The communication strategy should be built around employee personas, just like you would do for customers. This will allow you to categorize employees based on their ease of access and preferred mode of communication. For instance, some employees might not have access to a company email or even a computer. In this scenario, the team developing the communication strategy should come up with alternative channels to relay information to those employees. To devise a good strategy suitable for all employees, you can ask the employees of your organization to take a survey with questions relevant to communication methods and modes.

Goals are instrumental in the effectiveness and success of a communication strategy. When developing a communication strategy, ensure that you set goals that can measure the success of the strategy. Setting goals at the beginning of the process will help you to track the progress of your communication plan. Ensure that the goals are set depending on the results you have gathered from employee surveys. For instance, the communication strategy for the sales team might be aimed at accomplishing different goals than that of the digital marketing team. The strategy should have enough leeway to be modified depending on business needs.

To ensure that all groups of employees are included in the communication strategy, it is important to identify their preferred communication channels. Depending on the different employee groups, a multichannel approach should be included in the strategy. The best way to bring different communication channels together is to use a workforce communications platform. A workforce communications platform allows you to integrate different communication channels in one place.

Digitalization is taking over today’s businesses which means that information is easily accessible through hand-held devices. Hence, mobile communications are becoming increasingly popular and are often the preferred mode of communication. Using a mobile app to communicate important information can be a great way to keep employees informed.

While identifying the challenges to communication and the channels that are appropriate for your organization is extremely important, creating engaging content for your employees is also of significance. To ensure that the content is compelling, it should be short, precise and varied. The content can be in the form of the written word, pictures, videos, statistics and more. What you use will be dependent on the context. While creating content, ensure that it is optimized for viewing on mobile devices.

Use metrics to analyze the performance of the communication strategy. Ensure that the chosen metrics are in line with the established goals and offer meaningful data pertaining to the communication plan. Analyzing data can help you understand what kind of communication is performing well and which communication methods have a higher rate of success.

Putting a communication strategy into place allows employees to refer to a standardized plan to interact with managers, colleagues and clients. A communication strategy ensures that everyone involved has adequate information to communicate about it, maintaining consistency in the workplace and preventing any ambiguity.

An effective communication strategy helps maintain a company’s image in the public domain. A professional and standardized method of communication with external contacts ensures that the company is shown in a positive way. For instance, if two contradicting pieces of information are communicated to external contacts by different people, it would suggest that the company is disorganized and dishonest.

Ineffective communication or uneven dispersal of information can make employees left out, especially if the management fails to communicate key information. A strong communication strategy plan ensures that information is shared equally and regularly across the organization. This also creates a sense of transparency and increases employees’ trust in the organization.