The Comms Guru in ’23: A look back
How was 2023 for you?
Here at The Comms Guru, we have had a really fulfilling year – the usual mix of established colleagues and new friends. We have continued our long-standing relationship with the giant pharma manufacturing site in the north, where our digital meeting platform continues to help them get their key messages to all of their people, regardless of role, duty, location, and shift pattern. This enduring relationship really is a special one, and my “work-wife” on site there has been a constant source of joy and positivity for me.
On the ‘new friends’ front, we started working with a huge and successful international education provider earlier this year. It’s always a buzz to meet new clients, learn about their business and ways of working, and be able to offer and implement workable solutions to the barriers and challenges they face in delivering effective internal comms. And, of course, we love it when the relationship quickly turns to one that includes humour and fun (and chocolate biscuits) as well as the professional stuff! We all spend a lot of time at work, and we believe a good balance of hard work and professionalism with light-hearted fun is key to getting more done, more quickly!
We also helped another new client, one which specialises in risk and human factors analysis, to completely re-brand and launch an all-new website. Their passion for what they do is inspirational, and we needed to match that with our offering. What was particularly great with this project is that it brought many of the Gurus together, with our SEO Guru using his specialist knowledge and skillset behind the scenes, while Web Design Guru and Video Producer Guru worked on the more customer-facing elements of the job.
And last month, we started creating promotional videos for a huge investment bank in the far east. They’re global too, and they want to shout about their brilliant new employee recognition platform when that launches first thing in the new year. Even if the time difference called for some earlier-than-usual remote meetings, we still enjoyed finding out all about their modus operandi, their tone of voice, and how we could deliver to them visuals that would pop, whether played with sound on an intranet page or without on a screen in an elevator! And, once again, we were reminded that wherever you are in the world, and regardless of business challenges or how many coffees you haven’t yet had, there’s always time for a few giggles as you talk shop!
And kudos to them for introducing a new peer-to-peer recognition platform. The world can be an unsettling place right now. Giving your people the chance to thank each other for what they do, regardless of the immediate or obvious benefits to the business, is a powerful and motivational tool. Anything that brings a little extra happiness to the workplace is good with us. And, as we stated at the start of one of their videos: “Treat people like they make a difference… and they will!”
But enough about us! Let’s talk about you! If you’re reflecting on the year that’s been, and/or looking ahead to ’24, and if you’re thinking that your internal comms strategy may need a little TLC, or that your channels are seeming a little outdated (and boy, does the relentless march of digital technology make that happen all-too-quickly?), why not give us a shout. We’ve got quite a bit on in the new year, but we’d make time for you! A new year comms health check might just make 2024 an easier year for you and your people.
To our clients past, present, and future: THANK YOU! You’re amazing!
And if you’re only here for the blogs, the free advice, the tips, and the hit-and-miss attempts at humour, then we love you too! Thanks for clicking and reading! We appreciate your company!
Talking of ‘your company’… whatever it is you do, wherever you are, and regardless of how early you put your Christmas dec’s up, we salute you! The chances are, if you’re reading this, you care about your people and communicating with them effectively. And that makes you awesome in our eyes. If you think we can help make you “even awesomer”, then drop us a line.
All that remains is for us to wish you and your people a very merry Christmas or happy holidays. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Diwali, something else, or nothing in particular, enjoy any time off you have, and most importantly, we wish you a healthy, happy and successful new year.
In case you missed them, here's a look back at a handful of our fave blogs from 2023: