be good listeners, and most importantly, they should have a passion for what your company does.
- Be Agile/Nimble. The only constant in life is change; sometimes your communications game plan will need to adapt quickly to what’s happening in the environment. If a new study is released with positive benefits for your ingredient, then you need to make noise even if it isn’t part of the plan.
- Play to Win. Put 110% effort into everything you produce. Before you release anything, read it two or three times and ask yourself is this important information that people will care about. Also, make sure to incorporate trust transparency—your reputation can be lost in an instant if you put out false or misleading information.
If you consistently put your best information forward in a strategic way you will score with your all your key stakeholders. What communication strategies have you found success with?
Finally, go Ramblers!
~Traci