We’re pleased to announce that three recent creative projects have received awards from the 2024 International Hermes Creative Awards Competition.
Shady Grove Medical Center has recently introduced the construction of a new tower building, with a focus on providing patient-centric care and innovation. The advertising campaign by CMBell showcases the hospital's cutting-edge technologies and medical advancements through captivating visuals and compelling narratives, representing the hospital's transformative journey.
How do you know if you’re getting the best possible results from your social media?
You should be getting leads (or sales, if your product can be purchased online), and your audience and engagement should be growing.
If you’re ready to level up your video content game, the next step is figuring out what kinds of videos will fit your goals.
Here are just a few of the video options to consider:
Looking to hire a new communication team leader?
Hiring for a communication position—and wishing you could dig a bit deeper than the standard interview questions? You know, the ones that ask about strengths and weakness, career plans, and why they are interested in this particular position.
CMBell and four of our clients have received awards from the 2020 International MarCom Awards Competition. The MarCom Awards honor excellence in marketing and communication and represent one of the largest creative competitions in the world—with 6,000 entries submitted from creative teams in dozens of countries.
Why are the “Job” and the “About Us” pages so frequently lackluster on business websites?
For most, it's probably a practical reason. Once that content is developed, there's generally little reason to revisit it. It falls into that perilous category of important but not urgent, and there it languishes—missing untold opportunities to persuade, compel, and sell.
With 87% of agencies having 25 or fewer employees, don't overlook what a small firm can do to produce creative work that gets you noticed, heard, and remembered—and do it fast and affordably.
Finding the right fit is vital when selecting a creative agency. Talent, track record, and creativity can be found in any size agency, but here are some things small firms can offer.
You already know the importance of telling your story.
But do you know how to make sure your story will lead to that “ah-ha” moment with your audience? Do you know how to make it rise above so-so storytelling and leave your audience touched, persuaded, or engaged?
At the heart of great storytelling are two things: identifying the right story, and telling it well.
We know that stories are what move the human heart. This has been true since the dawn of time, and is true for individuals as well as businesses. As humans, we are especially drawn to stories that feel true, authentic, and well-told. And when delivered with the power of music, motion, and imagery via video, a story’s impact is multiplied.
Your annual report may be your most important communication tool—It offers a snapshot of company performance, shows how you're creating value for your stakeholders, and offers a glimpse into the purpose that drives your organization.
To get the most from your investment, design your annual report as both a marketing tool and a reporting tool that can reach shareholders, employees, and customers.
For most businesses, it’s very likely that customers will interact with your company more online than in-person. It's also the case that nearly everyone searching online for your type of business won't get past the first page of Google results; and once they visit your website, they won't stick around if they can't immediately find what they are looking for.
Are you in the midst of layoffs? Budget-cuts? A merger or acquisition?
If you are downsizing, then you know the anxiety it produces among employees and the way it impacts morale, productivity, and customers. Communication during these times is a powerful tool that can help keep your employees engaged during difficult times. Here are 14 internal communication tips we’ve seen work during difficult times:
There’s no better way to bring your mission and values off your walls and into your halls than by showing your leaders and employees walking the talk.
And there’s no better communication tool than video to build a values-driven culture. Video can capture symbolic moments in which people bring values to life in authentic ways—and spread the role-modeling throughout the organization.
In today’s market, video marketing is an essential—and nothing works like a riveting patient story.
But not all patient video stories are created equally. Some feel flat, boring, too promotional or too predictable, while others depict a relatable experience and compel the viewer to feel connected to the organization.
The days of a one-size-fits-all channel are gone. As many as five generations with diverse communication appetites make up today’s workforce—making the job of the communicator increasingly complex. Some workers are at desks and access email, while others rarely do. Reaching them all requires using a wide range of channels and multiple deliveries of the same message. Here are the most popular channels being used for internal communication.
The interview is the foundation for many kinds of videos—from executive updates to a good story. Setting up a good video interview starts with you, the project manager, before the video crew ever arrives. Here are some tips we share with our clients that can help you get a better video.
When it comes to millennials, one of the most important actions employers can take to improve their engagement is to offer routine feedback. According to a recent Gallup report, only 19% of young workers state that they regularly receive feedback, and just 17% acknowledge that the feedback they get is meaningful.
This type of internal communication could involve technologies like Slack or others that connect managers and their teams with real-time feedback.
You can read more about the Gallup survey and how to engage your workforce here. The bottom line: millennials have grown up in a world of continuous feedback, which has deeply shaped their employment expectations. Employers who understand and respond to this will see higher employee engagement among this demographic.
You already believe in the power of story. You’ve seen how it can sell, persuade, compel, inspire—even better than a well-crafted argument. But are your stories helping you build your business?
If not, here are some possible reasons—and tips on what you can do about it:
Communications has never been more important to businesses and organizations, and as we look at trends and needs among our clients, we’re convinced that our new mission statement precisely describes the space we’ll occupy: Creating signature communications that drive purpose and grow business.
As an outgrowth of that, we’ve updated our visual brand, and in this entry, we’ll take you behind the scenes on some of the work that led up to this.
When Vineet Nayar joined HCL Technologies as the CEO, he vowed to transform it into a company where employees were first—and customers were second.
Nayar believed that if he could inspire his people to pursue a vision which they owned and which still aligned with the company’s, magic would happen. And his experiment proved him right.
On this premise, he set to work to make it one of the fastest-growing and most profitable global IT services as well as one of the 20 most influential companies in the world.
But it required challenging the conventional wisdom that the customer is always right.
While at some level, this commonly heard business maxim speaks truth, in application it can lead to deadly results for employee engagement if we don't talk about where the line drawn on customer behavior.
As Alexander Kjerulf, author of Happy Hour is 9 to 5, tells it, Southwest drew a line with a frequent flyer who consistently complained about things that were simply part of their business model—like no assigned seats, no first class, no in-flight meals, and the casual atmosphere.
Wearied by her repeated tirades, Southwest's customer relations people eventually sent her comments on to then-CEO Herb Kelleher, who replied: "Dear Mrs. X, We will miss you. Love, Herb."
“Believing the customer is always right is a subconscious way of favoring the customer over the employee which can lead to resentment among employees. … Put employees first and they will be happy at work," says Kjerulf.
It is not too low of a bar to expect civility of both employees and customers, and yet most of us have witnessed the lack of it too many times in the workplace. As is often the case, the challenge is in the execution. It can feel a lot like refereeing siblings in a "he started it, she started it" squabble. But, as leaders, we're called to adjudicate these situations to determine whether an employee's behavior wrongly incited a frustrated customer, or whether a customer is being unreasonable, rude, or insulting.
To preserve a workplace with high engagement, a business must live its values—not just talk about them. This could mean walking away from some clients if their behavior does not allow the company to live up to its values of treating its own people with respect. Tolerating rude, insulting, or abusive behavior by customers drains the energy of employees and lowers morale. It effectively tells the employee that they do not deserve better treatment from others.
It's important to think about where popular ideas like "the customer is always right" reach their limits. Intuitively, we know that treating people well and providing a work environment that isn't hostile can help them flourish. This kind of environment unleashes loyalty, creativity, and the desire to take better care of the customers. In the end, respecting and retaining top employees not only impacts engagement, but ensures that your customers have the very best people attending to them.
It’s no secret that employees who buy into your company’s mission and vision will make you more successful.
In fact, Gallup says that the most engaged teams will have four times the odds of success compared with teams with low engagement.
So it’s surprising to learn that seven out of 10 employees are not engaged at work. And the cost is real:
Lower productivity
Poorer quality
More safety incidents
Higher absenteeism and turnover
Poorer customer satisfaction
Higher employee health care costs
While several factors impact engagement, communication’s central role can’t be overlooked.
It’s not that employees lack communication—more information than ever is clamoring for their attention. It’s that they are often starved for the right kind of communication at work.
They hear a lot about problems to solve, regulations to meet, targets to reach, and customer concerns. But they hear too little about things that ignite their passion and help them connect their work to their purpose.
Think of communication as nourishment for the soul. Employees need a balanced diet that includes messages that inspire. They need to understand the “Why?” behind what they are asked to do. This includes:
Vision: What the destination is, and how you’ll get there
Mission: Why their work matters
Values: The principles that drive behavior
Strategy: How their work connects to a broader vision
Stories: How their work impacts customers and co-workers
Their role: What’s expected of them
Strategic, intentional communication with your inner circle can change the future of your company. It can help build employee support for your most pressing business goals, revitalize your culture, and spread to your customers in the form of better service and products.
It’s nearly impossible to win customers if you have not first won the hearts and minds of your own employees.
This is why internal communication is gaining more and more attention and resources. It can:
Connect employees to their purpose
Inspire them with a mission that brings meaning to their work
Give them a better understanding of how their work fits into the company’s strategy
Help them understand and support decisions that are made
Help them deal with change
Build a robust and healthy culture
So how do leaders get their teams to embrace their vision? To share the same dreams? To move in sync with each other toward a common goal?
Make a strategic communication plan that identifies your key messages, how often and when they’ll be delivered, and the target audience for each. It doesn’t have to be complicated—just clear and executable.
Create a compelling picture of the destination before outlining how you’ll get there. Weave a story around the vision that invites others to step into it, inspires the mind, and ignites curiosity. Once employees know the destination, you can show them the plan to get there.
Make it personal. How will the vision impact employees? What exactly should they do differently? What is their role in success? Why is it important? Use specific examples and stories that draw them in.
Use language employees understand. Corporate-speak weighs down a message, so if you struggle with this, have an outsider review what you plan to say before you deliver it.
Use the media they’re using. While email is still the most used channel for internal communication, video is gaining ground as appetites for this medium soar. A mix of media is best, so don’t rule out in-person forums, print pieces, apps, and intranets. And, of course, all of your digital communication needs to be mobile-friendly.
Engage the senses. Visually rich messages inundate today’s employee—so a slow-moving, text-heavy presentation won’t be the most compelling way to deliver your important messages. Great visuals are now essential to get and keep your listeners’ attention. And, of course, the motion, music, and sound that video offers makes your message even more engaging.
Understand their world. Cognitive overload is real. Employees get too much information—but not enough inspiration. Connecting your ideas to their sense of purpose is the best way to inspire them.
Keep it short. Employees like their information in short, snackable, yet content-rich formats that they can ingest quickly.
Repeat your essential messages. Yes, over and over and over. By the time you’re weary of saying it, it will just be gaining traction.
Listen. Communication is a two-way street. Give employees more than one way to submit questions and ideas, then use that to drive content.
While 70% of senior leaders value internal communication, only 49% of companies have a written internal communication plan, according to Gatehouse’s State of the Sector 2016 survey on internal communication and employee engagement, which surveyed more than 300 organizations in 70 countries.
Even fewer—27% of those surveyed—have a dedicated budget. This will likely change with the growing concern leaders have about low employee engagement.
The unprecedented rate of change and uncertainty in health care leaves employees looking for clarity about what’s most important. Yet even in times of change, engagement is possible.
“Nearly eight in 10 employees are engaged when workers strongly agree there is open communication, opportunities to provide input, a clear connection between current changes and the company’s future, and management support for changes that affect their work group. When employees disagree, a mere 1% are engaged,” according to Gallup.
Gallup says that clear communication and a well-articulated mission and purpose that’s consistent with the culture are two of the strategies top-performing health care organizations handle better than their peers.
Wondering how to put together an internal communication plan, develop your essential message points, or craft a creative narrative that speaks to employees?
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