How to craft an effective corporate message in 3 easy steps

Communications works best when messaging is targeted, purposeful and audience-centric

If you need to craft a corporate message for your business or organization, there are 3 easy steps that could be very helpful.

1. STRUCTURE: A good message is one that is concise and clear. An unstructured message is not likely to convey the required meaning or inspire necessary action. It is important to structure your communication in such a way that the flow carries your audience along in the required direction. Divide your messages into three parts i.e. the opener, the body and the closer.

• • Open with the why we are here and highlight the whats-in-it for the audience. Speak to the audience painpoint and highlight the ideas that you have to make things better
  • Expatiate on your ideas in meaningful language. Show proof-points, data and statistics that highlight the credibility of your content, perspective and ideas.
  • Close with a strong what-does-this-mean-for you statement. Enable the audience to locate themselves in your problem statement, benefits and solution.

2. CONTENT: Write down 3 key messages that you want to leave with your audience and ensure it is clearly stated in thebody of the message. Ensure the messages include what you want your audience to know, feel and do.

• Craft a message that speaks to the heart and to the mind. People may not remember what you said but they will remember how you made them feel.
• Pay attention to your content. Think about what you say, how, when, why and to whom. Words are important because they can make or break a situation. The more important an issue or desired outcome is, the more purposeful you must be about your words. Timing is also important. Saying the right thing at the wrong time to the wrong person can also be disastrous!
• People lose a lot of opportunities because of poor messaging. Others also access great opportunities because they said the right thing at the right time. They knew what to say and what not to say.

3. OUTCOMES: End with a strong and memorable call-to-action that ensures that your objectives are full met. Don’t leave your audience hanging.

• Let the so-what? of your message come out strongly in your ending.
• Ensure that your closing message has an in-built win-win or benefit for the audience – either in terms of information, knowledge, inspiration, empowerment or action.
• Balance is key. Don’t say more than you need to but also don’t say less than you should. Finding the right balance of content to share enough about your ideas and perspective that keeps people invested in your views or solutions is the key to artful communication.

Follow us on our social media pages for more insights on how to be an effective and persuasive communicator.