The paper "Linking Customer and Employee Satisfaction to the Bottom" is a great example of a Marketing Assignment. What is an effective communication strategy? What role can customers play as part of a firm’ s communication strategy? Would you say employees have a role to play in a firm’ s communication strategy? As part of your answer use concrete examples to make your point. An effective communication strategy is a tool that is designed to help an organization to engage in effective communication to ensure that it meets its objectives and goals (Allen & Morris 12).
From this definition, it is possible to perceive an effective communication strategy as a tool that is used to convey information that is specified in terms of the issue, event, situation and audience (Walker 34). It, therefore, serves as a blueprint for engaging stakeholders among other members of the organization (Haley 23). Any effective communication strategy must be able to give an outline of the goals and objectives of communication, identify the stakeholders, specify potential communication techniques and specify the techniques that can be used in obtaining feedback (Morrill 46). Customers are essential stakeholders who are considered relevant to the success of organizational goals.
This is large because they are in charge of making decisions on whether to purchase a product or service (Allen& Morris 18). Developing an understanding of how customers think can provide great insights into the structure of a company’ s key communication messages (Cushman & Sarah 56). Firms, therefore, must invest a lot of time and effort in profiling information about their customers, their behaviors, their thinking and how all these traits relate to their purchasing decisions (Walker 34).
Customers also play a role in providing feedback through the available platforms on their understanding of any information that is communicated. It is important to note that this feedback will help a firm in determining the understanding of the information, understand trends in behavior through an analysis of feedback and interpretation in relation to the goals and objectives of the communication (Allen& Morris 22). The impression that customers get when they come in contact with any form of communication from an organization will determine the efficiency and effectiveness of the communication tool.
Branding is one of the techniques of implementing an effective communication strategy (Aamod et al, 34). The first impression it makes on the customers will facilitate the impression made on the products or services of the business (Aamod et al, 34). Employees play the role of formulating and implementing effective communication strategies in a company (Aamod et al 39). Prior to the formulation and implementation of any communication strategy, a firm through its management must ensure that the employees concerned understand the strategy to facilitate an easier way of implementation (Allen& Morris 26).
Prior to the implementation process, employees must be trained to ensure that they avoid common mistakes during the process, develop techniques of reaching out to stakeholders, measure the progress of the communication strategy and engage in monitoring the strategic plan (Walker 44). Employees also interact with the customers in order to receive their feedback on any information. Decisions on the employees who play the role of implementation are the sole responsibility of the management. This means that an organization has the responsibility of identifying the people who are best placed to implement communication strategies (Hennig-Thurau 30).
The selected employees have to be tactful. A thorough engagement with the human resource department of the relevance of the communication strategy will help the employees to develop some sense of ownership and this is important in ensuring that there is a high level of efficiency and effectiveness in relaying the information and responding to customers feedback (Walker 55). In addition, employees also get to understand the benefits of using a communication strategy in relation to the progress of the organization and the development of individual employees (Hennig-Thurau 34).
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