The Key Characteristics Of A Professional Communicator

This is the second in a series entitled "The Nuts & Bolts of Communication", in which I convey some of the insights I have developed from more than 4 decades in the communications industry. Links to other posts in this series are listed at the end of this post.

I have been a professional in the communications business pretty much since dinosaurs walked the earth, (no wisecracks please), and during that time I have had to develop a philosophy to guide me, as we all do in our careers.
The majority of professional communicators tend to be ‘behind the scenes’ people. This is especially true in advertising and marketing. You learn very quickly in this business that your main raison d’être is to serve the brands, the companies and the agencies you work for.
You become a chameleon of sorts, in that you seldom communicate in your own voice or style but in the voice and style that best represents the brand you are working on.
If you have natural ability, this skill set doesn't take long to develop. It takes a long time to perfect however. In fact, it takes pretty much the whole of your career, because if you are a professional, you are committed to learning all the time and getting better that what you do, which is a never-ending process.
Since part of my purpose in blogging here is to help people understand what being a professional communicator is all about, I have put together this short list of what I consider to be the key characteristics of a professional communicator. For those working to become pros, this could be some homework. For those who hire pros to work for them and their brands, this could your check list.
(Pardon the gender bias in the syntax…everything applies to both males and females.)

The Professional Communicator Always Tells The Truth

Every brand is a world unto itself. It has features and benefits, it has competitors and it has a number of people who are its custodians.
The professional communicator learns what the brand is all about…how it functions in the world…what it really has to offer its target audience and then tells that story. He doesn’t embellish the story with a lot of hyperbole, because that’s the purview of amateurs and he is a pro.
He makes the story interesting, mostly by reflecting his own fascination with what makes the brand worth talking about in the first place. But he never bullshits anyone into believing that the brand is something that it is not. Because he knows that the #1 killer of brands is failure to deliver on a brand promise.

The Professional Communicator Always Sticks To The Strategy

Most professional marketers spend a lot of time and energy developing a strategy for their brand. The professional communicator has a great deal of respect for this strategy and everything he does is designed to bring it to life in whatever form of communication he is executing against. The professional communicator never creates an idea that defines a strategy. He only creates ideas that reflect it.

The Professional Communicator Understands That The Medium Is Not The Message

Contrary to what Marshall McLuhan hypothesized many years ago, the professional communicator believes that the message is the message, and that the medium which transmits the message is nothing more or less than a conduit that takes the message from one place to another.
There are many more conduits than there used to be back in the day before digital communications came along. And the professional communicator always makes sure he understands how the message needs to be ‘contoured’ for the medium in which is is sent.

The Professional Communicator Is Only As Good As The Information He Has To Work With

The reason that a professional communicator cannot create workable ideas has little to do with his idea creation and executional skills. It pretty much totally has to do with the information and insight he is given to work with. The ‘crap in/crap out’ equation tends to apply here more often then not.
However, the professional communicator also has instincts and ‘crap radar’ that tell him when something is not right and he will be the first to raise the red flag before things seem off kilter.

The Professional Communicator Understands That All Opinions Count

Before the professional communicator does anything, he listens. Listening is the key to developing an accurate point of view. The accurate point-of-view is the key to developing insights. Developing insights is the key to creating ideas that will reflect and benefit the brand. And so it goes.
A true professional communicator may not agree with everybody’s opinion, but he will respect that opinion and always weigh its relative pros and cons before he moves forward.

The Professional Communicator Is Always A Team Player...Up To A Point

The professional communicator understands that nothing good is ever created in a vacuum. He seeks input and opinion constantly.
What he doesn’t need is help with what he does. And this is a good thing, because clients who get too involved in the process of creating ideas tend to lose their objectivity, which is a key element in judging what the professional communicator does.
It’s also another set of fingerprints on the project that, often times, proves to be one too many sets, and can damage the purity of the thinking.

Everything here is what I believe about being a professional communicator. I’m sure many of you will think of other things that are relevant to your own experience. And that’s as it should be.

I hope my insights will prove useful to you, even if it’s just in the area of food for thought.

Other posts in this series include:

https://www.bebee.com/producer/@jim-murray/the-elements-most-often-lacking-in-a-company-s-marketing-materials-how-many-of-them-are-lacking-in-yours

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If you want to read more of my posts, you can do that here:

https://www.bebee.com/publisher/@jim-murray