When it comes to marketing and communication, is your organization listening with your heart? Perhaps it’s no accident that the words “ear” and “hear” are nestled within the word “heart.” In January, His Holiness Pope Francis released a message on this topic for World Communications Day 2022.
Listening and speaking are both essential for true communication, and the best example we have for this is prayer with God. Even if we can’t actually hear it, God speaks to us through Sacred Scripture and Tradition, as well as directly to our hearts. By the grace of God, we are able to listen. And God listens when we speak as well! In Jeremiah 33:3 God says, “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”
Prayerful dialogue is listening with the ear of the heart, and it is characterized by openness, respect, patience, and mercy. Recent achievements in the field of electronic communication present challenges to this model. We see a world that is speaking without listening, not taking time to reflect, not applying mercy and instead offering a quick judgment.
As Catholic communicators, the New Evangelization calls us to speak and listen on these platforms and to apply the love of God as disciples on mission in a territory in need of the Gospel.
For Katie Pesha Consulting and our clients, any new messaging campaign first begins with dialogue. It is imperative that we first listen to our clients in order to unearth and understand the unique challenges each is facing, as well as the unique ministry gifts each holds and can offer the world. That’s why we conduct surveys, hold face-to-face conversations, and take time to pray as major communication shifts are being developed and implemented. At KPC, our goal is to listen with our hearts for a long time before we speak.
I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
This scripture passage from Jeremiah reveals the great reward in store for those who listen with their hearts. In this magical soup of listening and speaking between two parties, something entirely new emerges, a new communication inspired by God and reflective of the contents of both parties. Saint Paul tells us faith comes through listening (Romans 10:17) and we know that faith is the evidence of things unseen (Hebrews 11:1). He who has a heart, let him hear!
We invite you to partner with KPC and, by the grace of God, we will discover these divine treasures together!