Years ago, a colleague presented me with a copy of You Are the Message: Secrets of the Master Communicators. “This will change the way you communicate,” he promised. Tucked inside the pages of the book were anecdotal snippets of wisdom from the famed Roger Ailes, the once dominant, routinely polarizing force in American conservative politics. As each chapter illustrated individual techniques of public speaking and effective communication, the book’s overall message was simple. It takes seven seconds to form an impression. And in the time that our words convey an idea, every inflection of tone, each nuanced gesture speaks volumes in itself.
Did the book change the way I communicate? Yes. But not just in ways in which to improve my verbal and nonverbal communication. As the Internet and digital media have burgeoned in the past decades, I’ve looked past the book’s obvious relevance to interpersonal communication and come to appreciate its underlying theme: every form of communication is its own message.
This includes business communication, especially on the hyper-communicative World Wide Web where a company’s website is sometimes its only form of messaging. Here, tone is replaced by effective phraseology and gestures are swapped with the firm’s design aesthetic and branding. Some companies have mastered these techniques. Apple and any number of design studios come to mind. Others, however, are still communicating in an unimpressive, outdated monotone with the passé look-and-feel of an ill-fitted polyester suit.
So what message is your website conveying? Some of our clients initially are surprised by this question. Their answer, however, generally is the same: “Let’s start updating it.” And so has begun many a gratifying assignment to evolve and align a firm’s online presence and business communication with its overall business positioning and value. The results are immediate. Simple changes, such as updating the site’s copyright date or modifying its look-and-feel, can have an immediate impact on consumer perception. Better yet, adding real-world case studies or industry analyses is practical, tangible evidence of a firm’s ability and commitment to solving real consumer needs.
After all, there’s a reason why no one really wears polyester suits any more.