WHY BOTHER?
Key messages are easily overlooked, but they are integral to effective business communication.
They help you to tell your business story, so they should be at the core of all your communication.
They help you to share your why. To succinctly communicate your business mission, vision, values and personality. To better shape and manage perceptions about your business.
They help you to communicate confidently and consistently.
And if you have staff, key messages will give them a script of sorts, supporting them to communicate your vision. Rather than leaving it to chance.
They also help with brand recall. Did you know that?
Repetition of consistent messages can help people to remember your business.
In marketing, the Rule of Seven says that people typically need to hear a message seven times, before they take action.
Research shows that the more familiar a person is with a message, the more likely they are to have a preference for it. If that’s not a reason for creating key messages, I’m not sure what is.
Yes, it may take time to nut out your messages. But I promise, once you have them down you’ll wish you’d done it sooner.
So, here’s seven tips to help you bust out your key messages in no time.
GET CLEAR ON YOUR BUSINESS GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
It should go without saying, but make sure you’re absolutely clear on your business goals, objectives and vision before you develop your key messages. If you’re not clear on what you’re trying to achieve, get clear first. Otherwise you will confuse yourself and your audience.
KEY MESSAGES MUST BE SUCCINCT
The best messages are succinct and have an obvious purpose, so don’t be tempted to cram too many points into one message. Your audience wants you to reach each point quickly, otherwise you risk losing or confusing them.
The same goes for the number of key messages you develop. You don’t want pages and pages of messages. That’s not going to help anyone. Better to develop a small select number of messages that are succinct and pack punch, than a rambling novel.
KEEP SENTENCES SHORT
Research by the American Press Institute found that only 10 percent of readers in their study could understand the message in sentences of 43-words.
Limit each message to a maximum of two sentences and keep sentences to a maximum of 20 to 25 words. Anything longer is too wordy and difficult to understand quickly.
DON’T MAKE CLAIMS YOU CAN’T SUBSTANTIATE
Does your business have a claim to fame? If you want to use it in your key messages, make sure you can back it up.
If you say you are the best or the only business to do something, you’d better make sure you really are. Do you have awards to back it up? Statistics? If so, go right ahead!
LANGUAGE COUNTS
Use positive, active language to draw your audience in and evoke a particular feeling or action. Think about your business values and personality and use language and a tone that matches those values and personality.
For example, if you’re a photographer who specialises in emotive images of family connection, you would use emotive language to engage your audience.
BE NATURAL
Weave messages into your copy and conversations in a natural way. You don’t want them to sound like a bullet point list. It’s ok to tweak the beginning and ends so the messages flow smoothly with the rest of your copy.
What’s important is that the core of the message, no matter where or how it is communicated, is consistent.
REVIEW
Once you’ve drafted your messages, step away from them. Sleep on them. When you read them again with fresh eyes, do they have the impact you’d like them to have?
Get someone else to read them. Ask them what they understand about your business from them.
Review your messages regularly. As your business grows or changes, so should your messages. Consistency is key though, so don’t chop and change them too frequently.
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So now that you have the know-how to create them, go ahead and work your magic. But don’t let your messages get dusty on a shelf. Use them! On your website, social media, marketing collateral, in your elevator pitch.
Make sure staff are familiar with your key messages as well. After all, staff represent your business too.
Remember, key messages help you to shape the story you want to communicate about your business. They enable you and your staff to communicate with clarity and consistency, and support you to build positive perceptions about your business. And who doesn’t want that?
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