by admin | Jul 18, 2014 | Communication strategy
Communicating with a narcissist usually goes one of two ways. He either is doing all the talking or he isn’t responding at all. You see, either way he controls the conversation. Narcissists don’t use language like normal people do. We communicate our needs, thoughts, feelings, and ideas. We talk to entertain and be entertained and we talk to gain intimacy in relationships. The narcissist talks to obtain a goal. He may be talking to win over a new source of narcissistic supply, to gain sympathy, to deceive, to divide people, or to divert consequences. He almost never talks in order to share who he is and he never listens without an ulterior motive. If he is in a conversation he can’t win he will either attack the person talking or he will take his ball and go home with a petulant, “You’re illogical – I’m outta here.” It’s good to keep that in mind. Read more about it...
by admin | Jul 15, 2014 | Communication strategy
For publishers and lifestyle websites that target moms, sponsored content can be a powerful marketing tool. Its form can range from quick articles to total site takeovers, and it allows consumer brands to tap into the audience of well-known publishers. Sponsored content has a unique advantage over other types of partnerships. It can be useful to the publisher’s established audience, as well as appealing to the wider audience held by both the publisher and the consumer brand. However, publishers may run into resistance among readers when they take on sponsored content partnerships. In recent findings, 54% of surveyed internet users say they don’t usually trust sponsored content. Most of the remainder only trusts sponsored content if they already trust the publication it runs on (19%) or they already trust the consumer brand (23%). Even if the sponsored content is well-integrated into the publisher’s typical format, readers tend to consume it very differently than they do non-sponsored content. Chartbeat’s analytics suggest that two-thirds of readers spend 15 seconds or more with editorial content on average, while only one third of readers spend that much time on sponsored content articles. Read more about it...
by admin | Jul 10, 2014 | Communication strategy
Do you have “ice breakers” (or short phrases) that you use to meet new people at events or for networking during your daily stroll around town? Since any opportunity is great moment for prospecting, this blog has some very interesting points that could help you develop your communication skills and, in turn, be more successful and attract new clients. However, even though the first point says to “give them (the ‘new’ person) the impression that you’re enthusiastic about talking to them,” I would like to differ and say that you should be genuinely excited about talking to new people and caring about what they have to say. Showing that you are genuine will “shine through” and really change the communicative and behavioral dynamics in a conversation. Some of the other points, like smiling, are important too. So, bookmark this one and re-read it before going to an event or meeting a new client! Read more about it...
by admin | Jul 9, 2014 | Communication strategy
It’s really important that you find effective ways to communicate with your staff. Buy-in from them is key to productivity and to keeping a loyal workforce; after all, you’ve invested in their development, now you want them to stay! Unfortunately the bigger you become, the harder it is. If you fail to rise to this challenge though, you’ll end up with a resentful workforce motivated purely by their salary, rather than driven by the overall success of the company. This was a dilemma we faced just over a year ago; while the company was booming, morale was in decline because, while the senior management were completely in the loop on all our plans for the future and where and why money was being invested, the majority felt in the dark. We weren’t making the effort to share news with them and as a result they rightly felt unconnected from the decisions we were making and the direction the company – and their future – was taking. Here are the key things we did to rectify the internal communication situation....
by admin | Jul 9, 2014 | Communication strategy
As communicators, we’re always looking for new ways to improve the way we write, speak and, well, communicate. Maybe we follow writing blogs to find tips or even watch YouTube videos on how to improve our public speaking. One thing that never seems to be talked about is how learning a second language opens a whole new window of opportunity to learn how other people in this big ol’ world are communicating and what we can take away from that. Here are my top four takeaways: 1. Things Don’t Always Translate Word for Word More often than not, phrases and sentences aren’t going to translate perfectly. You can’t read through a sentence, translating it word for word and expecting the combination to make sense at the end. You learn to look at the entire context of a phrase or sentence and make the connection to its equivalent in your native language. Being able to search for and find contextual connections in a second language makes it easier to do the same in your first. Read about them...
by admin | Jun 25, 2014 | Communication strategy
Everyone is talking about social media marketing these days. As the world is becoming more and more integrated into the virtual world of the internet, social media is becoming an increasingly vital aspect of marketing strategies for all businesses. Twitter can be a powerful marketing tool, with an estimated 15 million users in the UK in January 2014; this is a potential audience that cannot be ignored. Twitter works based on a hashtag basis, with short phrases of 140 characters or less used to convey a message and link messages to different social media platforms. Read more about using a Twitter hashtag properly...
