The Best Tool for the Job

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Picture this; you walk into your workshop and stand in front of your nice clean workbench. Above it is a wall that holds a myriad of shiny tools. They gleam and glitter under the fluorescent lights, crying out for your attention. Your fingers itch to pull one down and get to work. What will it be? The fancy new cordless drill you got for Christmas? Or the satisfyingly loud and macho saw? Oh, but wait! What about that cool lighted level? So many incredible options, how will you ever decide?

Well, I hope that if you are a decent handyman – or even a reasonably intelligent person – that you would start with deciding what job you need to get done. You are not likely to pick up that drill if what you need to do is cut a piece of wood. Or rev up the saw when you are hanging a picture.

Yet, that is exactly what happens day after day when it comes to determining what type of communication tool an organization is going to use. A brochure is whipped off before anyone has bothered to ask what they are going to do with it. Someone signs up for a twitter account but has no idea who they want to connect with or why.

Before deciding on the tools you will use to communicate your message, there are a few things you should consider.

1. What is your message?
The length and detail involved in your message may help dictate the type of tool you require.

2. Who are you trying to communicate with?
This is a big one. When considering this question, don’t forget to take it one step further. Not only who, but where do they hang out? Where do they get their information? What tools do they engage with? How can you find them?

Once you have done this, it should become a bit more apparent which tool would work best. If you have a short message to send to a tech-savvy audience, then things like texting, twitter, facebook, emails etc. may be the way to go.

For long and involved messages to an audience that isn’t online, you may require a letter, brochure or publication.

Don’t forget to take into account how you will deliver your tool. You can easily do up a brochure, but how will you get it into the hands of your target audience? You can have a great email newsletter, but how will you obtain email addresses?

So remember, before you head into the workshop and grab a tool, give it some thought. You don’t want to plunge in and waste your time and resources using the wrong tool, do you?

I don’t think so Tim.