Communication Without Connection
August 16, 2018
Jeremy Wells
Great communication should create a connection, not just relay information.
con·nec·tion – a relationship in which a person, thing, or idea is linked or associated with something else.
com·mu·ni·ca·tion – the imparting or exchanging of information or news.
People don’t communicate through words alone, but primarily by emotional exchanges. This is why branding matters and is so important to businesses.
Studies show that our brain makes judgments about what someone is saying based on their “emotional tone” or rather: body language, eye contact, facial expressions, how distracted they are, and the tone of their voice. We make these judgments before our brain even begins to interpret the meaning of the words we’re hearing or seeing.
1. Connection Makes for Better Communication
As a business owner, you need people to hire you, buy your product, or service; but if you’re only focused on convincing people to buy your stuff, you’re doing yourself a great disservice. Great businesses focus on truly understanding their customer’s perspective, needs, and desires – doing their best to build a connection with them. If you only focus on your communication technique or savvy marketing campaigns, you can certainly fail to connect with people. Even worse, you could even communicate that you are disingenuous; causing even more harm to your reputation.
Too many businesses start trying to communicate before they ever try to connect. Here are just a few downsides of communication absent of connection:
- People are turned off by you before they ever give you a chance.
- Your logo or brand identity conveys a different message than you want. People view you as 2nd-class, the cheapest option, a low-quality business, or just don’t understand your business at all.
- You invest a ton of money in a marketing agency, or on an ad campaign and don’t see any ROI.
Improve your emotional awareness towards your customer and the right words will follow, but it won’t work the other way around.
When you genuinely care about your audience, you will feel more connected to them. And when there is a good connection, good communication comes naturally. Being disconnected makes for poor communication – and no tricky marketing techniques or big budget ad campaign will change that.
2. Connection Fosters Trust
When a customer doesn’t feel connected to your business, the use of communication tricks and techniques makes them feel manipulated. The more you try to over-communicate, it will make it worse. A person will likely feel that there is a hidden agenda; they’ll believe that your goal is not in their best interest, but rather you’re attempting to get them to do what you want.
This is not a good place to be at as a business owner. But all too many business owners find themselves in this position. Your best chance at building healthy relationships with your audience is to do everything you can to connect with them in ways that don’t seem forced. Subtle ways.
Are you building a connection with your audience? Ask yourself these questions:
- What is the first impression they have of your business?
- How does your logo make them feel, or what does it tell them about your business?
- Do they believe that you truly understand their needs and desires?
- Are you engaging in a way that’s familiar and comfortable to them, or does it feel forced?
3. Refocusing Your Business
To begin making a better connection to people start by refocusing. Don’t focus on how to get someone to do what you want.
Rather focus on…
- Listening to people, not just talking about how great your business is
- Being genuinely curious to learn about people, their perspective, their troubles, their desires
- Ensuring that you understand their motivations
- Improving your product or service to provide people the most value and features that they really want
Remember, you must convey that you care about people and that you truly care about providing them an immense value. If you fall short of this, your connection to them will be lost – what you say to them won’t matter, they won’t care about how awesome you say your product or service is, and your message will fall on deaf ears.
Great communication should create a connection, not just relay information.
In Conclusion
Forget about convincing customers through tricky communication methods. Get connected with your audience right now. It starts with truly caring about people, and beginning to see that your brand is not just a logo or a catchy tagline – It’s your reputation. It’s how you make people feel.
Connecting with your audience will help you to communicate better. More importantly, you will show people you care – which will increase loyalty to your brand.
You will actually experience what it means to have a great product or service that helps people, rather than just talking about it.
Want to Make a Stronger Connection?
Find out how BrandGPS by Longitude° can help your business grow. Learn More
Jeremy Wells
Partner at Longitude°
Jeremy is the author of Future Hospitality and Brand Strategist at Longitude°. As a member of the Education Committee for The Boutique & Lifestyle Leaders Association (BLLA) and a content contributor to Cornell University’s Hospitality Vision and Concept Design graduate program, he is a committed thought leader in hotel branding, concepting, and experience strategy.
