Blueprint for Better Messages in a New Year

Whether or not you believe in New Year’s resolutions, the turn of the calendar does provide the opportunity for a fresh start. That’s especially true for your communications.

January is the perfect time to revitalize your key messages – to your team, your clients, prospects and beyond. To do so effectively and efficiently, it helps to take a systematic approach – what I call being F.A.I.R.

Forgive.

It’s easy to get bogged down rehashing what hasn’t been done well in the past. Fuzzy messaging. Inadequate communication. Inconsistency. That’s why step one is forgiveness – forgiving yourself and your team for what you haven’t gotten done.

Yes, you can learn from the past. You should look back, but don’t stare. Learn from your shortcomings and put them in perspective. Most of all, commit to moving forward with a more proactive approach to communicating often enough and powerfully enough to have an impact.

Assess

What are your key messages? There are probably more than a few, to a variety of audiences.

• Internal audiences – Are you successfully communicating with your team? How effectively are you getting them connected to your organization’s culture, successes, challenges ahead, and opportunities – individually and collectively?
• External Audiences – Do you have a clear positioning in the minds of clients, prospects, the general public? Do they know what you do, and why you do it well?
• Strategic Statements – Are your organization’s goals, principles and/or mission statements still relevant and compelling? Do they need to be updated to reflect the evolution of your organization, addressing obsolete information?

Identify

Identify opportunities for the surest, biggest impact. Getting some success under your belt early in the calendar year can create a sense of accomplishment and momentum that’s easy to build upon. Here’s a simple two-pronged approach to identify low-hanging fruit.

1.????? Weaknesses in your current key messages regarding.

• Accuracy – Is this still relevant to what you do? Is anything outdated, obsolete?
• Clarity – Would a first-time reader understand – quickly – your key points?
• Consistency – Is your organization’s voice (tone, syntax) consistent across all outlets?
• Impact – What would you like to be the reader’s conclusion or takeaway? Is that the reality?

2.????? Opportunities for new material.

• Expanding upon a promising concept or new initiative.
• New perspective on existing material, past efforts.
• Recent experience and related insight.
• Thought leadership that showcases your expertise.

Revise and Renew

Revise current content and renew your commitment to creating new, more compelling messages in the year ahead. To prioritize your focus, use this hierarchy and prioritize revising your:

1. Strategic/Organizational content
2. Internal Audience material
3. External Audience content

Finally, renew your commitment to put in the effort – on your own or with outside help as needed – to ensure your messaging puts your best foot forward. Be sure that what you say supports the work you do. Make sure the words you use work as hard as you do.

All the best for better messages and better results in 2024.

Tom White is a business communications consultant, content writer and President & Creative Director at The White Agency, Inc. A copywriter by training, he assists clients in all aspects of creating a better message, from strategy to copy to speechwriting. "I say what you'd say, only better."