Communicating business — American style

Saturday, November 21, 2009 6:25 PM

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Communicating business - American style

Business Communications RO

with Yvonne Grinam-Nicholson

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Last month, I participated in an 'orgy' in America. Now, wait a minute. Before your heart starts racing and your porno-meter goes haywire and you begin to rethink the image you have of me as the "can't-mash-ants", starchy, prim and proper school-marmish type, (which thankfully, I am not) let me define exactly what I mean.

Encarta World English dictionary describes an orgy as "a period of indulgence in a particular activity or emotion, especially something that is disapproved of". So, I think I am quite right to say that I spent a few days in Houston, Texas at the Southern Regional conference of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), having a ball, indulging in all things communication: marketing, branding, social media, employee communication and public relations . you name it we explored it. I would also like to think that I am right to say that if some our clients and bosses (specifically the ones who refuse to heed sound advice) knew what we were up to, using our experiences with them as so much fodder, they would all wag disapproving fingers. Ergo, me and orgy. Shall we move on?

Make no mistake about it, America is the land of business. Whereas in Jamaica, for some, the mantra is: 'no problem man, 'everyting awright', that is, until the rent-man or utilities gorgon shows up to disconnect: light, water or cable. Up there it's all about the almighty moola, the green-back and making it big. Every minute means a dollar made or lost: and believe me they know about the losses. So many
of their financial, housing sector and other industrial behemoths have gone belly up within the last twenty-four months: Bear Sterns, Lehman Brothers, GM and others. So much so that Wall Street and Main Streets have merged into one long pothole-filled route leading to the huge Obama-built Bailout Boulevard.

That is not to say that Americans have no heart. It is precisely because it is a society built for, and on the existence of business, that they have established the area of business communication and made it work for them. In fact the IABC's earliest roots were in the United States
and Canada, in localised organisations for editors. It was formed and exists today "to teach practitioners and organisational leaders how to make communication work better in business". So how do the Americans communicate in their business pursuits?

1. They stay on message - always. In the business of communication your key message is what you want
your target audience to hear, remember and most importantly act on. The Americans do this well. The events of 9/11 that scarred the world forever, changed the way that Americans did business with 'the rest of us'. This meant that they had to communicate, explicitly that it was not business as usual and they had to stay on this message until things changed, that is, if they ever do. They circled the wagons and changed significantly the rules of entry to their country. So, for example at the airports the consistent business message emphasises this fact in print (posters), face-to-face (customs officers) and via electronic media (intercom system). So, at the George Bush International Airport in Houston the airport intercom system constantly warned passengers that because of the threat to their borders and businesses we could be arrested if we made certain jokes within earshot of airport personnel. They have indeed added new meaning to the saying 'what is joke to you is death to me'.

2. They take the time to understand their audiences. For many reasons, in Jamaica, when we are communicating our messages, one size fits all. So, we refuse to take 'Lieutenant Stitchie's' advice in his song Wear You Size and instead cram complex, rambling messages more suited for radio into huge print advertisements, hoping that Mass Tom working his farmland in Westmoreland will somehow have access to the message we wish to share. On the other hand (yes, I know they have to means to do so), I have found that America businesses have taken the time to learn about their audiences and tailor the message to suit each segment. This means a more effective reach and an impact on the bottom-line because the message is honed to reach the specific audience for a particular reason. The communications budget does not appear to be allocated willy-nilly and according to the whims and fancy of friends and other influential people. Corporate communication practitioners are very clinical and direct in their allocation
of resources, they do their research and use it to inform their communications programme.

Yvonne Grinam-Nicholson, (MBA, ABC) is a Business Communications Consultant with ROCommunications Jamaica, specialising in business communications and financial publications. She can be contacted at: yvonne@rocommunications.com. Visit her website at www.rocommunications.com and post your comments.

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