14 must-have communication tools to get your business off the ground
Communication is essential these days. As a company, talking about your brand and keeping in touch with your users is essential to your success. With increasing competition and growing consumer curiosity, the key to standing out from the crowd lies in your communications!
Certain tools are needed to optimise the way you communicate and adapt your message to a wide range of target audiences.
Whether you're an SME or a large group, you need to use these tools and adapt them to your business.
👉 Here are 14 tools we've selected to inspire you and help you improve your external communication.
#1 Logo
The logo is the main element of your company's visual identity. It provides a reference point for your company and a link between your various products and services. It can be found on :
- your website
- your shops
- press releases
- your social networks, etc.
👉 What it contains:
- symbol and typography,
- different formats,
- transparent or coloured background.
✅ Advantages:
- quick identification,
- conveys your image,
- eye-catching,
- gives a unique personality.
#2 Graphic charter
The graphic charter is the essential support for all communication. It is a reference document that contains the fundamental rules for using the graphic signs that make up the visual identity of a company or brand. As a company, you can't do without this medium!
👉 What it contains:
- logo and symbols,
- typography,
- colour codes.
✅ Its advantages :
- consistent communication,
- summary document,
- saves time when creating content,
- rapid brand recognition by the public.
#3 Website
The vast majority of French people spend more than 2 hours a day on the Internet. It acts as a showcase for your brand, provided it's well designed. This site can help you sell your products, inform your visitors or even recruit talent.
👉 What it contains :
- form: responsive, design, ergonomics, speed,
- content: product descriptions, customer testimonials, logo, links, etc.
✅ Its advantages :
- can be consulted by anyone at any time,
- control over your communication,
- generates leads,
- helps you sell.
#4 Business card
A business card is an essential tool for disseminating information about your company to your professional network and prospective customers. Business cards are most often passed on :
- at trade shows,
- during a first meeting with a prospect,
- to your network for distribution, etc.
👉 What it contains :
- surname,
- first name,
- website
- address, etc .
Be careful not to overload it!
✅ Its advantages :
- it conveys essential information,
- customisable
- quick and affordable,
- helps you expand your professional network.
#5 Catalogue
The catalogue, sometimes called a book, is a sales presentation tool that helps salespeople with their sales pitch.
The catalogue can be in both physical format to accompany the sales person, and digital format for easier distribution and regular updating.
👉 What it contains :
- product catalogue,
- commercial specifications
- sales pitch,
- company presentation, etc.
✅ Its advantages :
- sales support for employees,
- constitutes a reference system,
- brings together the necessary information,
- demonstrates professionalism.
#6 Poster advertising
Advertising posters have not disappeared, quite the contrary, this paper format is still an effective way of communicating! Posters are a way of communicating about an offer, an event or a product.
👉 What it contains :
- contact details,
- attractive image or photo,
- slogan,
- text.
✅ Its advantages :
- choice of format,
- captures consumers' attention,
- choice of location,
- choice of audience.
#7 Trade shows
Taking part in trade shows is an integral part of your company's communication strategy. It helps you meet new prospects, extend your network and even take orders.
👉 What your stand contains :
- counter,
- hanging sign.
- kakemono.
- document holder,
- product demonstrations, etc .
✅ Its advantages :
- Meet better suppliers,
- stand out from the competition,
- increase your company's visibility,
- detect trends.
#8 Blog
Having a website is all well and good, but creating a blog is a way for your company to gain even more visibility on the net. It allows you to share your content with your visitors, future customers and clients. The success of your marketing strategy and your blog depends on interesting, regular and varied content.
👉 What it contains :
- article,
- tutorial
- case studies
- comparative articles, etc.
✅ What it does:
- proves your expertise,
- increases your customer acquisition,
- builds user loyalty,
- improves your website's SEO.
#9 Social networks
Social networking has become an essential part of corporate communications. It's essential to optimise your social networking strategy to get the most out of these platforms.
Whether it's Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn, each network needs to be chosen according to the characteristics of your business and the target audience you want to reach.
👉 What it contains:
- presenting your company,
- content sharing,
- regular publications,
- links to your website and blog.
✅ Its advantages :
- instant communication,
- creation of a community,
- generating traffic to your site,
- winning over new customers and retaining existing ones.
#10 Digital advertising
Digital advertising is the use of the web to broadcast your advertisements to consumers via different channels. The great advantage of this communication tool is the possibility, thanks to cookies, of targeting Internet users according to their centres of interest, purchasing behaviour, habits, etc.
👉 What it contains:
- SEA,
- display,
- retargeting
- native advertising, etc.
✅ Advantages:
- reach millions of people worldwide,
- accurate statistics,
- different formats (images, videos, text),
- almost instant optimisation.
#11 Newsletter
The newsletter allows your company to communicate directly with your customers or prospects via email. Creating an effective newsletter means you can quickly reach a large number of specific customers and prospects. The newsletter can be sent out periodically: monthly, quarterly, weekly or daily.
👉 What it contains :
- subject,
- recipient,
- subject: news, information, advice, advertising,
- social networks, etc.
✅ Its advantages :
- target and personalise your mailings,
- easy and inexpensive,
- maintain your leads,
- build customer loyalty.
#12 Webinar
A webinar is an online conference held both internally and externally. They can be used for a variety of purposes: training, product demonstrations, tutorials, etc.
Webinars are a powerful tool for engaging your brand with potential customers anywhere in the world.
👉 What it contains :
- introduction (presentation of the speaker, reminder of the purpose and summary),
- presentation,
- product demo,
- questions and answers.
✅ Its advantages:
- sharing with a large number of people,
- interactive,
- possibility of replaying the conference,
- saves time and money.
#13 SMS
Sending an SMS is still a very good communication tool. With a read rate of 95%, SMS reaches almost the entire target audience! This communication tool can be used for a variety of occasions and objectives.
👉 What it contains :
- promotional offers, invitations and competitions ;
- information alerts ;
- personalised messages (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.);
- satisfaction surveys or polls.
✅ Its advantages :
- low cost,
- fast, direct communication,
- increases customer loyalty,
- high reactivity rate.
#14 Messaging and chatbot
An instant messaging service or chatbot is an essential part of your after-sales service or customer relations strategy. As a business, it's important to keep in touch with your customers and answer their various questions quickly.
👉 What it contains:
- chatbot: generic, predefined text, contextualised pieces of information based on data that the user has provided ;
- messaging: can be found directly on your website or on your social networks.
✅ Benefits:
- stimulate customer engagement and increase loyalty,
- the two are complementary,
- improve the customer experience,
- give a better understanding of the issues.
Complementary communication tools
There are many different communication tools with different objectives. Some, like blogs, are used to acquire new customers. Others, such as display advertising, are more focused on visibility, while social networks play a role in building customer loyalty. These tools are therefore complementary and can all form part of your communication strategy despite their differences.
💡 Thanks to some specialist communications software, you can optimise your communications quickly and easily!
As well as external communication, internal communication also has its own importance and its own range of tools to discover and exploit! Wondering what in-house communication tools are available? Find out in our dedicated article!
Article translated from French