In this episode, we take a step back from social selling and look at the broader spectrum of business communication. We talk with Business Communication & Corporate Writing expert Natalie Francis, Founder at ReWrite LLC, about:
- the role of language in business and marketing today
- what kind of problems do organizations and business leaders face today?
- what are the main considerations when creating business communication?
- does the medium matter?
- top 3 tips for marketers in using language to connect with their audience
If you're in business and want to learn how to use language and communication to improve your messaging, this episode is for you! Listen in.
About our sponsor ReadyForSocial:
ReadyForSocial is a leading social selling company and sponsor of this podcast. Since 2014, ReadyForSocial has supported large companies in the DACH region, Europe, and the USA by introducing, managing, and expanding their social selling programs.
Learn more about their solution and services here.
Lisa and Monika both work for ReadyForSocial. Feel free to contact them about this podcast or about ReadyForSocial's services: Lisa Davidson and Monika Ruzicka.
In this episode, we take a step back from social selling and look at the broader spectrum of business communication. We talk with Business Communication & Corporate Writing expert Natalie Francis, Founder at ReWrite LLC, about:
- the role of language in business and marketing today
- what kind of problems do organizations and business leaders face today?
- what are the main considerations when creating business communication?
- does the medium matter?
- top 3 tips for marketers in using language to connect with their audience
If you're in business and want to learn how to use language and communication to improve your messaging, this episode is for you! Listen in.
About our sponsor ReadyForSocial:
ReadyForSocial is a leading social selling company and sponsor of this podcast. Since 2014, ReadyForSocial has supported large companies in the DACH region, Europe, and the USA by introducing, managing, and expanding their social selling programs.
Learn more about their solution and services here.
Lisa and Monika both work for ReadyForSocial. Feel free to contact them about this podcast or about ReadyForSocial's services: Lisa Davidson and Monika Ruzicka.
So Let's get straight to business. Whether you want to optimize your lead generation, make the most of your marketing budget or gain and maintain a competitive advantage in the field, Monika Ruzicka and Lisa Davidson give you the expert insights on social selling to take your business to the next level. This episode is brought to you by ReadyForSocial, the b2b, social selling experts. Hi, Straight-to-Business listeners, and welcome to our latest episode. Let me tell you that Monika and I have another exciting episode in store for you today, because today we are talking about business communications. Now I know we usually focus on social selling and the content and communication strategies that go with it. But today, we'd like to look at a broader spectrum because business communications, and pretty much everything that has to do with it has changed massively in the last few years. So let's take a look. First, we need to understand that communication in general is such a regular part of our daily lives, that we rarely ever think about it. And that's not different in the business world. Studies have shown that effective communication affects a company's efficiency, productivity, culture and success. The move into a more and more remote workplace brought new trends, such as modern intranet software, collaborative digital workspaces, and unified communications, all on top of already established tools, such as newsletters, websites, infographics and images. While some of these trends have been around for some time, it's surprising that many established businesses and leaders don't feel comfortable communicating just yet. And that's why we invited business communication and corporate writing expert Natalie Francis to today's show. Natalie will give you some ideas on how business communication is done correctly, and what every one of us can do to improve our personal and company's business communications. Hi, Natalie, we're so excited to have you with us today.
Natalie Francis:Hi, Lisa and Monika. Thanks so much for having me. I feel excited to be part of this very important talk. So thanks again. It's wonderful to be here.
Monika Ruzicka:Hi, thanks for joining us.
Lisa Davidson:So lovely.
Natalie Francis:So before we dive into our topic, I'd like to give you guys at home some background information on our guest speaker. Natalie is a business communication and corporate writing expert with a lifelong passion for language. She believes that words and writing give us access to more ways of expression, meaning and creativity and the power to transform, inspire and create impact in our daily lives. Next to writing, Natalie has a sales and marketing background spanning telecommunications, consulting, and manufacturing. Today, she works as director of operations at the IT consulting company Full Visibility LLC. She's also the founder of ReWrite LLC, where she created a professional team of content experts and writers. With her team, Natalie services corporations and nonprofits in support of website development, corporate branding, social media management, customer relations, business strategy, and so on. She lives and works on the US East Coast in Arlington, Virginia, and has a passion for traveling and experiencing different cultures. Natalie, you've been in the writing business for quite some time. So you saw the changes and evolution of business communication first hand. What issues do you see with language and business today? Well, well, first of all, thank you for such a stellar introduction. Couldn't believe you're talking about me, but I guess so. So the issues in business today, so let me first say that I don't want to completely beat up on business. I mean, I think that every social system - business included - does have its unique set of challenges. So that is just kind of part of the deal. But I believe one of the main issues with language is that it's not - at least language in business - is that it's not seeming to keep pace with sort of the individualized needs of the communities that it serves. And what I mean by that is a lot of business structures, they're sort of etched in this very rigid and strict hierarchy of expression, you know, wanting to sound professional, and sometimes it isolates the very people that it is trying to serve. So I think that one of the things that we have to remember is that behind business, there are people and these are individuals who bring their own individual experiences and stories and ideas to that business or professional setting. So to not have business communications that represents that group is something that's kind of detrimental to the growth and development and the business being able to sustain itself and ultimately deal with the challenges of the future.
Monika Ruzicka:Thanks for describing that, Natalie. How do you see specifically the role of language in marketing within that business context and in connecting with the clients?
Natalie Francis:Sure. So I think that language is obviously one of the most powerful resources that we have at our disposal. When we think about communicating with our audiences. The idea of rhetoric, which I know sometimes it's a bit of a dirty word, and it has kind of negative qualities, and it's often associated with dishonesty and deceit, but really at its core, I think rhetoric, by its definition refers to the study of techniques and tools that inform and persuade and motivate audiences. And so in that context, it was actually one of the most ancient arts of discourse. So I think that language is really at the heart of successful marketing.
Monika Ruzicka:[...] One of the things that I have observed since I'm in business and marketing, that language has somehow become less formal and more casual. I feel the spoken language has entered into the written language. Is that something that you observe? Or maybe it's just the industry, like the technology industry that I'm in, or is that like a general trend?
Natalie Francis:Yeah, I think so. And I mean, I know that a lot of times it's uncomfortable for people. But change is kind of the one constant. And I believe that part of that is just accepting that, yes, there will be changes into the way that language is expressed and communicated. And that includes, you know, business communications. I think that as we embrace the fact that you're reaching out to wider and wider audiences, we have to accept the fact that they want to be communicated to differently. And sometimes that means changing what were considered more traditional ways of communicating out information. And really, we have to meet our audiences where they are. So I think that feedback loop is ultimately very, very important. But yes, I would agree, I think there definitely is a movement away from what might be considered formal, but I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. And I think it also depends on the industry as well, in my own daily work, our specific industry in government contracting, [...] tends to be a little bit more bureaucratic, a little bit more rigid, and in certain structures, there tends to be more compliance and things have to be more formalized. But certainly when I'm supporting clients who want to reach out to their employees in a way that makes them feel engaged and listened to, those more rigid structures of communicating tend to dissolve a little bit and become a little bit more casual, still professional, but certainly, yes, I think I could see what you mean there.
Monika Ruzicka:Yeah. Business casual.
Natalie Francis:Yeah, there you go.
Lisa Davidson:Natalie, before we dig deeper into [...] the different kinds of business communication strategies and styles, I'd like to ask you first what your personal relationship is with language. And how did your passion for language start and grow?
Natalie Francis:Wow, so my own relationship with language. So I'm in unapologetic communications geek. I mean, I've always had a very deep interest in understanding language and communication from this very holistic point of view, whether it was etymology or semantics, linguistics, or just observing words and emotion over the past two decades [...]. But language for me has really been this, this catalyst that's not only created meaningful connections with others, but it's also supported my own efforts to self-actualize. So even professionally, I think one of the most memorable instances where I've seen communication sort of transcend a very difficult time, I remember back in 2001, when I was a junior associate at a crisis communications firm based in Herndon. And this was just a few miles from Dulles Airport, where, as we know, one of the planes involved in the 9/11 attacks took off. And at the time, I was part of a crisis team, representing one of the airlines involved and it was one of those really, truly life changing moments as a professional because here we were having to use communication to arrange in critical detail the information and be able to serve and support our clients, you know, responsibly and professionally. But while also providing the right tone and rhetoric that would ultimately convey, you know, a tone of sympathy and empathy and compassion., just as, you know, we absorb this collective loss as fellow citizens. So it was, and I've had several experiences like that throughout my career professionally as well. But yeah, I mean, my, my passion started at a very young age, and I've kind of always been obsessed with books. And in my household, reading was was a bit of a birthright. And as a shy eight year old kid growing up, books kind of held this, this mystical appeal for me. And they opened these pathways of other realities that while they weren't physically in my grasp, I could feel like I could access them through the readers storytelling, and I think even now, books for me are just this way that we can kind of transcend time or, you know, get an alternate perspective or point of view that you hadn't considered before. So, I mean, reading all the literary classics from Chaucer to Brontë, Toni Morrison, Langston Hughes, and even some of the poets from my, my homeland of Trinidad and Tobago, like V.S. Naipaul and Derek Walcott, they all left such an impact and an appreciation and this reverence for the art of storytelling and writing and, and just expressive art form. So yeah, I would say that's, that's kind of how it all started for me.
Monika Ruzicka:So interesting. Thanks for sharing that with us. And so interesting, what you just told, the story about the crisis communication, I think, I've never been in that situation as a communicator, but I think really the language that you choose can make or break that trust with your audience in such a situations, right?
Natalie Francis:Absolutely. I mean, it was definitely part of my formative learning as a as a communicator, and just understanding the idea of what is said and what is not said, while maintaining obviously a level of truth and integrity. You know, we had a lot of veterans in the room of communication. And so they were very seasoned and probably the best communicators and professionals to be around navigating that very difficult time. But certainly, it was such an eye opening and learning experience for me and sort of the power of communication and the tools at our disposal and the way in which we engage in sort of different contexts around language. So it was it was truly an interesting time.
Monika Ruzicka:One thing, if I can add a little story here, one thing that was kind of an eye opener for me when it comes to
language:I read an article, it's been a few years, and I don't know where exactly I read it. But it was a bigger kind of newspaper article about the use of language. [...] The article was talking about the United States and me as a foreigner here in this country, I observed, of course, that there's the political spectrum, and people are more on the Democratic or on the Republican side. Anyways, not talking politics, but the article was talking about how language - depending on where you are on the political spectrum - influences in that example, the example was climate change. And they basically had done a test - and again, also not wanting to talk about climate change here - but anyways, they had done a test on people that consider themselves more on the Democratic spectrum, and people that consider themselves more on the Republican spectrum, what kind of words with regards to climate change resonate with people and what kind of questions they could ask to have people say, Well, I agree, we need to do something, or I don't agree. And it was just such an eye opening thing for me not having a background in languages to see how you can really also kind of sway people's opinion based on what kind of word, if you use 'global warming' versus'protecting the creation' or ... so fascinating.
Natalie Francis:Yeah, and actually that triggered another memory and this is part of my, you know, my formative years again, in kind of understanding language and its impact and my earliest attempts at adulting here, so this was, we had been introduced to this this book called Language in Thought and Action and it was written by the late S.I. Hayakawa and it was basically assigned reading for one of my English classes in junior college. And this book was basically a nosedive into semantics and linguistics and Hayakawa was talking about the way that language shapes our thinking and gives us access to these frames of reference that ultimately define and influence our very life experience. And, you know, he talked about this role that language plays in our everyday lives and I think it was the first time that I was introduced to concepts like you know, the word is not the thing or the map is not the territory and the fact that our system of language was was essentially an abstraction. So it was a set of symbols and shared set of values of our own making. And it had little to do with what the thing itself like this was something that we've, we've constructed socially. And so it started to explain how, based on these shared meanings, we could sometimes infuse and, and overlay certain emotions and feelings and stories into language. And I remember it being like, one of these really profound like, mic drop moments. You know, you can't unsee it. And in that moment, in my mind, I thought, mastering language, it's the key to everything. And, you know, for the shy kid that bury herself in books, I'm like, oh, communication, this is my thing. This is kind of the logical and perfect path to kind of be something of value in the world and figure it out. So yeah, that's interesting that you brought that up, we, absolutely, are affected by our certain ideologies, and the way we perceive certain certain words.
Lisa Davidson:I totally agree. And I think that shows us all also that we have to be pretty careful with it, not just with using it, but also with, you know, receiving it and reading news or listening to news. I think it's pretty scary. And like, obviously, coming from that language background and how we learn to use words, and information and a journalistic background, I think it's pretty scary to see how many of the news sources are handling it today, not just in the States, but also in Europe. I was actually very shocked one time as I came back home after a couple of years, how the media has changed. So I definitely think that's an important topic. But I think we should circle back to the topic of today's podcast, which is modern business communication. And I'd like to talk a little bit about your other business ReWrite LLC. What kind of writing services do you usually offer to the organizations and people in leadership positions that you're working with? And what kind of problems do your clients come to you with?
Natalie Francis:Yeah, so the services that we provide at ReWrite run the gamut. I think the main idea is that I wanted to create a company where I could remind especially professionals that they have this innate ability to communicate. I think a lot of times we feel that business writing or writing in our professions has to be this kind of separate and very strange disconnect from who we are. And yes, while we have to remain professional, yes, while there are certain structures around the way we work, we can still kind of show up with our full selves into communicating something where we frankly spend a lot of our time and so that was kind of the premise of why I wanted to create a business like that. And so the things that we do, a lot of professional writing, whether it's bios, we help a lot of our professionals with their professional toolkits, so to speak - everything from resumes, as I mentioned, to bios. We also help a lot of businesses with their business communication, so everything from newsletters to company memos. Another big thing that has been coming up a lot, and I don't know if this is because of the increasingly virtual space that we find ourselves in, where we're not doing a lot of face to face and in person communications, but, you know, writing policies and procedures that kind of transcend, you know, understanding verbally explained, and you know, something that someone can read and and fully understand it's clear and concise. So, yeah, it runs the gamut. But that has mostly been some of the things that we support our clients with
Lisa Davidson:Have you seen big changes in the needs of your clients over the last couple of years, especially since COVID started?
Natalie Francis:Yeah, I would say, and maybe I shouldn't be disclosing the secret, but a lot of my clients are looking to update their resumes. They're wanting to get support in and it's not only to, I think, look for different kinds of jobs, but it's also these professionals who are wanting to establish themselves as thought leaders, they want to enter that space, there's been a lot of need for, you know, guidance and coaching around several topics, as people continue to try to cope with everything from you know, the best way to write, corporate memo to whatever other technical support that people need. So I think the changes have been more towards professional support in terms of writing their own professional story. And there's a lot of intimidation in terms of, oh, how do I say this in such a way that, you know, touts my my expertise without sounding like I'm, you know, grandstanding and things like that. So that's something that I've noticed has been kind of a growing part of what we're being asked to support.
Monika Ruzicka:That's interesting, the thought leadership piece, and the personal storytelling, that is something that we see also within our business. So we work with salespeople, marketing leaders, and executives, who also as part of their personal storytelling and their thought leadership want to present themselves on social media, especially LinkedIn. And as you said that, a lot of people even if they are trained communicators, in a professional sense, they are trained marketers, or salespeople that communicate with their customers, they have oftentimes this uncertainty, how to communicate about themselves exactly because of what you said, right? They don't want to brag, but they want to put their things out there. And they are very comfortable doing that about their business. And then they don't like writing that about themselves. So I think I see that as well as an area that has grown over the past few years.
Natalie Francis:Yeah, for sure. The way I like to counsel my clients is that yes, you're talking about yourself, you're acknowledging that yes, I'm the expert in the room, but not in a way to make yourself sound better than but it's a way that you can be of service to your communities, you know. I certainly would want the person that feels confident in what they can do and bring to the table. I mean, I think it develops a level of not only competency, but of trust. So I try to reframe the way that a lot of my senior level corporate clients are viewing the way that they present themselves in the marketplace. So yeah, I think that's an important point and an interesting one.
Lisa Davidson:Food question break Okay, well, let's loop back to business. What role does language play in business communication? And what are the primary considerations when creating business communication? Does the media matter?
Natalie Francis:Yeah. So while language is part in business communication, I think, yeah, as we've talked about, it's basically an essential part of the human experience. And I think, in business, there's no exception. It's basically the way that we organize individuals around a set of goals and shared values and beliefs, and it creates the business ecosystem itself. It's also the way we identify our brands, the way we describe our offerings, the way we serve our customers, in language that informs and guides, supports them. So this is all the essential role of language. And I mean, business communication, even though it tends to be this very separate ideal, and it feels like this out of body experience with regular interaction, it's still about communicating with others, it's still about communicating with people. And these are individuals who feel, who have opinions, who have ideas and unique perspectives. And they use that as the lens through which they interpret things. So I think it becomes this critical resource in our business toolkit, when we understand the vital role of language, I think it gives us leverage to better support and interact with our colleagues, with our business partners and the communities we serve. And then in terms of what I think some of the major considerations, when we try to craft our business communications, I would say that, just as with marketing, I think audience is obviously a big, you know, a huge factor. You have to know who is receiving your message, just like the mark of a great teacher is not just being able to retain and dispense knowledge, you have to have that awareness and first seek to understand the student or you know, the audience that you're teaching, and ultimately adapt your content to ensure that it's accessible. So it's the same level of awareness and adaptability that we need in business communications. And I know the tendency in business tends to be we make this effort to sound credible and authoritative and, and sound technically competent. And we think that has to be at the risk of being more direct and aware and discerning. But I think there needs to be equivalent concern for not only the content, but also its impact on the people receiving that content. aI think another major consideration, and this might sound a little bit counterintuitive to what I just said about being, you know, meeting the audience where they are, is that business communications should be neutral and objective, especially when they're relating critical information. And like I said, it might sound a little counterintuitive, because you're like, Oh, I thought you said it, you know, it has to be human and display empathy and understanding. Yes, yes and yes, but it doesn't mean that it needs to sound disparaging or error judgments or biases, which could potentially, you know, insult or alienate someone. So we always have to be mindful that the purpose of business communication is not to become overly kind of self involved, it's an opportunity to support the needs of our audience. So that's another major piece. And I think the the last piece, I would say is, it needs to be intentional and purposeful, I think down to the the casual kind of email check in of a colleague, I think, the business purpose or the purpose of your communication needs to be clear and transparent at the outset. And I think what this does is it builds this mutual level of respect and trust and credibility and, and it basically says, you know, I value your time as much as I do mine, and it kind of builds better discipline and competency around having better, more succinct and, you know, aware communicators.
Lisa Davidson:Natalie, you mentioned email as a medium a couple of times, what are the main channels your clients usually communicate on?
Natalie Francis:Yeah, so a lot of it is internal communication. So this would mostly be, you know, company emails, memos, newsletters, we usually don't use a lot of third party media. So less though social media just because of the market that we're in, where there are potential risks to, you know, national security, so we certainly don't want to give away certain bits of information or seem unprofessional, that kind of thing. So a lot of it is surrounded around internal communications. And then obviously website content as well is a big part of it. Just media that can be more so controlled by the person putting out the information, I think is the way that we typically use our communication tools. So yeah, so a lot of internal communications, as I mentioned, emails, newsletters, you know, internal comms, like, you know, Slack and things like that. And also documents like, you know, policy documents and things like that. So those are the things that are disseminated and provided to employees as well.
Monika Ruzicka:So I have a question relating to that, with regards to the internal communication, because I know that quite a few of our listeners, of course, also have to do internal communication with a bigger audience, maybe sometimes the entire company or the entire marketing team, what are your recommendations that in terms of language? And and how do you walk the line between what you just said, between being more formal and also, if you are, like, internally communicating you have a certain degree of intimacy with the audience.
Natalie Francis:Yeah. So I think it's definitely important to be aware of your company ethos, right. And also be aware and, you know, know, your audience know, your employees. And I think that, and I did miss the piece of your question, Lisa, where you were asking me about the medium. So yeah, so that that definitely influences the type of content that you would have, when you issue internal communications. A lot of it has to do with, you know, the subject matter. If it's too personalized, maybe the company newsletter might not be the proper channel? Is it something that needs to be accessed, you know, enterprise wide, so across the company, those are the things that need to make it into a company wide newsletter. And sometimes those decisions can still be tricky, because the question is, okay, is this still of value? Would, you know, group A, or B, or C still find value in this? And I would say, sometimes we make those assumptions without realizing that different project teams and different groups do need access to information, if only to just be informed of what's happening. So I think we always err on the side of informing, rather than keeping things kind of less transparent. So I know that that often comes up a lot kind of okay, what do we communicate? What are the things that we say? So, yeah, there's that it's definitely, if it's something that you have to reach out, and, you know, inform a particular group of more than two people, then maybe it's something that needs to go into your business communications. And then yeah, also just considere what the patterns of engagement of your of your group is, you know, some people might prefer written communications, some people might not, some people, you know, prefer to kind of get video or audio and be able to open it later and process the information. So I think we just have to get curious and really observant as business leaders, and the way that we need to engage with our with our audiences.
Monika Ruzicka:Yeah, that's interesting. I mean, without I don't want to go too much into detail of this next statement, but I feel that communication has become much more difficult. Because, first of all, I think there's just much more communication everywhere. I mean, I can't I think that's the same that everybody feels I think every single person that I know, feels communication overload and everybody's attention span is getting shorter. So I think the communicators - be it in an internal or external context - have to really navigate this, how do I actually get my communication to the people in the way that it resonates with them, but also, as you said, in the format, and maybe also at the time that they are receptive to receiving that information?
Natalie Francis:Yeah, that's absolutely right. And there's definitely a lot of I know automated tools that can support in that effort. And I strongly advise my clients to use them in addition to you know, just just polling your employees and your audience, finding out what they want, I mean, I can't over emphasize the importance of pulse surveys here and there and then also just just having communications with them. And I know it feels like a lot of times it's it's too much information there. You know, they're not going to read it they they already have so many things in their inboxes and, and you know, life is just progressing at a terrific speeds and it's just overwhelming them. But I promise you, you're employees and your audiences want to hear from you. And you, you know, let them decide and be discerning in terms of what they want to engage with. Because I can tell you that even in my own experience, you know, when I subscribe to something, I might not necessarily engage with it in the same way. But I know when it's missing, I noticed like, oh, wait a minute, where did that you know, newsletter on the next 10 steps to blah, blah, blah, where did that go? So the minute you think that you're overdoing communications, and you pull back is the second that your audience might notice, and could be a missed opportunity to really engage and connect and I think it's one of those things that as communicators, there's a sense of vulnerability and putting out content and going, okay, are they going to engage with it? Are they not? You know, it feels kind of a lost cause, sometimes, but sometimes you, you're always surprised to kind of when you get that engagement and how, and I've, you know, we've experienced this, so even over the last week or so, you know, content that was originally sort of not engaged with as much or you know, didn't have the level of engagement that we expected. And then all of a sudden, you reframe it in a certain way, and it catches fire, like it's, it's just kind of the nature of the of marketing and communications, it's a little bit it can be a little bit unpredictable at times.
Monika Ruzicka:yeah, we see that on social media as well. So when when we work with clients that start sharing content, on social media, be it like salespeople that start to post content on their personal LinkedIn profile, or marketing people. And sometimes they talk to us and they say, well, that nothing's happening. Nobody is engaging with my content. But then, you know, we hear these little stories from people that then go, a year later, after I've connected with this person, and shared all this content on my LinkedIn profile, somebody actually called me up and asked me about this service. And, you know, they told me, they've been listening to my content the whole time, but they just never gave me any signal of interest.
Natalie Francis:That's, that's definitely interesting. And I think it's, it's an exercise for both the person putting out the content because it builds that muscle of consistency. And you have to kind of put in the reps in order to get the feedback. And as you said, I mean, people are kind of listening quietly. And then they decide the best time to engage. And that's going to be different for each person that you touch. And so hopefully, you kind of have this cycle at different times where people are engaging, but it's not always the same. So that's an interesting observation.
Lisa Davidson:So we're nearing the end of today's podcast, Natalie, to wrap things up, could you give us your top three tips for marketers and using language to connect with their audience?
Natalie Francis:Oh, a top three? Let's see. Yeah, I would say you so one of the things just in my sort of two decades plus of, of being in the industry is you have to build a sense of resilience. And, look, you know, there's no shortage of tips, you know, here's another top three, there's tips and tricks and tools of the trade, if you're resourceful enough, you can certainly find it, you know, at the end of your computer search engines, so there's no shortage of how tos. But I think what we have to understand in this really dynamic and evolving space of communication, even your very best lead plans and proactive strategies, and perfect scripts are attempts and campaigns can can fall flat. I mean, they can completely miss the mark when they're tested at the speed of life. Right. So it's a journey, it's a learning lab that can be equal parts thrilling and frustrating. But ultimately, it's rewarding when you know that there will always be kind of growth and learning at the end of it be every experience. So I think building the muscle of resilience to accept failures and fold in those learnings, you know, so that it can continue to strengthen and inform successive attempts. Because while you know, education and classical training is fundamental, I think there's really no substitute for that experience. So build some resilience. And then the next thing I would say is, be relatable, you know, be real become the human that you're you're trying to connect with and understand that even as the professional or the expert with the knowledge or the experience or the solutions that they want from you, the audience, I think first and foremost wants to be understood, they want to be acknowledged. So I'm not saying that we have to kind of lay our our souls bare and in a way that's compromising or uncomfortable to empathize. But there's a certain degree of I think empathy required when we hope to gain the trust of the audience that we're trying to connect with. Let's see that was number two. And then the last one I would say is, this is turning into a top three of r's but is the responsible me I mean, I think it's important to take responsibility for the content that you put out, give it its due diligence and the reverence that deserves completely own it. And this includes mistakes. I think it's a mark of integrity when you can acknowledge missteps in your attempts to communicate with others. And for all the reasons that we just described, I mean, language and communication is a very tricky, tricky landscape sometimes. So I think being responsible, it's a mark of integrity that is really an invaluable currency in business. And it can really be the differentiator in an increasingly crowded field of content and marketing. So there you have it, the top three.
Lisa Davidson:Thank you so much, Natalie, and thank you for taking the time and sharing your knowledge with us and our listeners. You guys at home, don't forget to connect with Natalie on social media. I'll put all of her links into today's show notes. Thanks again for being part of the show, Natalie, and thank you guys at home for listening to the Straight to Business podcast.
Natalie Francis:Thank you so much for having me such a great conversation.
Lisa Davidson:If you're keen to learn even more about social selling and how to use it for your business advantage, join us next week. As always, you can head over to www straight to business dot life. For additional resources to sign up to our email list, or to join us as a guest speaker. Don't forget all the information from today's episodes can also be found in our show notes. If you have additional questions, please feel free to comment on our blog, or get in touch with us on LinkedIn. The links to our profiles are provided on our website and in the show notes. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others post about it on social media or leave a rating and review. We hope to see you next week.