Monday, January 29, 2007

How to communicate with your audience

The author of this blog entry wrote this after visiting ttweak, "a marketing, communications and design firm that shares our belief that authentic, original voices are the best way to convey a message."

Since I know the folks at ttweak, I thought I would pass this along.

houston | Social Signal:

* Let participants speak for themselves. Don't drown out original voices with heavy-handed narration or moderation.

* Remain tool agnostic. If your goal is to convey a message, you'll need to choose a different medium depending on the message you're delivering.

* Production values matter. Don't kid yourself into thinking that people will see past your barebones interface to appreciate the depth or brilliant of your feature set. Appearance counts.

* Invest in your local community. Even if your business has a national or international reach, a solid reputation with clients in your own city provides a bedrock for growth.

* Build relationships with your client's entire team. During one client visit, we saw how ttweak's introduction counted with the CEO -- but we also saw Dave on hugging terms with the parking valet. We got a warm reception in the boardroom -- and a warm car waiting outside when we were done.

* Client service is the surest way to grow a business. Resist the temptation to cash in by focusing on a single hot product, or cash out by selling your company to the highest bidder.

* Do what you're great at. Over-reaching is the surest way to burn your client -- and your brand.

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