Earlier this fall, I had an opportunity to attend the PRSA Colorado Summit – an annual event dedicated to learning and professional development for communications professionals. As I begin 2020 planning for clients, I’ve found myself revisiting my notes to uncover two key themes that can strengthen your ideas, work and results in the coming year:

  • Look beyond ‘raising awareness’: Raising awareness of a brand, initiative or product is an objective in most, if not all, communications plans. While increasing customer awareness is important, communications leaders should also consider the other four phases of the customer journey. In addition to awareness, a customer journey is typically comprised of consideration, attitude, purchase and advocacy. As a first step in the 2020 planning process, think about where your audience sits on this customer journey and adapt your objectives and strategies for moving them along the continuum.
  • Get personal: Several speakers emphasized the importance of humanizing not only your brand, but also your message delivery. Being more relatable and connecting with your audience on a deeper level can have an impact on long-term loyalty. That said, this is easier said than done. When planning for 2020 activities, these three things can help humanize your message and delivery:
  1. Adapt your message to both the audience and communications channel. While the message may be the same, a response on social media should be different than an email.
  2. Form a relationship. Create more engaging content that promotes the two-way sharing of ideas. While social media is an effective first step, consider tapping company websites, customer newsletters and face-to-face opportunities.
  3. Be authentic. A real message will always stand out, so when crafting the message, ask yourself: Am I being true to the brand? If the answer is no, switch it up to make it more authentic in both words and tone.