How Can Business Communications Be Effectively Communicated Using Multimedia?

Multimedia business communications must be succinct, invite conversation, and inspire action.

The ability to communicate is one of the most significant factors in business success. Internal communications engage and motivate employees, direct change management, and lead during financial crises. External communications build brand and reputation, help pitch to clients and potential investors and engage the public. With so many audiences and messages to present, multimedia presentation of business communications represents an effective tool companies can use. Multimedia communications capture attention, invite interaction, and inspire action. To enhance communications, get a complex message across to a wide audience, and influence clients and investors, multimedia presentations can help.

PowerPoint

PowerPoint gets a bad rap for boring audiences to death, but used appropriately, it is among the most-easy-to-learn software for business executives. Pretest your delivery to get critical feedback. Include animations, images, and audio to help audiences with varied learning and listening styles, and to add some variety, humor, and fun to the presentation. Don’t give your entire speech in the PowerPoint, and by all means, never read your PowerPoint verbatim.

Infographics

Infographics, short for information graphics, are visual representations of complex information that an organization needs to explain to an audience clearly and succinctly. As an example, a media company might want to report the outcome of the 2009 stimulus package, which poured billions of dollars into business, schools, infrastructure, and other areas to rev up the economy. An infographic could chart dollars spent over a timeline and a map with icons showing projects, groups and people benefiting from the money. Businesses in the midst of change might use infographics in newsletters to explain what is happening.

Flash

Flash, by Adobe, is a software product to produce multimedia presentations, including video, interactive web pages or slide shows. It makes presentations flashy and exciting, capturing attention quickly. Invest in Flash for your company’s website, for example to highlight new products and business development and to report corporate philanthropy.

Video & Podcasts

Never underestimate the power of video. It communicates faster to wider audiences than writing. Videos can make use of people, sounds and images but must be done with immediate impact to hold attention. Companies are using YouTube to host videos that present products, offer training or give overviews of the company. Podcasts are short audio messages that businesses can use as an alternative, and more cost-effective, way of delivering important messages. Because they are much more portable, given the ubiquity of mp3 devices, they are ideal for presenting recurring messages, such as a monthly message from the CEO.

Email Marketing and Social Media

For external communications, the email inbox is still the best place to reach customers. Effective email marketing communications tell why you are reaching out, what you want the readers to know, what you want them to do -- such as buy a new product, give to your favorite charity -- and entice them to let others know about your company. Companies have also been sold on using social media to reach and interact with their audiences. They are blogging and inviting customers to provide helpful feedback. They are hosting tweetups on Twitter, which are moderated conversations with input coming in at 140 characters or less. On Facebook, they are conducting customer service, running contests, offering coupons, and previewing upcoming events and products.

Web Meetings

Webinars are virtual gatherings that eliminate the need for people to travel. From almost any Internet-connected computer or device, business leaders can impart valuable messages, share their screens and take questions. Webinars are used effectively to deliver trainings, provide updates on important projects and allow field staff to connect and provide each other with feedback.

Apps & Text Messaging

According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, one in five Americans owns a smartphone, from which they send or receive at least 50 text messages daily and have a choice of 50,000 mini-applications, called apps. Text messages that impart short, useful messages and apps that market your brand represent a new frontier in business communications.

References

• 10,000 Words: Applying Multimedia Skills to Non-multimedia Jobs
• Wisconsin Business Alumni Update: Why Good Communication
• Global Knowledge: Four Key Elements of Effective Business Communication
• Noupe: Stunning Infographics and Data Visualization
• Ogilvy: The Executive's Guide to Foursquare for Business

Resources

• W3Schools: Multimedia Tutorial
• Pew Internet & American Life Project: Cell Phones and American Adults