True or genuine communication should be founded on values. Those principles for which your initiative, project or organisation works and exists. Any communication should bring your organisation closer to achieving the mission that you put into the foundation. A mission is built on a system of values. Why does the customer support your idea so much that he is willing to go out for free and talk about you to everyone and everywhere? Because you not only meet the needs of you customer, for example, his musical demands (if we continue with our jazz festival case). If you remain at the level of needs, your target audience will remain at the level of mere customers. For example, I need flowers for a birthday. At the level of needs, I just need beautiful, fresh flowers, preferably not too expensive. But if I go beyond the level of simple needs, then I don’t need just flowers, but I also need flowers that have been grown without chemicals, or with small doses, gathered without using child labour, and delivered with minimum carbon emissions from them. If I find such a company providing all this, I will become not only a customer but also a fan of it. This is because my values system is completely in line with the values system of this company. Thus, to reach the final stage of communication, you have to merge your values system with the values system of your target audience.

Also, to make communication successful at all stages, you have to build trust. As soon as your target audience loses trust in you, it drops out of the communication cycle and leaves you. And in this situation, you must make huge efforts to restore it. You cannot fail to satisfy the expectations of the target audience. You obviously can do that, and it’s quite a usual situation. But this is only a thing for the short term. In order to build long-term relationships with your audience, you have to give the truth, meet its expectations, and not manipulate. Communication is not terrorism. You cannot force your partner or customer to do something. He or she should do what you want him or her to do through free will. Why? Because only you know what he or she needs, and only you can provide that. And because you live with him or her in one system of values. All of this is possible only on the basis of values and by building trust.

And now we need to remember:

• genuine communication is based on values and aims to build trust

Goodbye and see you. Next time we will talk about the key elements of communication.