Video 6: Making your message matter

Summary

The script focuses on creating effective communication messages to influence audience behavior. It provides eight key guidelines, starting with the importance of making an emotional connection, as emotions often drive actions more than logic. The script emphasizes the need for clear, credible, and relatable messages, using simple language and visual aids to avoid jargon. It also highlights storytelling and the 'message box' tool, which helps condense complex issues into concise, engaging messages for the target audience, ensuring clarity and fostering action.

Takeaways

• 😀 Effective communication is about making messages matter to influence audience attitudes and behaviors.
• 🔑 To craft impactful messages, establish an emotional connection, as emotions are stronger motivators for action than logic.
• 🧠 The human brain processes information both experientially (emotions and instincts) and analytically (scientific analysis), with the experiential system being more influential in driving action.
• 📈 Use emotional appeals in ads and campaigns, but ensure they inspire and empower rather than induce apathy or inaction.
• 👤 Personalize messages to resonate with your audience's core concerns and values to motivate listening, action, and behavior change.
• 📋 Provide a rationale for taking action, making it clear why the audience should change their behavior or support your cause with simple, visual communication.
• 📈 Use concrete language and relatable examples to make messages memorable and understandable, avoiding jargon.
• 🌐 Link intangible concepts to tangible experiences, using analogies or metaphors to simplify complex ideas.
• 💡 Ensure messages are credible by avoiding over-dramatization, premature facts, or exaggerated claims.
• 📖 Tell a story to engage the audience, starting with the issue's importance, presenting the problem, and concluding with a clear call to action.

Q & A

What is the main focus of step four in the communication planning process?

The main focus of step four is to make the message matter by developing key messages for the target audience that can influence attitudes and behaviors.

Why is it important to make an emotional connection in crafting messages?

Emotional connections are important because emotions are more likely to spur action than reason or logic, as the experiential processing system in the human brain, which is responsible for emotions and instincts, is a stronger motivator for action.

What are the two ways the human brain processes information?

The human brain processes information in two ways: experientially, which is related to emotions and instincts, and analytically, which is where scientific information is analyzed.

How can messages inspire and empower to drive behavior change?

Messages that inspire and empower do so by making emotional connections to the audience's core concerns and values, and by clearly explaining how the audience's actions affect and benefit them personally.

What is the rationale for providing a rationale for taking action in key messages?

Providing a rationale for taking action is essential to explain why the audience should change their behavior or support a cause, making it clear that it is urgent for them to act now.

Why is it better to communicate through images rather than lists of numbers or graphs?

Most people understand the world through images, not lists of numbers or graphs, so communicating through images, simple graphics, or thoughtful statements can make the message more accessible and impactful.

How can making a message concrete help the audience remember it?

Making a message concrete helps the audience remember it by explaining it in terms of things they already know, see, and feel, linking intangible concepts to tangible or concrete things related to the five senses.

What is the purpose of avoiding jargon in messages?

Avoiding jargon helps keep the message simple and memorable, ensuring that the audience can understand it immediately without having to decipher industry-specific terms.

Why is it important to make the message credible?

A credible message is clear, addresses issues upfront, and does not over-dramatize or offer premature, exaggerated, or over-promised facts. This helps build trust with the audience and ensures the message is taken seriously.

How does telling a story help in creating effective messages?

Telling a story helps because our brains are hardwired to communicate through stories. An effective issue-related story begins with why the issue matters, presents the problems, and ends with what the audience can do about it.

What is a message box and how is it used in the communication planning process?

A message box is a tool used to condense information about work or projects into concise messages that explain the issue, problems, solutions, the audience's role, and benefits. It is used to refine messages through multiple drafts and feedback to ensure clarity and effectiveness.

Outlines

00:00

📢 Crafting Effective Messages for Audience Engagement

This paragraph emphasizes the importance of developing key messages that resonate with the target audience during the communication planning process. The focus is on making an emotional connection, as emotions are more potent motivators for action compared to logic. The human brain processes information both experientially (emotions and instincts) and analytically (scientific analysis), with the experiential system being the stronger motivator for action. Effective messages should inspire and empower, making them personal and connecting to the audience's core concerns and values. Examples of ads are provided to illustrate how they evoke emotions and the importance of aligning messages with the audience's personal benefits. The paragraph also stresses the need to provide a rationale for action, explaining the urgency and benefits of supporting a cause or changing behavior, using simple and visual communication to distill complex information.

05:01

🔍 Making Messages Concrete and Credible

The second paragraph delves into making messages concrete and easy to understand, which aids memorability. It suggests linking intangible concepts to tangible ones, using the audience's five senses to create a relatable connection. The use of analogies and metaphors is encouraged to simplify complex ideas. The paragraph also warns against the use of jargon, advocating for the use of familiar words to ensure clarity and immediate understanding. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of credibility in messaging, advising against over-dramatization or the presentation of premature facts. The section concludes with a tip on telling stories, which are effective for communicating issues and solutions, and the introduction of the 'message box' tool for condensing project information into concise, impactful messages.

10:01

📝 Refining Messages with the Message Box Technique

The final paragraph introduces the 'message box' technique, a method for refining messages through iterative drafting and feedback. It explains the process of starting with a brainstorm and then streamlining the story into concise messages. The example provided involves addressing the issue of unsustainable fishing, targeting fishermen at a fictional location. The paragraph guides users through identifying problems, understanding their significance to the audience, proposing solutions, and outlining the benefits of implementing these solutions. It emphasizes the importance of adapting and refining messages based on new information and feedback, with the goal of creating clear, concise, and audience-focused communications.

Keywords

💡Emotional Connection

Emotional connection refers to the ability to evoke feelings and resonate with an audience's emotions to inspire action. In the context of the video, it is crucial for crafting messages that can influence attitudes and behaviors. The script emphasizes that emotions are more potent motivators than logic, as they are processed experientially in the brain, which is a stronger driver for action. Examples from the script include ads designed to evoke sadness or fear to garner attention and inspire short-term actions, but the speaker also notes the importance of messages that inspire and empower for long-term behavior change.

💡Experiential Processing System

The experiential processing system is a part of the human brain that deals with emotions and instincts. It is contrasted with the analytical processing system, which handles logical and scientific information. The video script explains that the experiential system is a more powerful motivator for action, which is why creating an emotional connection is essential in communication. The script uses this concept to argue for the use of emotional appeals in messages to drive behavior change.

💡Behavior Change

Behavior change is a central theme in the video, referring to the desired outcome where the audience's actions are altered in a way that aligns with the communicator's goals. The script discusses how to craft messages that not only grab attention but also inspire and empower the audience to change their behavior. It contrasts this with messages that might lead to apathy and inaction, highlighting the need for messages that are personal, emotionally resonant, and clearly linked to the audience's core concerns and values.

💡Rationale for Action

Rationale for action is the logical reason or explanation that persuades an audience to change their behavior or support a cause. The video script suggests that key messages must communicate why it is urgent for the audience to act now. It emphasizes the importance of translating technical language into visual and simple terms that the audience can easily understand, using images, simple graphics, and clear calls to action to convey the rationale effectively.

💡Concrete Messaging

Concrete messaging involves making abstract concepts understandable and memorable by linking them to tangible things that the audience can relate to through their five senses. The video script advises communicators to explain complex issues in terms of things the audience already knows, sees, and feels. This approach helps in making the message easier to understand and remember, as illustrated by the script's examples of linking the conservation of grouper fish to the tangible concept of Pacific Islanders' heritage and lifestyle.

💡Jargon

Jargon refers to specialized language or terminology unique to a particular profession or group that may be confusing to outsiders. The video script warns against the use of conservation jargon such as 'species richness' or 'biomass' and suggests replacing it with familiar words to ensure the audience understands the message immediately. The script provides examples of how to simplify jargon into more accessible language to make the message clear and actionable.

💡Credibility

Credibility in the context of the video means ensuring that the messages communicated are trustworthy, clear, and do not over-dramatize or over-promise. The script advises that after the creative process of message development, it's important to check for credibility, making sure that the facts presented are accurate and that the message does not exaggerate or mislead the audience.

💡Storytelling

Storytelling is a communication technique highlighted in the video as an effective way to convey messages. The script explains that our brains are 'hardwired' to understand and remember stories. To tell an effective story related to an issue, one should start with the importance of the issue, present the problems, and conclude with actions the audience can take. The video script uses storytelling as a method to build support for a mission and to clearly articulate the desired audience actions.

💡Message Box

The message box is a tool introduced in the video script for condensing information about a project or work into concise messages. It helps in organizing key messages around an issue, the problems it causes, the solutions, the audience's role, and the benefits. The script describes the message box as a continuous process that requires multiple iterations and refinements based on feedback and research to ensure the messages are clear, compelling, and aligned with the audience's perspective.

💡Call to Action

A call to action is a directive to the audience to perform a specific task or behave in a certain way. The video script emphasizes the importance of including a clear call to action in key messages to guide the audience on what behavior is expected or promoted. Examples from the script include ads that encourage adoption or conservation campaigns that specify protective measures to be taken during certain months.

Highlights

Step four in the communication planning process focuses on developing key messages to influence target audience attitudes and behaviors.

Eight guidelines are provided for crafting effective messages.

Emotional connections are more likely to spur action than reason or logic due to the human brain's experiential processing system.

Different emotions motivate different behaviors, highlighting the need for tailored emotional appeals.

Effective messages should inspire and empower rather than induce apathy or inaction.

Messages should be personal and connect to the audience's core concerns and values.

The 'What I Love' campaign from the Climate Reality Project exemplifies making climate change personal.

Pedigree ad showcases creating a positive and personal emotional connection.

Key messages must explain the rationale for taking action, including urgency and benefits.

Visuals and simple graphics are more effective than lists of numbers or graphs in communicating key messages.

Translating technical language into visual and simple terms is crucial for audience understanding.

Concrete messages that link intangible concepts to tangible experiences are more memorable.

Avoiding jargon and using familiar words helps the audience connect with the message.

Benefits should be clearly communicated to motivate the audience to take desired actions.

Credibility of the message is essential, avoiding over dramatization and premature facts.

Telling a story is an effective method to communicate issues and solutions.

The message box is a tool for condensing information into concise messages.

Iterative refinement of the message box is necessary to adapt to new information and feedback.

Drafting the message box involves identifying the central issue, target audience, and potential solutions.

The process of developing a message using the message box may require multiple drafts for clarity and effectiveness.

Transcripts

so step four in the communication

planning process as we already said is

to make your message matter and this

section is all about developing key

messages for your target audience and

it's really about not just well it's

messages that when developed effectively

will influence your audience attitudes

and affect their behaviors to craft

effective messages follow these eight

guidelines which will cover individually

now tip number one make an emotional

connection emotions are more likely to

spur action than reason or logic this is

because the human brain processes

information in two different ways

experientially and analytically the

experiential processing system is your

source of emotions and instincts the

analytical analytical processing system

is where you analyze scientific

information research has shown that the

experiential processing system is the

stronger motivator for action there's a

lot of information but but the point is

that we need to appeal to people's

experience all processing systems and to

do so we need to make an emotional

connection but different emotions

motivate different behaviors I'll give

you a minute to digest these ads and as

you look at them take note of how they

make you feel for those of you who can't

read those top-line messages they read

animals or not clowns if you don't pick

it up they will and the future is

man-made

likely tugged at your heartstrings I'm

hoping or guessing they're designed to

evoke feelings of sadness or maybe fear

and they are powerful attention getters

and can be very effective for short-term

fundraising efforts but not for behavior

change and that's the point I want to

stress there and in fact in many cases

they lead to apathy and inaction to

drive behavior change we need messages

that inspire and empower so like we

discussed when we talked about target

audiences we need to make our messages

personal and make emotional connections

to what our audience cares about to

their core concerns and values to do

this our messages are oh if we do this

rather our messages are more likely to

motivate listening action and behavior

we need to make it clear how your

actions affect and benefit your audience

personally so we see a couple examples

of these kinds of messages here the what

I love campaign from the climate reality

project is an interactive experience

that makes climate change personal so if

you go on their website it asks you to

pick the things you love like the ocean

I think I take wine taking walks then it

shows you how climate change directly

impacts those things and quickly provide

solutions you can participate in I

included this pedigree ad because I

thought it they did a nice job of

voguing a positive feeling at least for

me and also making an emotional

connection feel tangible a dog makes

your life happier adopt it says this is

super positive and and and very personal

tip number two is to provide the

rationale for taking action key messages

must also explain why your audience

should change their behavior or support

your cause it must be clear that it's

urgent for them to act now most people

see and understand the world through

images not lists of numbers or graphs

and so it's best to communicate through

images simple graphics or maybe one or

two

- thoughtful statements it's our job as

communicators to translate and interpret

technical language so to distill

technical and scientific information for

your key audience or key audiences offer

science but keep it visual and simple

for example in the last 40 years we've

lost over half of our leaf super simple

very straightforward here's another

example it's a simple visual

illustrating the decline in grouped or

populations and this is from the for

Fiji campaign which is an initiative in

Fiji to protect grouper during spawning

months remember to include your call to

action and your key messages what is the

behavior you're trying to change or

promote pedigree did a great job of this

in their ad by including that subtle

call to action they just added that one

word adopt on the screen here's another

example from the for Fiji campaign this

graphic illustrates the clear call to

action

let grouper or don't breed from June to

September so very clear call to action

there make your message concrete so it's

easy to understand and will be memorable

a good way to help your audience

remember your message is to explain it

in terms of things they already know see

and feel by being concrete rather than

abstract to make your message concrete

it's helpful to link intangible concepts

so things such as beliefs emotions

values to something tangible or concrete

so your five senses what do we see smell

hear touch taste here's an example

rooper are an important part of our

heritage and lifestyle as Pacific

Islanders so here we're linking a

tangible concept so grouper fish maybe

something can taste smell touch linking

it to more intangible concepts of our

lifestyle as Pacific Islanders another

way to share tangible concepts and build

off things people already know is to use

analogies or metaphor

when it comes to message well so

basically every profession that I can

think of has jargon that's well known to

insiders but confusing to others to help

keep your message simple and memorable

we need to avoid jargon conservation

jargon includes words like you can see

on the screen there species richness

biodiversity biomass prime spawners if

you must use jargon so if you have to

use words like this make sure you

explain what it means in simple language

for example spillover is when the

benefits inside a murine rest area such

as more fish and more larvae spill into

or extend to areas outside a Marine

Reserve you need to use familiar words

to connect with your audience and help

make your message stick here are a few

examples of familiar words you can use

in place of more jargony words but the

point with this is to just help take the

potential guesswork out of your message

is we want our audience to understand

what we're talking about right away we

don't have time for them to think about

jargon to motivate your audience to take

the action you want them to take it's

important to let them know what they're

going to get out of it so what benefits

can they expect try to put yourself in

their shoes what do they care about is

it the economy religion children or

maybe health so for example if you are

talking about the need to protect

nearshore marine habitats for fish like

this infographic is focus on the

benefits those habitats provide to your

audience such as livelihoods economies

and food security tip number seven make

sure your message is credible hopefully

this seems like an obvious tip but I

find it's really helpful as a reminder

check in after you've been thinking

creatively about your messages a

credible message is clear and addresses

issues upfront

it doesn't over dramatize or offer facts

that are premature or exaggerated or

over promise so just a little helpful

reminder

last messaging tip is to tell a story

you've likely heard this tip from

communicators before and it's because

research has shown that our brains are

literally hardwired to communicate

through stories to tell an effective

issue related story you should begin

with why the issue matters then present

the problems associated with that issue

ending with what the audience can do

about it

remember that to make sure your story

clearly articulates what you want people

to do use a story and use it to help

build support for your mission okay now

to create your messages meet the message

box this is a tool to help you condense

information about your work or project

into four or five sentences that explain

the overarching issue or issues problems

that have occurred because of the issue

how your work relates to your audience

the solution and your audiences role in

that solution and the benefits to your

audience yeah so for those of you who

are new and I and also the people who

are familiar I have a real love-hate

relationship with the message box I find

it an incredibly useful tool but also a

bit frustrating because I feel like the

minute I feel like a habit down and I'll

get totally stumped so just a little bit

of warning but it I do find it extremely

useful I use it and when writing

strategic communication plans like we

are now or writing a press release or

story it's really helpful preparing for

a media interview or preparing to speak

at a community meeting and I use it a

lot in designing outreach materials such

as brochures or posters to make sure

that my materials

absolutely include and highlight my my

most important key messages when

developing a message using a message box

it is a continuous process it takes at

least two possibly as many as five or

six iterations or drafts

refine it feedback from colleagues input

from research and your target audience

will likely lead to new versions of the

message box so as you get more

information you're going to be adapting

your message as you go to use the

message box typically begin with at

least two message box printouts and

that's what you're going to be doing

when it's your turn the first one really

serves as a brainstorm and you begin by

identifying your your central issue and

your target audience so we're going to

walk through an example together let's

say the hypothetical issue we're working

to address is unsustainable fishing and

your target audience is Fisher's at

Clement reef at all and just heads up

this is a made-up location for those of

you wondering where this is then you

streamline your story into concise

messages by answering the following

questions

what problems or conflicts are

associated with the overarching issue so

in our case what problems are associated

with unsustainable fishing one problem

that matters to this audience is

scarcity of adult conch and lobster at

clément reef ATS all other problems

might include a decline in tourism and

destruction to reef structure so this

list can be 10 items it can be however

many but this is your brainstorm then

you ask the question so what why does

this information matter to my audience

what does scarcity of conch and lobster

mean to them

for example loss of income due to

reduced catch per unit effort now have

to fish harder to get less fish maybe it

means spending less time with family

next we think about what are some of the

possible solutions to this problem and

what action would you like your audience

to take in this case we want these

Fisher's to help establish a marine

protected area so our solution is to

help grow more and bigger fish with the

marine protected area so they spill over

to areas where we can fish participate

in the decision making process for

establishing a protected area and that's

the specific

asked for this audience then our final

section we think about what are the

potential short medium and long-term

benefits that we can expect to see after

the solution happens or once the problem

is resolved and a few ideas more and

bigger fish adjacent to protected areas

means less time fishing more time with

family or catching more time or catching

more fish means more income so you'll be

doing two drafts of the message box

draft one like we just did will be a

brainstorm to capture your ideas for how

to speak with your target audience so

like we just did it should look

something like this hopefully even

longer lists and draft two will be to

refine your messages through the lens of

your audience

the goal for this step is to condense

the contents of each message box section

into one or two sentences or better yet

maybe even a bullet so it could look

something like this and I I always need

to work from two drafts if you want to

work from one and kind of circle and

edit your one draft it's totally up to

you whatever works best for you and with

the worksheet instructions we've

included a number of tips for for

conquering the message box is long along

with detailed instructions so you'll get

some more guidance online