Communication accounts for a significant amount of time in a marketing environment. Many experts consider communicating to be one of the most critical aspects of any business success. Business communication skills fall into a few basic forms that include oral, written, mediated and listening. Each of these forms of communication holds its own significance.
Oral Communication
A significant amount of marketing revolves around oral communication. Marketing managers and supervisors speak with employees, employees speak with their colleagues, groups engage in conversations and many members of the organisation use oral communication to interact with customers.
Oral communication can range from very casual to highly formal. The audience for this type of communication may include one person, a few people or a large group. This type of communication typically saves time over more formal methods however misunderstandings and absence of written records can sometimes lead to confusion.
Written Communication
Like oral communication, written communication can take a number of forms in a marketing environment. Channels for written communication include memorandums, letters and even sales brochures as well as formal contracts.
Written communication typically focuses on one topic at a time, with other topics either being relegated to another portion of the document or addressed in a separate communique altogether. Because written communication leaves a permanent record of the sender’s thoughts, business experts recommend that senders keep written messages short and simple, create these communications with the recipient’s perspective in mind and take time to proofread and revise the document before sending.