More on Messaging

By Ben Delaney © 2007

Effective communications in 4 easy steps

Talking is not communicating. Sending a million emails is not communicating. Yelling from atop a soapbox in the town square is not communicating. Printing a glamorous four-color brochure is not communicating. Sending out a well-written press release is not communicating.

Communication requires a receptive audience. A message has to be heard and understood to be considered communication.

It seems obvious, doesn’t it? Yet it is remarkable how many pieces of “communication” fail to get their message across. I am constantly amazed by websites that fail to describe the service or product being sold until you dig through virtual reams of copy and pointless pictures. Or how many nonprofit people falter when it comes to explaining their mission, vision, and programs in language that non-initiates can understand.

There are several issues that cause these problems. As a follow up to my last article on messaging, let me go a little deeper.

The 4 C's of effective communications

What you say needs to be consistent, clear, concise, and contextual. I discussed the first C, “consistent,” in the last article. The crux of consistent messaging is that all of your materials, and all of your people, need to be on the same wavelength, providing a consistent message to all comers. The other side of that coin is what your messaging says. In other words, you can be very consistent, but still be saying the wrong things. And saying the right things can make a really big difference in the success of your organizations. Let’s go through the other three C’s of good messaging.

Clear: Is anything not clear about your messaging? You should be able to describe what your organization does so that someone who has no knowledge of your group can quickly grasp what you do. Use simple language and words that are easy to understand. People will not work to get your message, so keep it simple and easy to comprehend. Clear messages look like this:

• Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment.
  
• Since its founding in 1881 by visionary leader Clara Barton, the American Red Cross has been the nation's premier emergency response organization.
  
• TechSoup Stock connects nonprofits and public libraries with donated and discounted technology products.
  
• GuideStar's mission is to revolutionize philanthropy and nonprofit practice by providing information that advances transparency, enables users to make better decisions, and encourages charitable giving.
  
• Springboard Schools is a nonprofit network of educators committed to raising student achievement and narrowing the achievement gap.

Concise: Remember, even your long-form description of the organization should be no more than 100 words, and (Now, this is important!) each sentence should be no more than ten words. People forget the beginning of your sentence if you haven’t finished it within about ten words. Many nonprofits, especially academically-oriented groups, have a problem with this. One organization I used to work with seemed to need to impress people with their vocabulary. I describe their method of communication as never using 10 words when 100 would suffice. Don’t fall into that trap! Nobody cares how many words you know. They care about understanding what you do.

A good elevator speech is key to successful communication with donors and program participants. This short-form presentation is based on the idea that you are in an elevator and need to describe your organization before your fellow rider departs. You have 30 seconds. What will you say?

The clear messages I noted above are also great elevator speeches. Take another look at them, and then practice getting your descriptive message down to 30 second. Remember, use short, punchy, sentences and unambiguous language. Practice saying it out loud and work on it until your elevator speech flows smoothly and naturally and tells your story.

Contextual: This means that your message fits your audience, mission and vision. Keeping your message contextual means not getting sidetracked. For example, if your organization provides seminars on gender equality for HR professionals, you should not start off by talking about the technology that enables online discussions. A contextual message stays on topic and is not cluttered with interesting but nonessential information. Remember that data and information are not the same thing, and supply just the data needed to back up your information, and not a lot of extraneous facts or opinions.

Contextual messages also relate to whom and when you are communicating. If you are talking to your Senator, you want to address concerns that relate to national policy, how your organization can help, and what you need to get the job done. If you are talking to high-value donors, you want to stress the big picture, the great need, the wonderful work you do, and how supporting your organization will benefit them. If you are promoting an event, stress the value of attending, the reasonable cost, the important contacts to be made there. Get the picture? Context is everything in communications.

To sum up: Your communications are how people know who you are and what you do. Remember the 4 C’s of communications – Consistent, Clear, Concise, and Contextual – to ensure that your communications do the job for you and your organization.