As an entrepreneur, you certainly need to implement business communication. Have you heard of this term? What is the purpose of business communication and why should it be implemented in your business?
Communication is required within a business or organization when you want to develop an ongoing business or one that is being planned. This communication can take place between 2 or more people, depending on who is closely involved in a business.
The existence of communication can generate various interesting ideas and can be used to develop the business. Therefore, you need to implement business communication within the company.
So what is business communication and its purpose for a company or organization? You can get a full explanation through the discussion we will convey below.
In this article, ToffeeDev will try to explain business communication in detail starting from its importance, elements, and purpose to its types. This information will surely be very useful for you as an entrepreneur or executive who plays an important role in the business.
Definition of Business Communication
In simple terms, the term business communication refers to the understanding in which an activity is carried out verbally and nonverbally, with a variety of information, ideas, or even ideas in it. However, other meanings are directly explained by the following experts:
Communication used in the business world includes various forms of communication, both verbal and nonverbal, to achieve a specific goal. – Djoko Purwanto
Communication used in the business world includes various types and forms of communication to achieve business goals. – Floyd
An act of exchanging information, ideas/opinions, instructions, etc., conveyed personally or impersonally through symbols and signals to achieve business goals. – Rosenblatt
Elements In Business Communication
What are the things that can shape the appearance of communication? You must know that at least 5 elements are used in communication. These 5 elements refer to the formula 5W + 1H.
What are the five elements? The elements of business communication include:
- Communicator: use the element of Who or Who (mediator of information).
- Message: use which elements or what (the topic or message you want to convey).
- Media: use which or where elements (what media or channels are used to convey the message).
- Communicate: Using who or to whom element to communicate the message (recipient of information).
- Effect: using the how or where of the element (what effects or impacts will result from the message being delivered).
So when communicating, you will include these five elements. Of course, the above five elements also apply to business communication.
When communicating for business matters, it turns out that other additional elements are used. These elements include the following:
- Have a goal or objective: Every communication must have a specific purpose to be conveyed. These goals can be in the form of actions you want to see, or simply making sure the communicant receives the message as clearly and as well as possible.
- Information Exchange: In business, a lot of communication takes place. In any communication, there is usually an exchange of information between the two parties.
- Contains important topics: Business communication contains a lot of important information, such as opinions, ideas, and instructions.
- Uses different types of media: different media can be used to convey communication, both face-to-face and using electronic media such as email. Some organizations may even use mass media to deliver messages they want to reach more people.
- Use of tools or methods: Not only media but also tools or methods used vary. The variety is adapted to the needs of both sides.
5 Goals of Business Communication
After understanding the meaning and elements, what is the purpose of business communication? Do you need to implement business communication in the company? To understand the importance of applying business communication, you can listen to the following discussion on the 5 goals of business communication.
1. Minimizing Miscommunication
The first goal of implementing business communication is to minimize the occurrence of miscommunication. You certainly understand that miscommunication can occur anywhere, especially within the company.
Imagine, there are so many people involved in a company. The bigger the company, the more employees work in it. Nothing can guarantee that everyone already knows each other, let alone understands each other.
Business communication must take place to reduce the percentage of miscommunication. Therefore, it is important to start creating a communication plan and take the opportunity to convey important information as clearly as possible.
2. Increase Employee Motivation
Corporate communications can help increase employee motivation. How can this be? This can be explained by looking at the habits of employees in doing their work.
Many employees only deal with computers at work and look for all information on the Internet. If there is internal communication between 2 or more people, employees will get more inspiration and new ideas, so their motivation to work will increase.
3. Maintaining Communication Between Departments
Every company has different departments or teams. Each of these departments certainly has its job desk or responsibilities. However, those whose names work in the same company need to cooperate between departments, in carrying out projects or achieving the goals set by the company.
The application of business communication can help maintain communication between departments. The process of information transfer and idea generation also becomes clearer.
4. Helping Business Development
Business communication that runs smoothly can help business development. Why is that? This is because every employee and even each division has received clear information and goals. So, they can immediately execute according to the information obtained from the implementation of business communications that are going well.
5. Perform Time Efficiency
The final goal of implementing business communication is to make time efficient. There is a lot of time wasted from ineffective communication. Therefore, you need to apply business communication to make time efficient so that employees will be more productive.
5 Types of Business Communication
There are various types of business communication. In the following, there are 5 types of business communication that you can apply, namely:
1. Internal Communication
Most business communications are included in internal communications. This is because the communication that occurs is internal or only within the scope of the company.
2. Vertical Communication
Vertical communication is communication that occurs only at one level within the company. What does it mean? Every company must have a level of position such as the level of staff, supervisor, manager, to the CEO. Each of these levels will certainly conduct business communication so that it is called vertical communication.
3. Horizontal Communication
As the name suggests, horizontal communication is communication that occurs from the bottom up but originates from the same department. For example, business communication takes place in area A, which consists of managers, project managers, designers, interns, or trainees.
4. Communication from Superiors to Subordinates
Another type of business communication is supervisor-to-subordinate communication. Every business manager needs to communicate with all employees involved in it.
5. Communication from Subordinates to Superiors
Conversely, business communication also takes place from subordinates to superiors. What is an example? When subordinates want to make reports or convey ideas that can be useful for the development of the company, this is part of the nature of business communication from subordinates to superiors.
The importance of business communication to your business success.
So you already know how important business communication is to the success of a business, right? Therefore, use business communication effectively now for the development of the business.
You also need to communicate with customers and the wider community so that the brand awareness of the business can be increased.