How can you make your messages resonate? Whether you are communicating with your customers, employees, partners, or stakeholders, you want your messages to be clear, compelling, and memorable. But how do you achieve that in a noisy and competitive environment? Here are some tips to help you craft and deliver strategic communications that stand out and stick.
The first step to making your messages resonate is to understand who you are talking to and what they care about. What are their needs, goals, challenges, preferences, and motivations? How do they perceive you and your message? How do they prefer to receive information and feedback? By doing some research and analysis, you can tailor your messages to fit your audience's profile and expectations, and avoid any potential misunderstandings or misalignments.
Once you have defined your audience dive in to your "Relatability Factor" with the audience which can play a crucial role in how your message is received. There is a human tendency to gravitate towards individuals who share our values and beliefs. When we find common ground with someone, we automatically feel a sense of familiarity and are more inclined to like them. In fact, studies have shown that the level of similarities between individuals can greatly influence the development of a relationship. Recent research even suggests that our trust in strangers may hinge on their resemblance to people we have previously known and deemed trustworthy. Leveraging relatability can significantly impact how your message is received.
Many companies fail to articulate the issues their products resolve for consumers and even struggle to define their target audience. All staff should be well-versed in their firm's offerings and their benefits. The entire organization must concentrate on and be educated about the advantages of their goods. Departments such as marketing, sales, customer service, and product development, along with vendors and customers, should collaborate to create clear messaging to attract more clients. These messages should undergo A/B testing to ensure optimal outcomes.
The second step to making your messages resonate is to clarify what you want to achieve with your communication. What is the main idea or goal that you want to convey? What action or response do you want to elicit from your audience? How do you want them to feel or think after receiving your message? By having a clear and specific purpose, you can focus your messages on the most relevant and persuasive points, and avoid any unnecessary or distracting details.
I would switch this with the first step since effective communications starts by having a clear idea of what you want to accomplish. Do you simply want to inform or educate your target audience? Highlight what makes whatever you're offering different and better? Open minds to new ways of thinking? Drive specific actions? This lays the groundwork for your messaging, which then must be linked to the audience's needs, aspirations and/or problems. Once you have a real-world understanding of what's important to your audience, you can tailor your messaging to connect with them in a more meaningful way.
Ask yourself: What do I want to achieve with my communication? Is it to inform, persuade, inspire, or educate? Understanding your purpose helps you shape your message in a way that aligns with your desired outcome. If your purpose is to make an offer for your product or service, that requires a deeper thought process as most people will talk about the features of their offering. when you really need to talk about the benefits. Start by making a list of all the features of your product or service and then think about the benefit to your audience. This will help you craft your message that resonates.
In my activism against child sex trafficking, my main goal is to raise awareness about the harsh realities faced by countless vulnerable children and to provide support and protection to its victims. On social media I did this by: 1. inspiring them with success stories 2. igniting a passion by sharing Resources 3. advocating for stronger laws and policies 4. fostering a deeper understanding and commitment to the cause. 5. Asking for donations for good NGOs This created shared purpose and others amplified my message.
The third step to making your messages resonate is to select the best channel or medium for your communication. Depending on your audience, purpose, and context, you may have different options for delivering your messages, such as email, phone, video, social media, website, blog, podcast, newsletter, presentation, report, or event. Each channel has its own advantages and disadvantages, such as reach, cost, speed, interactivity, credibility, and engagement. By choosing the most appropriate and effective channel for your messages, you can optimize your communication strategy and results.
The message and the messenger need to clearly ladder up to your audience outcomes (think, feel, do), communications objectives and desired business impact. Choosing your channel and/or medium requires knowing your audience and delivering the type of information the seek, in the format they prefer, when and where they are looking for it. In my experience, this is a critical hazard point in client communications strategy negotiations - some of the best channels are the least sexy. For example, trade outlets are hyper targeted and can really drive B2B programs but they aren't going to have the cache and reach of outlets like the WSJ or FT.
Before choosing a channel, try a few and learn. Sometimes, it is not the most obvious one that gives the best results. Most people will have thought of the obvious ones, and it will be harder to stand out.
The fourth step to making your messages resonate is to create your content with care and creativity. Your content should be clear, concise, coherent, and consistent. It should also be compelling, captivating, and credible. To achieve this, you can use various techniques, such as storytelling, metaphors, analogies, examples, data, quotes, testimonials, humor, emotion, or visuals. You can also use various principles, such as repetition, contrast, alignment, proximity, or hierarchy. By crafting your content with skill and style, you can make your messages more appealing and memorable.
The fifth step to making your messages resonate is to deliver your message with confidence and charisma. Your delivery should be aligned with your content, channel, purpose, and audience. It should also be authentic, respectful, and professional. To achieve this, you can use various skills, such as voice, tone, pace, volume, pitch, intonation, body language, eye contact, gestures, facial expressions, or pauses. You can also use various tools, such as slides, notes, scripts, prompts, or cues. By delivering your message with poise and passion, you can make your messages more impactful and influential.
I have a framework that I teach my client (called the Shore Method) Solution - What problem or pain point are you solving Help - Who are you helping? Clearly define your audience Offering - What are you offering? Not your "offer stack" but what benefit do you offer them Relatability -People buy from people they know like and trust, and people like people who are more like them. Develop your relatability. Engage - What do you want them to do? Do you want them to get in touch with you, buy your product? What is the next step? Be sure to have a clear call to action (CTA)
The sixth and final step to making your messages resonate is to evaluate your results and feedback. Your evaluation should be based on your purpose and objectives, and measure the outcomes and effects of your communication. It should also be timely, accurate, and actionable. To achieve this, you can use various methods, such as surveys, polls, quizzes, tests, interviews, focus groups, analytics, metrics, or indicators. You can also use various criteria, such as awareness, understanding, interest, engagement, satisfaction, loyalty, or advocacy. By evaluating your results and feedback, you can improve your communication performance and impact.
KPIs are a personal obsession. Determining how you will measure success should come at the beginning of the process not at the end. 1. Business impact: inbound investment, customer acquisition/sales, recruitment/retention of talent etc. These are long term metrics of a total strategy not an individual program or tactic 2. Outcomes: what do you want your audience to think, feel, do? These tend to be qualitative v. quantitative. How will you know? Sometimes you just need a couple investor inbounds or verbal, anecdotal feedback. 3. Outputs: how you prove you showed up to work. These tend to be weakest at their most quantitative views, mentions etc. But can be made powerful by aligning to core audiences i.e. tier 1 audience SOV, Tier 1 mentions
As an author, activist, and lifelong campaigner against child sex trafficking, I, Ruchira Gupta, share two valuable insights on how to make your message resonate on social media 1. Storytelling with Empathy: anecdotes and experiences from survivors or beneficiaries of our cause can evoke empathy and compassion from viewers. Sharing real stories helps humanize the issue of child sex trafficking, making it more relatable and emotionally compelling. 2. Visual storytelling through images and videos can further enhance the impact, capturing the essence of the struggle and resilience of those affected. Utilize Compelling Visuals.