Thinking about your communication before you execute it is a subtle way of making your efforts proactive.

Goal-oriented communication is like shooting an arrow at a target: the less moving the target, the easier it will be to hit (even if you may have to repeat yourself several times).

What to do?

Before rushing to buy communication tools such as software or social networks, think - or better still, visualize - the communication that's right for you.

There are many ways of doing this, but for this article, I've chosen to talk to you about Stephen Covey's concept: the Law of the Farm.

The Law of the Farm comes to me from Stephen Covey:

The only thing that endures over time is the "Law of the farm".

You must prepare the ground, plant the seed, cultivate , and water if you expect the reap of the harvest.

- Stephen Covey

Simply transposed to your marketing/communication ambitions:

For your communication efforts to produce lasting results, you must :

• Preparing the ground
• Plant the seed
• Growing and watering

Only then can you reap the rewards of your efforts.

Let's take a look at how this concept applies to an entrepreneur or manager who wants to use communication to develop his or her business.

Here's a list of questions to ask yourself and tips to consider at your next marketing/communications meeting.

The Law of the Farm applied to your company's marketing and communications

Preparing the ground

• What goals do you want to achieve?

An objective is distinguished from an ambition by the fact that it can be verified through tangible elements.

Here are a few examples: "I want to increase my sales by X%" "I want to increase my profitability by X%" "I want more customers" "I want more online sales"...

• How do you communicate today?
• How do your direct and indirect competitors communicate?
• What do you think of your communication?
• What do you want to improve?
• What would it take for you to be fully satisfied with your communication?

Plant the seed

Make a list of the work to be done and rank it by importance.

Take it one step at a time, and don't dilute your energy by tackling several themes you don't master at once.

Start with one project and take advantage of the positive energy it will bring you to move forward with the other projects you have in mind.

For example, as part of a complete overhaul of your digital communications: start by auditing your site, taking stock of the competition and your customers' expectations, and drawing up the specifications for your website.

So, while your webmaster is hard at work producing the new site, you can get back to work on the animation plan for the website and social networks: you'll be relaunching your audit, your tour of the competition and your communication plan.

The important thing here is to tell yourself that you have to start somewhere, but not to lose yourself by running several races at the same time.

Growing and watering

This means understanding from the outset that professional communication is like a marathon, requiring a sustained and variable effort.

If at the outset your energy is concentrated on creating or redesigning your communication tools, it's important to keep resources available to animate these communication tools and interact with the real people who will be using them.

So here's my first tip, my first tool for you.

Without this step, I wouldn't be taking on projects for my marketing agency today.

This is one of the lessons I've learned from my past: moving forward without clearly defined objectives always leads us somewhere, of course, but rarely to where we really want to go.

I hope you find this tool useful.

Safyatou