Effective communication: spoken marketing

The new frontier of communication to speak and persuade

Imagine marketing through your body and your language. Not a simple verbal communication, but a more sophisticated and modern way of interact with the public and potential customers. "Effective communication", a term that has spread like wildfire in Europe in recent years, indicates precisely this: going beyond the limited concept of communication to adopt a strategy capable of involving, motivating, convincing and, above all, converting . The potential of effective communication is enormous, not only in working life but in personal relationships with others. From the neighbor we would like to ask to take care of the garden hedge to the trusted mechanic who knows us by now and could give us a discount, there is no situation where the rules and advantages of effective communication cannot play a decisive role in our favour.

It is no coincidence that effective communication courses are multiplying visibly, a symptom of this in part of the success of a technique that can be applied everywhere, but perhaps even more of a conspicuous lack on the front of communication skills and competencies of each. Translated: compared to the past we have more difficulty explaining ourselves, motivating our choices, arguing a reasoning, and for this reason we look around for someone better than us, capable of passing on to us the knowledge necessary to get what we want. This phenomenon is also noticeable in the written form of language: it is enough to query Google to find oneself faced with a string of articles denouncing the incapacity, in particular – and ironically – of students, to produce a correct written text semantically, lexically and grammatically. Among other things, there is talk of functional illiteracy, indicating the percentage of people who "do not know how to read and write but who are unable to develop critical thinking and have difficulty understanding simple texts". Imagine the power of effective communication on this (large) slice of the public…

THE KEY PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Having framed the general scenario, let's see what effective communication exactly consists of which cardinal principles govern this methodology which is still evolving. To do this we will use a trick borrowed from effective communication: the list. Here are some of the key points to immediately implement a winning communication:

• Be clear, direct and precise

The era of hucksters who repeated the same concept over and over, varying as soon as the content was over. Effective communication today requires clear, direct and precise messages that get straight to the point. If until yesterday the motto "people no longer have time to listen" concerned a small part of the population, today the same motto affects everyone. So no more digressions, approximations, parentheses, let's get to the point and immediately capture the public's attention, perhaps with a provocative or, why not, ironic incipit ("I have something important to tell you, but your wife must not know ").

• Don't say who you are, say what you can do

Another principle of effective communication involves the transition from self-celebration ("I am a best-selling author", "I invented this and that method", "I hold training courses around the world"...) to cooperation ("I can offer you a system safe for”, “with my help you will find out how to solve”…). This is an essential point: people, the same people who no longer even have time to stop, don't care who you are, what qualifications you have, and what school you come from, what matters today to communicate in the best way is to declare how it is You can help the listener solve a problem, typically his or her company's.

• Put yourself in your interlocutor's shoes

To communicate effectively, it is essential to listen. We must not go on the attack without even knowing who we are facing. Instead, we spend time listening to the other party's needs, whether real or imagined. The mere fact of "venting off steam" and explaining the situation to someone is enough to put the person at ease, fostering a climate of collaboration and trust that would otherwise be impossible to establish. Let's just think about our reaction when we walk down the street and meet the ever-present NGO volunteer on duty who chats us up. Do we listen to him? In the vast majority of cases the answer is no, and the reason is precisely this: our needs are set aside and the preliminary listening phase is missing.

• Use examples that everyone can understand

Effective communication is such to the extent that it leaves no room for the imagination, but provides empirical evidence and concrete data on which to reflect. Needless to say "you will become a good salesman if you follow me in this adventure", instead use a case study, such as "Giovanni followed me and in four months he invoiced five times more than before". Similes, analogies and comparisons work just as well and make the dialogue more impactful. For example, don't say "I can take you from point zero to point one hundred", rather, "it will be like climbing a mountain together, starting from base camp and reaching the summit in a few weeks".

• Check nervous tics, clothing and look

Since prehistoric times communication has been, in addition to voice, gestures, posture, physical contact. Over the last few centuries, clothing, accessories and even the look of the hair have been added. On the contrary, these elements are not secondary: eccentric hairstyles, rumpled jackets, sunglasses that hide the eyes are details that make the difference in a close face-to-face relationship, helping to decide the good or bad outcome of a communication. Although they are related aspects, it is always good to take them into account, in order to avoid focusing on the rest, forgetting to look in the mirror and tidy yourself up before going on stage.

HOW TO COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY ON THE WEB

The web is like a sponge that absorbs real trends, fashions and novelties, translating them into the digital world. Consequently, effective communication can also be implemented online, through Skype, WhatsApp and other channels. Widening the shot, we could include live broadcasts on Facebook, videos on Youtube, or stories on Instagram. By now any social network offers the opportunity to publish videos and interact with the public of the network. Let's use this opportunity in our favor by following the cardinal principles of effective communication and we will be able to achieve our business objectives sooner than we imagine, by investing in the most powerful resource we have: ourselves. Then when there is a need to take action and translate ideas into quality content, we at Innovando will be there ready to evaluate requests from individuals and entrepreneurs and provide all the help you need.