Author: Tenet Admin

Messaging defines the point we’re trying to get across, whether it’s an individual engaged in casual conversation, a political leader making a speech, or a company telegraphing the value of its brand. But often, messaging is too complicated and overblown.

To be useful, messages need to be internalized by those who deliver them. Not rote memorization, but a deep-seated understanding of what needs to be communicated.

Take these five principles to heart when crafting your messages to reach your audiences more effectively:

1. Messages are ideas, not copy.

This is where most messaging falls down. It’s a matter of understanding what a message actually is. The message isn’t the words you use. It is the “sticky” thought you want your audience to remember ten minutes after you’ve walked out of the room.

More importantly, the message should never appear in copy! In the 1992 Presidential primaries, then-candidate George Bush inadvertently read aloud a note inserted into his speech by an aide: “Message: I care.” That aide understood the true nature of messaging: It’s the thought that counts. The language you use to deliver that thought is something else entirely.

2. Keep it simple.

The simpler the message, the more memorable it will be – and therefore, the more useful for you and meaningful for your audience. No one will remember a long paragraph loaded with detail or a complex sentence. Everyone can remember a straightforward idea, expressed simply.

A sales associate should not have to refer to a written guide to remember what should be communicated. Use whatever words are necessary to deliver the thought but keep the message itself as simple as possible. Secondary messaging can be created to support and add dimension but should never get in the way of communicating the pure, clear idea of the main message.

3. Keep it streamlined.

How many messages could you remember if you had to? Less is definitely more. Your set of main messages should encompass what you need to communicate but be flexible enough to carry multiple meanings depending on the language used to communicate the thought.

For example, a message like “We make a meaningful difference in people’s lives” might come through in copy about products, social responsibility, client relationships or the workplace environment. Different words, different audiences, different uses, but the same core message.

4. Make it relevant.

The only messages that will be remembered are the ones that the recipient finds meaningful and compelling. Often, we see companies so wrapped up in their internal structure and culture that they lose sight of the fact that to an outside audience, none of that matters much. Or the message may fall back on meaningless platitudes.

Craft credible messages that those on the receiving end can relate to, with just enough detail to make what you communicate meaningful.

5. Use it wisely.

It’s neither necessary nor wise to say everything, every time. It is, however, necessary to send the message repeatedly and in different ways to make sure it sticks.

Choose the proof points and supporting messages you use to make your point in a way that resonates with your audience. Also, be selective in which messages you send at any given time: If you’re lucky, your audience might take away one or two thoughts, so it’s best to focus and stay on-topic. Trying to get six ideas across will only muddy the waters.

As Design Thinking continues to change how innovation is achieved by many product and service providers worldwide, the traditional tools and techniques for capturing and incorporating the voice of the consumer are in much need of reshaping as well. Conventional focus groups serve their purpose when planned and facilitated well. Likewise, collaborative brainstorming sessions need to be well crafted and executed to take advantage of what participating consumers, clients and creatives do best.
Our brand of Design Thinking features a tool kit of methodologies including Co-Magination^® Sessions that take group collaborative brainstorming to a new and more productive level. Beyond obvious distinctions to many focus group and consumer-centric collaborative sessions (e.g. keeping all participants in the same room(s), and live illustrative capture of seed ideas as output throughout), here are five tips that can make any session more effective, with output that is more prolific and inspiring.

1. Appreciate that Everyone Is Creative, or Can Be.

To some extent, everyone can be creative, especially if invited to become part of a creative team as a unique and valued contributor. Introduce consumer participants as the experts in their individual experiences with the category, products or services you are re-imagining together. They will take pride in contributing their expertise, perspective and experience, as no one else can.

2. Work Together as Creative Peers.

Beyond the clichéd “there are no bad ideas,” we live by “there are no bad voices,” or at least no more important ones than others. Working shoulder-to-shoulder, likely for the first time, clients, consumers and design innovators become empathic and constructive collaborators when there is no perceived hierarchy in the group. This democratic approach will surprise you by the quality of the insight and inspiration it produces, and the passion it is often voiced with.

3. Make it Engaging, Make It Interesting, and Make It Fun.

Participants can all too easily shut down if they feel they are in for two hours of seated Q&A. Get them up, get them thinking, and make sure everyone is comfortable and responsible for contributing. All activities should relate to the session’s area of focus. No frivolous, off-topic chit-chat, “creative squeaky toys,” play-doh or beanbag chairs, unless any of those are relevant to the task at hand. These can be a distraction and a waste of your valuable time together. Through various exercises including role playing, accelerated reenactments, competitive breakouts, mini presentations, among others, get everyone to immerse themselves in the moment, draw from their individual life experiences and check their self-consciousness at the door.

4. Make Sure You Have the Right Creative Talent.

We deploy our Design Innovators into the mix to be inspired by the collaborative output. Although consumer and client participants may be creative, insightful and full of great ideas, most are not able to articulate or visualize what a real world feature, attribute or concept might look or feel like. The talent and experience of your creative team is key to translating spoken whim into viable, visible direction, spontaneously, for iterative enhancement and directional validation.

5. Don’t Be Misled by Personal Favorites.

And finally, don’t put too much weight on participant selected “favorite ideas.” Do however listen to how they defend their preferred directions to learn what pet peeves and inconveniences they want to solve. In traditional focus groups and even in many collaborative group sessions, clients and facilitators are easily tempted to take consumer input as direction. We prefer to use it as inspiration. There’s a goldmine there, if you know what you’re listening for.

What is a brand?

Your company’s brand is the window of opportunity to link the internal and external sides of your business to impact the bottom line. In practice, it is the sum of the distinctive experiences your company delivers to your customers, prospects, media, investors, employees and other key audiences.

Many large organizations like Deloitte and GE recognize the roles HR and branding together play in the wider business, but many smaller companies have yet to take advantage of the links between HR and branding.

We are on a mission to show the need for HR and branding to work together – or as Meghan M. Biro says, ‘It’s Time To Get Real: ‘Humanize Your Brand.’

Here are five ways HR professionals can shape organizational development through exceptional partnerships between HR and branding:

1. Become best friends with your branding colleagues! Make it your mission to learn the messages that are being delivered to your customers and educate employees on what those messages mean for them and how they interact with each other. But, don’t stop there! Enlist the help of your branding and marketing team colleagues to shape employee messages to meet the needs of employees and customers alike in an engaging and motivational way, while aligned to HR best practices…

Head over to TalentCulture to learn more top tips!