Have you missed the mark on engagement?
Don’t worry there’s still time to redeem yourself.
Engagement is more than my career, it’s how I view the world. I believe connections are the nucleus of how people coexist in their personal and professional lives. I have the luxury of experiencing these connections every day, on every project. I want to extend those gifts to you. In my opinion, the commonly missed marks of engagement include what it means to connect, understanding the needs of the audience and clear communication.
Connecting with people is not as simple as it sounds. It’s a two-way street. There are prerequisites to understand before a connection is possible. Let’s begin by defining what it means to connect. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, to connect means “to place or establish in relationship”. Think about how you form the relationships in your life. The level of effort given and how you communicate with another person depends on the person or circumstances. To engage with your audience, you apply the same principles.
Oftentimes, consultants are caught up in their own perspective and forget to take a step back and understand their audience. A good first step would be to question things like: Who is my audience? What are they like? What are their concerns? How will my product or service provide a solution or benefit to them? How do I assess their needs? How do they receive their information? Do I have the capacity? What are conflicting priorities? The ground work in the beginning will save you time, money and plenty of headaches in the long run – you’re welcome in advance. This information can be immediately used or reserved until later on the process – trust me. It’s vital in communicating properly with your audience.
After you understand your audience, you can plan for the best way to communicate with your audience to them. Mining attention is difficult, you have to be mindful of how much information a person is exposed to on any given day and what their personal priorities are. Think about how much information you are exposed to on any given day through emails, print media, social media or word of mouth. Which method is the best way to reach you? What loops and bounds does someone have to go through to shift your priorities? Apply that perspective to your audience. It’s more than presenting information. It’s evoking an emotional response to lead to a reaction. If you need help answering these questions, now would be a good time to rely on the information you collected when getting to know your audience – I told you to trust me.
To be on target, it’s important to understand what it means to connect, how to connect with your audience and what to communicate to your audience to build that connection. I leave you with this, engagement doesn’t stop when the project closes or the transaction is complete. Engagement is a continuous cycle. Follow these guidelines and you won’t miss your mark. Practice makes perfect.
