Membership Update Fall 2019

Welcome one and all!    

Since our last update, we have seen some very exciting developments on the membership platform.

• Our community forum is up and running. It's an exciting and welcoming space dedicated to you, where you can connect with your fellow members across the globe. There are lots of interesting threads appearing, so don’t forget to add your own. It’s your forum, so join the conversation, and don’t forget to introduce yourself.
   
• For our CPD members - I am excited to let you know that all learning activities undertaken within your membership platform will now be logged to your CPD records… automatically!

A massive congratulations to Loredana Sartori who won our September competition for most-popular forum thread. We asked Loredana to share with us a little bit about her interactions on the forum and this is what she said:

“Firstly what I felt valuable about the forum was that it was great to know that people cared enough to take the time to offer guidance and share. Secondly, the advice given was actually what I needed to hear there and then, so very timely.

Thanks once again - it's a real honor to be part of the Digital Marketing Institute! The support I receive through everything the Institute provides is truly amazing.”

We will run another competition before the end of the year, so keep an eye out for future notifications!

Communication is Key

With the recent release of both our Community Forum and our new whitepaper, created in partnership with The Economist Group, on the

Perpetual Evolution: The interplay of talent and technology in the future of marketing, we plan to address these findings by adding personal skills development modules into our refreshed Postgraduate Program. With that in mind, I thought it would be a good time for us all to look at the importance of communication.

The findings of our whitepaper’s research demonstrate that ‘communication’ is still a relevant and much sought-after skill, which has been supported by this community's eagerness to utilize our new community forum. In today’s world, it’s vital to recognize the importance, power, and value of both your written and spoken words.

With the increasing focus on employee engagement, customer experience, and authenticity - getting your communication right can seem more and more like an uphill struggle for freelancers, small businesses, and corporations alike.

Here are 4 tips to make sure that your communication has the right tone and makes the right impact.

1. Transparency vs Overshare - The Fine Line

Mistakes made by companies and individuals can lead to social media crises, staff turnover, or - in the worst case - getting fired! One such mistake is the intentional non-disclosure of key information, guaranteed to kill trust amongst your customers, clients, peers, and/or colleagues.

A report from Social Spout on #BrandsGetReal: Social media & the evolution of transparency demonstrates just how important authenticity is, with 86% of those surveyed, stating that transparency from businesses is more important than ever before.

You will benefit from personal and organizational transparency, because - guess what? - people value the truth and care when you share… particularly if it's good news. The key, of course, is not to overshare: high-value communication is that which is open, clear, and honest.

“If people like you they will listen to you, but if they trust you, they will do business with you” Zig Ziglar

2. The Power of the Written Word

The written word has created movements, generated global awareness, aroused curiosities, influenced nations, and even saved lives. The power of the written word can be clearly demonstrated by the growth and success of movements using simple hashtags, taking the sentiment of full activism to a few powerful keywords such as #metoo and #ASLIceBucketChallenge.

A single well-chosen word, can evoke a variety of emotions even before your audience has started reading your content. These are your power words - words that you’re including to arouse curiosity, build trust, or appeal to your audience's needs. You’ll see these power words used time and again in everything from an email subject line, to content on a webpage or in social media campaigns.

“There is a “tremendous hunger” today for ways of communicating that capture the human experience in all its complexity and nuance” Roy Kamada, Associate Professor of Literature, Emerson

3. It's not what you say, it's how you say it. Or is it?

Have you ever been in a situation where you’re trying to write something or address a room of your peers - you think you know exactly what you need to say and how to say it - but then when the time comes, you end up drawing a blank and scrambling?  Writing and/or speaking in circles and not really saying what you really wanted to say.

Don’t worry, it happens to all of us, and more often than you think. A key tip to preventing this is to keep it simple: don’t use buzzwords, or overly elaborate language to make your point. Just say what you mean in a clear and concise message, and then you can be sure that your audience is reading and hearing exactly what you intend to communicate.

Check out our eBook on How to Write Well Online for some top insights and tips on getting your message across online.

4. It’s all about the tone

Your tone, (whether it’s conveyed by your voice, body language or in an email), will be remembered more vividly and for longer than the content of your communication. 55% of communication is translated via our body language. We’ve all heard the old adage that “actions speak louder than words”, but so many of us engage in communication with no real awareness of our actions, whether it’s punctuation, letter case, emojis, facial expression or speech volume and the effect on the recipient(s).

It’s important that we be mindful, so that our delivery is as effective and simple as our words.

Check out this article where we look at Brand Tone and Social Media with examples of when it works well and when it doesn’t.

“Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, clarity, and the emotions to affect other people” Jim Rohn

Book Your Spot

If you want to Be a Communication Powerhouse, then join us on the 20th November for a live online workshop, where we will explore core skills such as effective communication, persuasion, and motivation.

Just in case you missed it - here are some of this last quarter’s highlights in the membership library:

• New Short Course - Graphic Design Essentials for Marketers
• We have four live Webinars between now and the end of the year - check out what's coming up next, and register to secure your place: Click here to View and Book your Spot
• Ebook - The A to Z of SEO
• Handy templates to plan your social media calendar & check your online reputation
• Get the scoop on The Rapid Rise of TikTok and Privacy in the Age of Siri and Alexa
• Interesting series of video interviews on social marketing with Drinkaware
• Case study about Slack: Blowing Up the Business Communications Realm

Get your Christmas Campaign all Wrapped Up

Now that the evenings are getting shorter and the holiday season is around the corner, it’s the perfect time to start planning your seasonal campaigns - it’s easily done with top tips from our Peak Seasonal Sales Planning Webinar and our Christmas Strategy Calendar Checklist.

Have Your Voice Heard

In the spirit of communication, I would also like to invite you to submit your own well-written pieces online, by sending us your articles, eBooks, and toolkits to be considered for inclusion in our library. You can inform and inspire your fellow members, just like Dave Glazier, who has written our first Member Spotlight piece, offering our  community his insight on brand-led organizations in his article on Red Bull and Brand Affiliation: from Cans to Skydives.

We look forward to reading your submissions.

Bye for now, and remember to keep communicating!