Do you want to learn more about new media’s effective communication strategies? Together4Cohesion is organizing a series of workshops training throughout its six flagship regions to provide citizens and stakeholders with useful ‘tips and hints’ on good communication techniques. Given the very positive feedback received by the participants to the workshops’ organized so far, we want to share all these precious tips with you all!

Read the article to know about the workshop held in Albia Iulia on “Branding Yourself: Tips for Building a Strong Brand Image in the New Media Era”.

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On 21 February, the workshop training “Branding Yourself: Tips for Building a Strong Brand Image in the New Media Era” took place in Alba Iulia with the coordination of the Alba county and mc Group.

The event gathered 30 representatives from local businesses, all keen to learn and exchange about strategies for effective communication on the new media, and especially to apply these tips to their work activities.

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The workshop consisted of interactive presentations and practical exercises addressing core aspects of an effective brand’s communication strategy:

1. Creation of brand identity in four steps:

• Step 1: Define your SMART objective: The objective should be Specific; Measurable; Attainable; Relevant, and Time-based.
• Step 2: Delineate your Buyer Persona: Understand what are of your targeted audience’s features.
• Step 3: Determine your company’s current market position: Unique selling proposition – USP – the benefits deriving from the offered goods/services for the people who enjoy it.
• Step 4: Communication Platforms: Be active on the different communication platforms.  

…and produce content that is relevant, answers to people’s needs, and generates emotions!

2. The use of new online communication tools

New media and their impact are constantly growing. Yet to make use of the full potential offered by this wide-range of platforms, your communication activity should be:

• Well-organized: Define your company’s online communication strategy – including its SMART objective – and plan in dully advance your posts (consider the possibility of using existing dedicated applications).
• Informed: It should be aware of your clients’ general features and preferences, as well as of the pros and cons of communicating through each platform.
• Targeted: Use the channels that you consider the most suited for your company, and adapt the posts to the specificities of each media.

It is always worth remembering the impact of a well-designed website. Clients will build their opinion about the company upon this!

3. The development of the relationship between local businesses and press

If you want to have a meaningful presence in the press and journalists interested in your business,  it is important to:

• Develop and tell the story behind your brand: Who you are, what change you want to trigger, what makes you different from others, what benefits you bring to your clients and what the latter think about your products/services.
• Be organized: Develop and implement an editorial plan for your brand, and prepare a ‘press-kit’ containing your brand’s story and potential subjects that can be relevant.
• Be active: Make yourself known in your community and speak with people, engage with colleagues and stakeholders by participating in networking events and organizing online and offline events.
• Be proactive: Look for presses and journalists working with similar businesses, contact them and propose your-self and your brand (do not wait for them to become aware of your presence).
• Be innovative: Innovation is always a journalists’ favorite word.  

What’s next?

Stay tuned! We will share soon ‘tips and hints’ about “Communicating EU Cohesion Policy through Social Media” from the Together4Cohesion workshop held on January 23rd in Trentino!

Together4Cohesion workshops will go ahead! Our flagship regions are working hard to organize them in a virtual format (as webinars).

We will keep you posted!