5 common comms mistakes that stifle interest from HR buyers
With a niche industry comes niche communication strategies that need to be implemented well. Yet, quite frequently, we see brands making the same communication mistakes that can prevent them from truly connecting with their target audience.
To make sure your messages land amongst HR professionals and reach their full potential, avoid these 5 commons comms mistakes:
1. Not displaying a strong awareness of the market as a whole
HR professionals have a lot on their plate. While your service or product might help them solve one or even several of their problems, you must be able to fit this into the bigger picture.
Skills strategies, diversity and inclusion, employee wellbeing and employee engagement are just a few HR priorities in 2021. When you demonstrate awareness of these broader issues, you can help HR people understand how your solution supports them with all the areas they're juggling.
Doing this well not only helps you to build better connections, it also displays a strong authority of market knowledge, creating a solid image.
2. Failing to clearly state your purpose
It might be surprising to hear the number of times we visit a website or a company social media page and aren’t able to tell what the brand sells… often it can take a bit of digging to figure out what the service/product does, how it works and who it’s for.
Straight away, this is a red-flag for any comms strategy as you need audiences to know who you are and what you do from the get go. Make this really simple for potential buyers to understand.
Problematically, sometimes when you’re so immersed in your own brand, it’s not clear how others perceive your messaging. It’s not uncommon to not even realise there’s a problem.
Try and place yourselves in the shoes of a potential HR buyer: if, when visiting your website or social media accounts, your brand purpose, aims and benefits aren’t clear straight away, take a step back, understand what you need to convey and amend immediately. And remember, these messages should also be clear in blogs and news releases too. Though stated in much more subtle ways, your company expertise should indirectly reveal to HR readers the aims and potential of your brand.
3. Assuming expertise on the part of audience
This mistake is made across so many comms methods - in blog content, news releases, web copy, you name it. And funnily enough, the problem here actually starts off as a positive: brands know so much about their subject matter or product and want to put all their expertise into their comms.
So, what’s so bad about that?
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with the intention, but mistakes are often made in the execution.
In demonstrating their knowledge, brands sometimes forget that the standard person doesn’t share the same level of expertise, meaning messages get lost in translation. Using industry jargon or overly technical terms can confuse your audience and disconnect them from your brand - your comms have to be understandable to the average HR professional. In fact, a recent survey found that, when quizzed, workers could only explain 55% of jargon correctly.
The moral of the story?
Use human language and find ways to simplify your messages. Big words may sound impressive but they don’t always provide understanding and support sales.
4. Not showing a clear ROI
HR must clearly demonstrate the need for investments in new services or products as well as show ROI to prove their connection to broader business objectives.
Educating HR on the potential of your service or product and providing practical information to showcase the significance of your work is important when building trust in your brand.
It’s not always easy to show ROI, but using past client data or market research in marketing content or news releases, as well as showing off client testimonials and award wins can all go a long way in demonstrating the value of what you offer. Using a variety of these methods increases the level of confidence HR and their organisations will place in you.
5. Missing out on key comms channels
If you’re missing out on key communication channels then you’re reducing the visibility of your brand and the potential to be seen by target audiences. Therefore, it’s important to do your research to see which channels your key audiences are using.
There are, for example, so many niche publications aimed at different HR interests - employee benefits, D&I or recruitment, for example, which can be utilised to promote your messages amongst incredibly targeted groups.
As well as this, finding the right social media platforms where HR hangs out in high volumes is essential - and using each to highlight company messages through blog content, long-form content, infographics etc. As mentioned earlier, award wins are another key step in highlighting your expertise and building trust amongst HR professionals.
There are so many communications channels you can use to promote your messages - the key is in utilising those that are most relevant to HR.
For further support boosting your PR and communications strategy, get in touch. We’ve been helping HR and workplace related brands for over 25 years and we’d love to share our expertise with you too.