UK Government doing its best to demonstrate why we need to communicate better

Boris Johnson and his Government have this week really demonstrated the effect that poor communications can have on your audience.

From Tory MPs making blasé remarks on the radio about local lockdowns, to the Prime Minister fumbling and admitting he does not know the local lockdown rules himself, this week the Government has been doing a good job in demonstrating why clear communications are important.

The poor communication of local lockdown rules, national pandemic statistics, and seemingly the tendency to put MPs up for radio and TV interviews with no preparation/briefing has led to anger and confusion for many UK citizens.

It is perhaps not surprising that research carried out for the Department of Health found that the number of people with symptoms following the self-isolation rules was low. Although people’s intention to self-isolate was high, only 11% of people went into quarantine after being asked to by NHS Test and Trace.

Middlesbrough mayor Andy Preston has even vowed to defy the Government on its new restrictions for the area due to a “monstrous” lack of communication.

The Government have given us a clear demonstration about how not to communicate, but what are the main pinnacles of effective communication?

They key things any professional or financial services business should consider for their external and internal communications are:

1. Clarity – communications need to be consistent and clear for all to understand. If it doubt, pitch the level of the communication at the least experienced members of the audience the it is intended for. Avoid jargon and academic language as much as you can.
2. Timely – make sure any communications are sent out in a timely and consistent manner. Premature leaks or communicating too long after an event just serves to confuse your audience.
3. Keep it simple and short – why use 100 words when 10 will suffice? It’s a lesson our Government could certainly do with learning!
4. Accuracy – it is best to admit a lack of knowledge rather than making things up as you go along. Take your time and make sure that any facts and figures you give are 100% accurate.
5. Personal presentation is important – where a spokesperson is communicating directly in person or via video, make sure they are aware of their body language and how they present themselves. Even the most well briefed spokesperson can appear unknowledgeable or like they are concealing something if poorly presented.

Just the tip of the iceberg

There are so many more aspects to professional (and political) communications, far more than I can cover in a single blog.

Financial and professional services trade on high levels of trust and professionalism. If communications are not finely honed, they can end up causing a considerable amount of damage to both.

Anyone can communicate but is a specialist skill to communicate well. By letting an untrained or non-specialised employee loose on your communications you could end up doing more harm than good.

Written communications are a particularly important area to get right.

Copywriting is something that touches on most areas of the marketing mix. From sales and display advertising materials, through to press releases and blog posts, your marketing team will have used their copywriting specialist to hone the words to make sure every single one counts.

Not every marketing team includes someone with true writing skills. The result can be clumsy or insensitive communications which end up rubbing your clients and prospects up the wrong way.

In another blog, I look at what firms can do when that specialist skill isn’t available in house.

Rightly or wrongly, one of the first budgets to get cut during times of crisis is marketing. Therefore, many marketing teams are working with very little budget and some also with reduced headcounts. In another blog, I look at how they can best focus the little spend they have left for their communications.