Jerome Bloch (360Crossmedia): 2020 Communication Compass
Every year, Jerome Bloch, the CEO of the agency 360Crossmedia, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, publishes his “Communication Compass”, focusing on the sector’s main trends.
The Corona Effect
Lockdown has led to an extremely beneficial effect for business communications: suddenly, people who were previously unavailable now have time! They have realised that the main difficulty in corporate communications lies in content creation: creating good articles and linking publications, centred on a good narrative. Creating corporate communications is like writing a good book: it’s all about developing interesting chapters which make you want to read on. However, when faced with a blank sheet of paper, most experts stall: either they get caught up with the technicalities of their job or they lack specific writing skills. To help them, we have decided to make available the questionnaires which have contributed to our success over the last 20 years – free of charge! They take 20 minutes to complete; this then enables the author or a professional to finish the job in under an hour.
“It has never been easier to distribute content!”
The Golden Age of Distribution
Distributing content has never been easier! Websites, social media accounts and even digital magazines and proprietary papers can be set up for free. In 2020, video has seen a huge leap forward thanks to software such as Zoom, Webex and Microsoft Teams. Now that everyone has access to this type of tool, companies are vying to show that they’re ahead of the game with in-house studios, professional sound and lighting and access to live production with multiple cameras. Technologies such as the 360Box (www.360-Box.com) can provide any computer with an ultra-professional tool to replace a poorly performing webcam. But remember: a good article can be turned almost instantly into a video with a prompter. I predict that the next trend will be to train employees in public speaking. Not only will this produce better videos, it will also lead to better management and more effective exchanges at all levels of the company.
The Secret of Success
Now that everyone can communicate like a pro, success depends on a company’s ability to be heard! For example, what’s the point of publishing on LinkedIn every day if there are fewer than 10 likes on average? Google has made it easy to establish a culture of measurement which is proving to be very valuable today. Count the likes on social media, the number of views on YouTube and the number of clicks on your website after publishing an article which features the URL. Send newsletters to find out who reads what, which articles hit the mark and which format failed to find its audience. In 99% of cases, we help companies to move from narcissistic - and unengaging - communications to communications which address sought-after solutions to the problems of their clients and their prospective clients.