We all know that different people learn in different ways. Think back to elementary school: some students learned by writing, others by listening. Some had to “talk it out” with a peer, while others would draw a picture. Each student had her or his preferred medium for how to learn.
While the teacher wanted all students to learn the same material, they had to adapt their method to different students’ preferred medium.
The same idea needs to apply to your business’s communications. Let’s look at some of the common ways that people receive info.
Text
There’s a reason that the headline of newspapers become memorable. It requires skills to share an entire message in a few words.
Since the dawn of writing, people have shared their thoughts, ideas, and beliefs via written text. Entire organizations have been driven by – or ended by – a few lines of words. And once Gutenberg invented the printing press, distributing text became much easier, cheaper, and faster.
Today, billions of text messages are sent every day. Companies send millions of emails. And you likely write hundreds, if not thousands, of words daily.
And so it’s no wonder that text is one of the main ways businesses communicate. Letters, legal documents, and tweets are all text-based communication methods, each with its specific focus and impact.
Audio
One of the first steps in a child’s life is when they speak for the first time. A baby’s first word is incredibly memorable. The first word turns into sentences, which turn into entire conversations!
Audio communicates more than just the words spoken, though. Tone, timing, and emphasis all influence how a message is received. If we think of text as one-dimensional, then audio is 2D – sharing both the words and their tone.
Radio has mastered this concept. A business’s jingle is the perfect example of using audio to market a business: a catchy tune, a short message, a detail about the company.
Photos
They say a picture’s worth a thousand words, right? With a single glance, the human eye – which has over 100 million rod cells – can understand an entire scene.
Imagine trying to describe the skyline of New York City in text. Words don’t do it justice, right? You might describe the Empire State Building as a “towering, Art Deco-inspired office building in a city.”
Is this accurate? Yes. Is it complete? No. You need to see the skyscraper to understand its grandeur.
Company communications are no different. Why waste your customer’s time with long descriptions when a clear image will do?
(And don’t even get us started on the importance of a company’s logo…)
Video
Now, if we know that…
- Text communicates specific information.
- Audio makes a message 2D.
- Photos are worth a thousand words.
…then what happens when you combine all three?
Video is a uniquely 21st-century communication method. It combines the best of all other styles of communication in a single, cohesive clip (that, as a bonus, customers can see anywhere!).
Maybe we’re biased, but we don’t see a use where video doesn’t work:
- Want to engage a distracted customer base? Video does it.
- Want to communicate rapidly? Video does it.
- Want to share broadly? Video does it.
Video is absolutely, positively the preferred medium for us here at JumpStart. We believe that all businesses, big and small, should benefit from the power of video. Interested in getting started? Shoot us a note – we’d love to start crafting, together.
