Communication Channels for Business: What Is It & How to Choose the Right One

Effective business communications are the key to the well-being of any company. They are responsible for clear planning, team collaboration, and coordination of the company's employees' actions, reaching agreements with partners, and successful communication with real and potential customers.

What to pay attention to? Business communications are not just about making deals or managing personnel. They have their structure, principles of use, types, forms, means, and channels of application. You need to have a clear idea about all these things to use this tool to the maximum.

The concept of business communication channels

Business communication is the interaction in the field of official relations to solve certain applied tasks, achieve the intended results, and optimize work processes. The statuses of the participants of such a contact differ: these can be managers, colleagues, partners, and subordinates.

What are communication channels?

The definition of this concept is important for the very process of information transfer. So, a communication channel is one or another means by which a message can be transmitted from the source to the recipient. The first of them sends this or that information and the second receives it. In this case, there may be more than one addressee. So, during the presentation, the lecturer transmits information to the whole audience. Moreover, the message may not be limited to text or sounds. It often includes intonation, gesticulation, etc.

Types of business communication channels

You may come across terms that are used to classify types of communication channels. It is useful to know them because they can be used in regulations and they appear in the literature on this topic.

Depending on which positions are occupied by the sender and recipient, vertical and horizontal business communication are distinguished:

• Vertical – when managers pass information to subordinates or employees report something to management;
• Horizontal – when employees who are equal in the hierarchy communicate or a person from one department communicates with an employee of another.

Depending on the means of communication, formal and informal communication are distinguished:

• Formal – regulated communication in pre-agreed channels through which official information is distributed. For example, these are meetings, corporate publications, and business documentation;
• Informal – communication outside the hierarchy, often based on personal communication. They are conducted in channels through which unofficial information can be distributed – for example, news and rumors.

Depending on the number of participants, communication can be personal and public:

• Personal – when information is transmitted to one addressee;
• Public – when information is transmitted to several recipients.

9 Best Communication Channels

The best communication channels depend on various factors such as the nature of the message, the audience, and the urgency of the communication. Here are nine communication channels that are commonly used in personal and professional settings:

1. Phone calls

Phone calls can eliminate confusion or transmit new information over long distances, and a conference call can allow multiple people to participate in a conversation. Communication on a business phone lacks the nonverbal signals of face-to-face conversations or video conferences, but they can provide a simple communication channel for customers and employees.

Phone calls are great for impromptu one-on-one conversations or urgent communication, for example, to fulfill missed deadlines.

2. Emails

Email is an important communication channel for quick communication, sending or receiving attachments, and communicating with large groups of people. A short email can convey information quickly and easily, and a longer email can cover a more complex topic, complete with attachments. Emails allow multiple recipients, so employees can exchange documents with the entire team or department.

Emails are a great way to send official documents to employees at the beginning of a new project.

3. Video conferences

Video conferencing platforms allow you to communicate using both verbal and non-verbal signals, similar to a face-to-face conversation, which provides a more personal interaction than an email or a phone call. Video conferencing platforms also often include other tools such as cloud storage, file sharing, and call recording so that you can review calls for quality and learning.

Videoconferencing is a great way to stay in touch with team members who may live in different parts of the country or the world, and/or team members who work from home. Troop Messenger is one such platform that offers exceptional video conferencing ability to its users to connect from every corner of the world.

4. Social networks

Social networks are expected to become the leader of communication channels. They have been in first place for several years and in a quieter economic time. Working with social networks is a separate extensive topic. In them, you can actively maintain brand accounts or simply answer questions from the audience. Both options have a place to be and work effectively. The fact is that today virtually every company needs to be on social networks. And if you are not an active user of the site, then at least allow your audience to ask a question in a convenient environment for her. By utilizing social commerce platforms, brands can not only reach a large audience but can also monetize their social media presence through sales generated within the platform itself.

5. Industry events

Various conferences and expos are great for introducing the consumer to a brand or an individual specialist. A person can touch the product life or learn more about it during the speaker's speech. No matter what format you are going to participate in the event, the most important thing is that you should stand out. If the company is represented only in the form of a stand, then it should be attractive and noticeable. Design, active animators, distribution of printed materials, lighting and so on will help in this. In the case when a speaker speaks on behalf of the brand, it is also important not to get lost in the background of other speakers. Make a memorable presentation, work out the pitch, and choose the most relevant topic. Participation in such events does not directly affect sales but increases awareness and interest in your product.

6. Webinars and live broadcasts

Previously, this tool has never been at the top of communication channels, but during the pandemic, it became extremely widespread. As a promotion tool, webinars are most often used in a free format. So a business can tell about its product and clearly show its advantages. In the case of information products, the webinar is used as a kind of probe so that the audience independently assesses the level of the speaker and the information offered.

At the head of this approach is always some topic of interest to the target audience. People come to the webinar and the airwaves to sort it out and have a chance to get answers to their questions. Having gathered the public on a hot topic, you can present your paid product natively or openly. With the wrong approach, a bad topic, or insufficient disclosure, viewers may negatively perceive an attempt to sell them something. Therefore, prepare high-quality content and actively communicate with people during the broadcast, since this is what the audience came for in the first place. If it is satisfied, the offer of a paid product will be perceived calmly and is more likely to be bought.

7. Influencers

Everything is simple here – the influencer has a loyal audience, and the brand buys placement to catch the eye of the public. The main thing in the effectiveness of placement is that you need to find a blogger with the right brand target audience. If an IT service buys a post from an auto blogger, the effect will be minimal since it does not have people who are interested in the offer. But if you make the right choice, you can not only increase brand awareness but also get direct sales.

8. Online media

The media took second place. There is a large selection of both platforms and formats of cooperation. If the product has a narrow audience segment, it is better to look for specialized media, since the quality of traffic here will be better in comparison with the mass publication.

You can place yourself on the portal either by buying a place on the site or special material or by writing high-quality material yourself and offering it to the editors. Some have a "Blog" or "Sandbox" section where you can publish your article for free. If you are lucky and the work turns out to be interesting, it can be added to the newsletter of the publication or displayed on the main page of the site. This tool solves various tasks from creating a brand image to increasing demand for a certain product.

Global development of digital communication channels at work

Workplace communication has always been important for organizational health. However, it has become something that organizations are paying increasing attention to.

It is a well-known fact that digital workplaces are becoming more popular. Although the transition to remote and hybrid work models was not planned, it proved to be a blessing in disguise for many employees. Many businesses appear to be sticking with hybrid work policies for the time being.

This, however, necessitates improved workplace communication. Employees will work in and out of offices, and communication has changed. It's no surprise that 20% of employees say the most difficult aspect of remote work is communication and collaboration.

Consequences of selecting the incorrect communication channels

Hopefully, you are getting a good sense of how important communication channels are to the business and its employees! There are numerous channels to consider when determining how to best communicate with your clients and teams.

However, if you choose the wrong team communication tools channels or too many at once, you can harm the employee experience, reduce productivity, and disrupt teamwork. However, it can go beyond that. Here are some of the most common consequences of selecting the incorrect internal channels.

• Conversation overload occurs when you begin to disturb employees and they start tuning out every message.
• This can lead to more misunderstandings because too many channels can lead to confusion and more queries.
• As a result, your company creates even more distractions that interrupt everybody's workday.
• It can add unneeded strain to the lives of employees and managers.
• It can shorten response times and create decision-making obstacles.

Tips on how to build business communication

These tips will help you in both business and personal communication:

• Be polite: It doesn't matter who you communicate with, you need to maintain goodwill without regard to the status of the interlocutor in the corporate hierarchy.
• Be tactful: Avoid becoming personal, fraternizing, and quickly transferring formal communication to informal. This may not be acceptable to the interlocutor.
• Learn not only to speak but also to listen: This is especially important for employees engaged in sales, service, marketing, and services. Clients want their pain to be heard and the problem to be solved. But to understand what the pain and the problem are, you can only listen carefully to the interlocutor.
• Learn to divide criticism into constructive and non-constructive: Constructive criticism is aimed at solving a work problem, and non-constructive criticism is aimed at the personality of the interlocutor. In the first case, it is worth taking it into account, in the second – to give feedback and pointing out incorrect behavior. You should not take offense and react emotionally to criticism in both cases.
• Show empathy: There are more and more representatives of Generation Z among the employees: these are people who were born between 1997 to 2012. For them, caring and social "stroking" is especially important – praise, and approval, like on social networks. These gestures will help motivate young professionals.
• Work with feedback: If you are a manager, not only give feedback but also request it from employees. So they will feel that they can influence the result of the work.

Get Most Out of Business Communications

Finally, let's emphasize the significance of taking a systematic approach to the issue of communication. All communication channels must have a connection and should work in tandem.

The easier, simpler, and clearer communication with the company, the more frequently consumers will turn to it. Maintain a consistent communication style, and try to convey a clear and understandable message to your target audience – and customers will be much more willing to work with you.