The Intentions of Communication(s)

Have you ever sat down to do something and realized you’d forgotten what you meant to do? It happens to me all the time.

This is partially because I’m constantly interrupted by EVERYONE in my house and find it difficult to form a complete thought.

I’d worry, but I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in this experience. As a marketing strategy consultant, I’m routinely asked good and important questions posed by busy people who are getting interrupted by colleagues with their own questions and requests. There are times when I wonder if we as marketers get so caught up in the going, doing, producing, and getting it OUT that we forget to anchor it all back to the reasons we do it all.


So this is a post that takes us back to the beginning: What are the intentions of communication?
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• To persuade. Persuasion would seem like the most important part of the marketing communicator’s role, but in the many years that I’ve done marketing strategy research, I have come upon a simple, but vital discovery and it’s this: People of any age (but particularly younger folk) will not trust you or your efforts of persuasion if they feel you are inauthentic. If you’re too pushy, you’re out; if you’re too slick, you’re out; if you’re too mass-produced, you’re out. Now more than ever, people demand authenticity before they will even consider the persuasive pitch.

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• To convey information. This one also seems obvious, but communication is a vehicle capable of carrying a heavy load–much more than the simple transmission of datum from one person to another. Think back to the early days when all that any human had known or experienced had to be passed down through an oral tradition or it was lost forever. Now we have lots of ways to convey information, but let’s not forget the accompanying opportunities to convey a sense of the culture, establish context for the information, and by so doing provide people with a sense of where they fit into the process and the system. Data wrapped in context provides relevance.​

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• To show empathy. In Brenѐ Brown’s viral TED talk video about shame, she says two of the most powerful words we can say to someone are “me too.” They’re powerful because they allow others to know they are not alone in their experience. By sharing our own—sometimes messy–humanity, we create a safe place for others to listen and share and by so doing, we can lead the process of developing an authentic relationship. In the early days of communication, people wanted a connection; turns out, they still do.

Next time you sit down to get something out, take a minute to root yourself if the real reason you’re doing it, and how those foundational reasons can inform the way you put your message together.

Kyndra Wilson, KW Brand Translation