How to make your message magical
30 years ago businesses could get away with a lackluster message. They would just pummel us with it across the limited media channels we had until it was drilled it into our skulls.
The channels have exploded since then. And the amount of information we are exposed to has grown exponentially. Yet, the lackluster messages persist. In fact, the ease of delivering a message through these channels has added to the problem as organizations now churn out an unprecedented volume of uninspiring pabulum.
So how do we separate our messages from this morass of mediocrity? We start by understanding these two fundamental principles.
1. Know who you are
Organizations that deliver an irresistible message really understand who they are serving. They have a bead on the value they deliver. They know what they are and what they are not. With that kind of understanding, the messages exude genuineness.
Organizations get in trouble when they lose sight of this. They try to emulate a competitor. Or try to align with ideas that just cause us to shake our heads and ask, "What were they thinking?"
When we stick to our genuineness, we form messages that are relevant and believable to those we hope to serve. And we deliver them in a voice that is true and powerful.
2. Know what you stand for
We need to have clarity around what it is that we stand for. What difference do we hope to make for those around us? Articulating this belief is fundamental. It gives us the core element that creates an unparalleled magnetism in our message.
If we truly know who we are, then we will know what we stand for. But we must not take it for granted. We have to answer the question. Even it’s just to reaffirm what we already know and feel. I call this answer the Big Audacious Meaning.
Clarifying our Big Audacious Meaning has the ability to connect with one of the deepest desires of those we hope to serve – the desire to make a difference in the world.
When we know who we are and we know what we stand for, our messages transform. We're no longer battling in that massive bog of blandness. Our messages transcend. They are genuine and meaningful. And that can be magical.