Stories by Peter Osborne, Friction-Free Communications

Building a dashboard seems easy enough. Make sure it presents relevant metrics and tracks your path toward success. A former communications executive at a major U.S. bank, Peter Osborne explains how it’s a bit more complicated. He also provides step-by-step instructions so you can create a dashboard that links communications metrics to relevant business goals.

As we enter the final days of the final week of 2017—a time when you or everyone around you is on vacation—this is the perfect time to adopt some processes so you can hit the ground running next week. And so here are 9 tips that will help you attack 2018 with renewed vigor. The best part is that they take very little time and the payoff can be large in terms of productivity and networking. In short, they’re a way to identify what you can prune so that you’ll have more time for issues that matter.

Letters, digital or sent via U.S. mail, are likely to make direct contact with customers. It’s important, then, to be certain they reflect your brand’s well-crafted messages. We offer many tips on how to make such letters more effective, but most important is that they burnish your company’s reputation with all stakeholders.

Integrating PR and marketing makes eminent sense, as we know. Getting the two groups to work together, however, is far easier said than done. The first step often is convening a meeting of the two teams. To prepare for such a session you can ramp up your knowledge of meeting tactics and etiquette. You might also want to come armed with a series of questions to spur creative thinking and to remind staff the customer should be at the center of your efforts.

Does the process of applying for a job at your company align with the brand message that you are crafting to attract customers? It should, as research shows those who have a positive interaction with your brand will remember it. Applicants who have a bad experience with your brand’s H.R. process also are likely to recall it. Here are some ways communicators can help H.R. provide job seekers with a positive brand experience.

As communicators we are told to be in the moment. Yet after the moment has passed and the campaign is over, do we take enough time to reflect on what we could have done better or differently? After Bank of America made a disastrous decision, it created a communications autopsy that its communications team applied to future efforts. You can adapt this autopsy for your brand’s needs, too.