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.