Tag: offices

An audience that is seen but not heard

Posted on November 28, 2013 by

It’s always surprising to find that when it comes to strategic communication businesses completely discard an audience that should be made up of its most loyal followers; it’s employees.

It is very rare that we receive a PR brief which makes specific reference to internal communications, unless it includes a newsletter or the updating of an intranet service. So, why is it that brands which invest thousands of pounds into managing their most precious asset – their reputation – don’t consider their biggest advocates as a key audience?

Well, it’s simple really. Employees are, in some businesses at least, seen and not heard. In times where offices are busier, customers want more and time is ever of the essence, it is fair to suggest that the easiest audience to ‘ignore’ or push to one side would be those who are closest.

It’s like anything, when you have a task to do that is for your own brand or business you leave it until ‘later’ but later, like tomorrow, never seems to come.

We work with companies of all sizes to explain the importance of internal communications, and to explain why investing in this audience should become part of an organisations wider business strategy if they want to really succeed. Employees make a business, and they add to the personality of a brand, which is the one thing that competitors cannot replicate.

When you think about some brands and the experience that you have had, it won’t be the owner of that company that has given you that impression – good or bad – but the person that you deal with when you come into contact with that business. In most instances, when you think about leading global brands you will have no idea what the owner even looks like; what you are likely refer to is people you know who work for that company, or the attitude of the person who last called you from that particular business.

The simple truth is if you don’t invest in your team, whether they are customer facing or not, you can’t expect them to then share the positive values of your business with others.  What will they be saying when they are down the pub with their mates or updating their latest Facebook post? What are they tweeting about and if it references your business, is it likely to be positive? It’s certainly worth considering in an age of ‘sharing’ content and expressing opinion.

Employees are an essential asset to any business, not just bums on seats. Perhaps it’s time that we all took a step back, considered those who should matter most and enthused them to want to share the good things about the company that they have chosen to work for.

Putting together an internal communications campaign, which educates and engages your staff, could give you the best return on investment of any marketing activity you have planned for 2014.

An agency with an office and proud of it!

Posted on February 6, 2013 by

There has been a lot of noise in the media recently with regards to the benefits to a ‘team’ that work entirely from home. An office-less environment for a business may be something that some of us gasp at but when you think about it from a commercial perspective it makes perfect sense.

There are others of course who will spend all day arguing that in a world of modern technology with smart phones, apps, iPads, online conferencing, skype and any other social media tools you choose to use for business there is no need for an office and there is an argument to back this theory up.

Not only will you have no rent to pay, as such, but you get to work from the comfort of your own home, which has been proven (in some cases) to deliver greater outputs and actually increase productivity. So you have significantly fewer costs and more work gets done – happy days.

Now the other side to this, and the part that I find particularly hard to get my head around, is what I think makes a company a real success – the team. Although you will still work for a brand and business – and there’s nothing to suggest you can’t develop this remotely – I can’t see how you would build the camaraderie which comes from working together in an office.

I feel that working remotely would lose some of the personality that makes a brand individual and unique. Take Innocent smoothies as a great example, when you speak to people about the brand there is little doubt the conversation will get back to their famous offices, which have faux grass carpets, comfy seating areas and an invitation for anyone passing by to simply drop in.

Without an office Innocent wouldn’t have the opportunity to use such a great marketing tool. It is simple and very, very effective.

Some companies will never be able to run from home due to the nature of what they do however as the director of a PR agency that could quite easily pack up and refurb the back bedroom I think I would miss my colleagues, the chat and banter that comes with everyday office life.

When you have people surrounding you they become your support. Without that, I would feel like any other person, working for any other business but when I work for Open Communications I understand our vision, values and how we all use our skills to give our clients a totally unique service because that service comes from us all and part of that is as a result of the environment we work in.

You could even put this down to the nature, nurture debate but let’s not get into that!

HR magazine have written a great feature about the future of work being mobile and although in theory this is great I do hope in practice people will recognise that there are huge pitfalls to this approach.

The article suggests that people who work from home get a better work / life balance however I would dispute this, as those I know who work from home are logged on at all hours because it’s simple to do so and when you live and work from your office it’s more difficult to draw a line between the two.

It would be silly to suggest that as a business we didn’t consider overheads, turnover and most importantly profits but I genuinely believe that the environment you work in has a huge impact on how you develop, grow and deliver as a market leading organisation.

As a PR agency that has the luxury of being based in the idyllic setting of Nostell Priory Estate Yard we always take the chance to invite clients and prospects to come and have a coffee, chat and mooch around. For anyone out there who would like to take us up on that invite please feel free to do so. The kettle is on and the Open team will be here to welcome you.