How to Amplify Your Internal Corporate Communications

Companies are hyper-focused on engaging clients, prospects, vendors, and new employees. But what about communicating with the current staff? A steady diet of informative, helpful information is critical to maintain productivity, engage employees, and create a vibrant, positive company culture.

Employers have many tools at their disposal to impart data, news, protocols, and goals to their employers. Some are much more effective than others. Company meetings, office memos, texting, apps like Slack, signs in the break room, emails, and yelling down the hallway are ones that are commonly used. Increasingly, and more efficient in many scenarios, is digital signage.

If your goal is greater internal communication, we have you covered. We've listed our top recommendations for ramping up your internal corporate communications below.

Neither individual employers nor teams should operate on deserts by themselves. They should be informed and updated on the goings-on of the business, from small announcements to large company goals and initiatives. This can be accomplished with more frequent meeting and emails. However, nobody wants more of either of those. To create inter-departmental cohesion, digital signage displays are powerful tools. They allow employers to communicate more often to the staff and keep them in the loop, while not filling up their inboxes with emails or wasting their time with meetings.

Empowering your communication efforts takes thought and planning. Strategize by first deciding what you want employees to know, which communication tool can best share it, and how often messages need to be shared. After that, lay out the schedule. Focus on sending the right message at the best times. Proactive planning is necessary to reach your communication goals. Be sure to circle back around periodically to measure your plan's success.

Using big, technical words and overly-positive messaging is going to come across as un-relatable and fake. Employees will be turned off and start ignoring the information. Avoid this pitfall by creating communication in clear, plain language. Don't be afraid to use humor. If the news is bad, don't beat around the bush. Over time, honest and down-to-earth content will foster trust and strengthen your company culture.

As we mentioned above, one of the most important aspects of successful internal communication is knowing which tools to use to best share your message. There are some in-depth types of information, like extensive changes to the health insurance plan, that are best shared in an email or during a meeting. Goals should be shared during an in-person meeting or video conference. Safety reminders can be showcased on your digital signage displays, as can goal updates and much more. Using multiple tools maximizes your chances of your strategy working.

One of the obstacles of internal communication is engaging the employee to help them read and absorb the information. Burying it amid a hundred other emails is not the way to go in some of these cases. Digital signage offers advantages to be able to capture the staff's attention and engage them, so they remember the information. Using visual tools assists in this endeavor. Unlike lines of words, pictures, charts, and graphs bring the information to life in a way that people can comprehend it faster and more fully. Video is another fantastic way to share information to your internal staff. Short explainer videos, for example, can be viewed at the employee's convenience with little effort. Bottom line is that a successful internal corporate strategy will likely embrace visual tools.

The communication you share just doesn't have to be able sales numbers and protocol requirements. Create a sense of camaraderie and cross-departmental bonds by adding dashes of personal announcements to the mix. Birthday and anniversaries of employees are positive messages that people tend to engage with, as are wedding and birth announcements. Use these milestones to soften the corporate image that professional-only messaging can build. Giving the employees a warm, fuzzy message occasionally will help them feel like they are part of a company that cares.

Communication should come from the top down AND the bottom up. If it doesn't, how do employers know their messages are being received? Be receptive to employee feedback and listen to what is being said, even if it's negative. Addressing feedback and using as part of your decision-making will strengthen the employer/employee bond and add to the rich company culture. If your employees aren't offering up feedback, send out surveys asking for it or request it during one-on-one meetings.

Finally, it's imperative to include the employees who are working remotely. It's easy to leave them out of internal communications, which can cause them to feel under-valued and unappreciated. Your internal communication strategy should always include remote workers right along with on-site employees. The initial thought might be to just email them whenever you want to communicate, but remote employees are just as buried with emails as everyone else. Videoconferencing is an effective tool, as is digital signage. Using communication platforms that give access to all employees, no matter where they are working, is a smart way to share information without bombarding your staff. Companies that do this successfully can keep their remote employees as informed and engaged as the employees who work on-site.

Owning the success of your internal corporate communication strategy takes planning, effort, and execution. It is worth the time and resources to keep your employees, both on-site and remote, informed and engaged with the company's messaging. Choosing the right, and often multiple, types of tools is essential in imparting the communication and having it absorbed and remembered. Take the time to create a robust internal communication plan, and you will reap the benefits with higher morale, stronger employee engagement, and a deeper, stronger company culture.