You don't always need to turn the volume up to 11

The legend that is Spinal Tap first introduced us to the volume dial that went all the way up to 11. Nigel Tufnel, the band's lead guitarist, told us the volume level on his amps all went to 11. When asked what that meant, he explained that standard amp dials only went up to 10, but his was no standard amp. Sometimes it’s good to turn the dial to 11, but it can also become a confusing mess of noise and feedback that makes your message, your sound, impossible to hear clearly.

We talk a lot in Full Circle about where best to position the communication dial when starting a campaign, whether launching a business or a new product.

Giving your messages some ‘volume' means utilising multiple ways to get the story heard by your audience - targeting media, coordinating a social media campaign, strategising internal comms, and taking advantage of every content channel, including visual media such as infographics, animation, audio and video.

Sustaining this level of activity going forward can be hard and even counterproductive, and sometimes you end up just producing things to make noise rather than producing relevant and engaging communication, and even worse, in some cases you can’t sustain creating any content at all.

This is where hitting a sensible level just takes a gentle tweaking of the dial. The range of channels available provides the opportunity to fine tune your communications. Selecting the right channel for your audience gives you a significant advantage over competitors who are trying to blast their message out where they can.

Connected corporate communications, or as we like to call it PR+, is about harnessing the tools to maximise the impact of your message. It offers you a more coordinated approach that will amplify your messages more effectively and encourage engagement wherever your audience is on their own  journey with you - whether that's getting to know you, learning what you do, thinking about buying your services or as a good friend of the business, being an advocate.

There are times when you need to crank the dial up to 11, but your audience can sometimes respond better when it’s set to the right volume for them.

To find out more about Full Circle’s approach to getting the volume just right, contact us at mhuxley@fullcirclecomms.co.uk or awise@fullcirclecomms.co.uk.