Essential Message, Essential Action, Essential Results

Powerful image and a simple message

You never know when you'll learn your next lesson. Here's one I learned the other day. Our team also does the marketing for our affiliate company, The Idea Group. It’s a creative resource group that provides ideas, concepts, scripting, speeches and general insanity for production companies, agencies and corporations. Recently, I looked over the shoulder of Sue Heslup, our crack visual communicator, as she was polishing a marketing piece and asked the typical question, “How did you come up with that?”

She slid over a stool and the lesson began. Here’s what she taught me.

• Think in terms of ideas and visuals as a unit.
• Assume the viewer/audience will forget at least 50% of the message.
• Cut back the copy to a single, powerful message and a supplemental line.
• Refine it using So What?
• Match it with a powerful image that tells a story.
• Run it through Think, Feel, Act, Do to make sure the piece generates results.
• Think in terms of a marketing frequency to reinforce the message and generate action.

You can find more about marketing frequency on Someone Is Stealing Your Business in the 7/6/2009 blog entry.

You can find more on So What? in the 7/13/2009 blog entry.

You can find more on Think, Feel, Act, Do in the 7/18/2009 blog entry.

Why use a dancer?

The powerful image grabs attention and adds the invaluable emotion to a basic marketing message. The simple copy line sends the message and the second piece of copy is like a “punch line.”

Click on the image above

Click on the image above to see a larger version of the marketing piece.

Here’s how this works for you

Don’t jump into the design and don’t fall in love with your copy. In most cases typical marketing copy is enough for 3-4 pieces. Pick a single big idea and give it a supplemental or “pay off” line. Then sit on your hands. Find that powerful image that adds the emotions. Once you’ve found it be ready to fine-tune the copy to make sure it forms a unit with the visual.

Cut the copy to the bone. You should be able to state the desired result of your marketing in a single, declarative sentence. No semicolons or comma-slices allowed. Try this technique on your next marketing piece and see if it helps you boils things down to the essentials – essential message, essential action and essential results.

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Andy Johnston is an multi-faceted communication professional with deep experience from strategic planning, to messaging, to marketing, to media, to events, to training, to creative direction … and there are several other ”to’s.” Andy is known for his energy, creativity and his unique ability to discover the key results that must be generated – and then to develop ingenious ways to engage and motivate audiences. Positive business results are the objective. He believes that one of the most important results is an enjoyable experience for everyone involved. Andy is a principal partner at Think! Consulting Group and The Idea Group.

Think, Feel, Act, Do

Information, focused content, media, technology, what else can you possibly need?

It would be easier if all those people had been unconscious for the past 20 years or living in a condo-cave somewhere, completely cut off from society, mass media and entertainment. Just imagine if all those participants, attendees, audience members, employees, clients and customers would simply take what we tell them at face value? Do they? No? Will they? No. Can we? No! So how do we design marketing, training & development, meetings & events, B2B, B2C, internal or external communication in ways that drive meaningful results? Don’t you just love run-on sentences?

Think, Feel, Act, Do

Okay, take a moment and write these four words down on a convenient pad. They are your keys to achieving critical results regardless of your communication deliver system.

Think

You want the people you depend on for success to think about the ideas, information, products, services and benefits you are presenting. You want them to process and evaluate.

We tend to over explain, over instruct, and provide more information than is necessary in the hope that people “understand.” Well, you can’t make someone understand. Understanding comes from thinking things through. Your audience generates its own understanding. Instead of hosing them down with data, give them enough to get started and then let them think for themselves. Under explain. Challenge them to think and allow them to ask for anything else they need.

Feel

No emotions equals no passion. Results come from personalization. Your critical people need to get involved with the messages, personalize them and appreciate the value. Don’t be afraid of feelings, you need them.

Everything can’t be positive or emotion neutral. The people on the other side are adults and face a full spectrum of emotions everyday. We are all emotion junkies. Look for ways to make that link to emotions. Honest emotions help you communicate at a deeper level and add legitimacy to your messages.

Act

Passive isn’t profitable. Motivate them to take action. Clearly communicate the expectation and back it with relevant messages, understanding and “what’s in it for me?” Without getting too psychological there are four things that motivate action.

• An external situation or force that causes the action
• A personal desire or goal that directs the action
• A personal need that creates a sense of urgency
• A specific return or reward for taking action

All this deep-seated psychological motivation is an intellectual way of saying, “Don’t just sit there, do something!” We have to create an action environment in our marketing, meetings, programs, trade shows, training and communication.

Do

This is different than Act. Do means taking the actions that generate the specific results you need. Action is great but you own the expectation of results. This is the ultimate payoff. Often results are left as the surprise after everything is all over. We use whatever metric to measure the results, look at them and decide if we are successful.

Results are the #1 consideration. Start with the results and work backwards to determine the “How.” If you plan carefully, utilize practical creativity, integrate the messages and information and design for results, you can determine those results in advance. A company doesn’t introduce a product or service without an accurate projection of return. A company doesn’t invest in an advertising campaign or promotion without an estimated ROI. In the months and years ahead we will be expected to provide a projection of return in advance. Before projects and budgets are approved, we will have to be able to promise specific results.

Think, Feel, Act, Do is the strategy we use to approach every project. Start with the results you want and need. What do you want to happen? Why should the audience do what you want? What’s in it for them? Why should they care? Then, what does the audience need to see, hear, feel and understand to motivate them to do what you want them to do?

Think, Feel, Act, Do. Give it a try on your next project. It’s how you can please your audiences, internal and external clients and generate all those valuable results you need.

If you liked this article you might also enjoy:

The Shower of Babble

What Does Your Business Really Do? Do You Know?

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Please Subscribe! There's a new article every week and we are determined to give you valuable information you can use to be successful and make more money. So, go to the Be The First To Know box and just fill it in.

Andy Johnston is an multi-faceted communication professional with deep experience from strategic planning, to messaging, to marketing, to media, to events, to training, to creative direction … and there are several other ”to’s.” Andy is known for his energy, creativity and his unique ability to discover the key results that must be generated – and then to develop ingenious ways to engage and motivate audiences. Positive business results are the objective. He believes that one of the most important results is an enjoyable experience for everyone involved. Andy is a principal partner at Think! Consulting Group and The Idea Group.

Can You Answer The Big "So What?"

Can you successfully face the challenge of this two-word question?

It forces you to peel away the layers of rhetoric and drill your message down to the ultimate benefits for all your audiences.

Proposal, training or workshop description, meeting agenda, event plan, workshop or absolutely any kind of marketing … “So what?” helps put the emphasis on things that really matter. Here’s how it works.

So What?

1. Start with your original content.
2. After the first point ask, “So what?”
3. Answer it.
4. Ask “So what? again.
5. Answer it.
6. Ask “So what? again.
7. Keep answering and asking until you have simplified to where you can’t go any farther.
8. Then move on to the second content point and repeat the process.

Clarity & Focus

When you’ve finished take a look at what you’ve accomplished. Now you have clarity of purpose and a laser-sharp focus on the benefits. Add a few emotional and motivational elements and you are ready to rock and roll!

Here’s why this is so valuable. It forces us to think like the audience. It forces us to shave off the self-serving aspects of our messages. We are all proud of our advanced degrees, certifications, awards and years of experience. However, that doesn’t necessarily translate into any tangible value for our “customers.” Our attempts at justifying our approaches, “proprietary processes” or internal politics end up tossed aside. It’s not about us, it’s all about them.

“So what?” forces us to simplify until we successfully answer the ultimate two questions that everyone wants to know –

“What’s in it for me?”

“Why should I care?”

Sophistication = Simplicity

Software developers strive for the simplest, most user-friendly interface. In most cases the simpler the interface the more sophisticated the program. Just like software developers our goal is to provide uncomplicated, elegant, sophisticated solutions. Every piece of marketing, proposals, training or workshop descriptions, meeting agendas or event plans can be improved.

Try “So what?” For Yourself

Test the idea. Give it an impartial trial, print out the before and after versions and give them to five people to read. Ask them what the content means and which version is clearer and easier to understand and value?

If it works for you, please let me know. If it doesn’t, let me know, too. I want to help make you successful.

If you liked this article then check out:

Answer the Ultimate Leadership, Sales, Marketing Question!

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Please Subscribe! There's a new article every week and we are determined to give you valuable information you can use to be successful and make more money. So, go to the Be The First To Know box and just fill it in.

Andy Johnston is an multi-faceted communication professional with deep experience from strategic planning, to messaging, to marketing, to media, to events, to training, to creative direction … and there are several other ”to’s.” Andy is known for his energy, creativity and his unique ability to discover the key results that must be generated – and then to develop ingenious ways to engage and motivate audiences. Positive business results are the objective. He believes that one of the most important results is an enjoyable experience for everyone involved. Andy is a principal partner at Think! Consulting Group and The Idea Group.

Someone Is Stealing Your Business

How often do you market to your existing clients? How often do you market to potential business? Show me a business that relies on the success of their last project, event, program, trade show or campaign to speak for them – and I’ll show you a company that’s in danger of losing that client.

• You can’t afford to market less that the competitors who are trying to win the business.

• You can’t afford to put all your efforts into gaining new business and assume your current clients “know us.”

Actually that’s part of the problem. Big Bucks Corporation hires you to do ABC and you do an exceptional job. So they hire you to do ABC again. Once more you blow them away. Good news is you have a strong reputation, bad new is it’s for only doing ABC. That’s great unless you offers a full alphabet of products or services. In the case of Big Bucks you are just a provider ABC and that’s all they will see you as if you don’t show and tell them.

100% Sold

Ladies and Gentlemen, please write this on a Post It Note, draw a big red circle around it and stick it to your monitor where you see it every day. Look at your current clients. Are you getting 100% of the available business that you are capable and qualified to provide? You need for every client to be 100% Sold!

If they aren’t 100% Sold you need to consistently and aggressively market to them. Remember your competitors are waiting in the lobby for meetings, sending emails and other direct marketing. They are contacting every possible decision-maker and not just your contact. Competitors are selling against what you currently offer and also selling things the client doesn’t know you provide.

Forever remove this phrase from your vocabulary – “Hi I was just touching base.” You may see this as a non-threatening way to check in with a client. They see it as you have no reason or objective for contacting them but you are anyway. They interpret this as, “You are wasting my time.” Polish up your marketing strategy and go to work. Here are some things to keep in mind.

• Market like The Coca-Cola Company. Look big, capable, dynamic and powerful

• Look and sound like you are busy, even if you aren't. People like dealing with successful companies

• Reinforce what you’ve done but focus on what else you can do for them

• Be specific, use your inside knowledge

• Market beyond the group or division. Who else can you serve?

• Parlay your successes, “We’re the company that just completed the highly successful ABC.”

• Emphasize the experience of working with you.

• Never overlook importance of the secret message, “We make you look good!”

How Often Do You Market?

Well, how often do you think your competitors are beating the bushes? Minimum – twice a month. That’s right, minimum. We have clients who contact their existing clients and prospective clients weekly. Remember the old saying, “The person who got the business was the last one who called.”

_________________________

Please Subscribe! There's a new article every week and we are determined to give you valuable information you can use to be successful and make more money. So, go to the Be The First To Know box and just fill it in.

Andy Johnston is an multi-faceted communication professional with deep experience from strategic planning, to messaging, to marketing, to media, to events, to training, to creative direction … and there are several other ”to’s.” Andy is known for his energy, creativity and his unique ability to discover the key results that must be generated – and then to develop ingenious ways to engage and motivate audiences. Positive business results are the objective. He believes that one of the most important results is an enjoyable experience for everyone involved. Andy is a principal partner at Think! Consulting Group and The Idea Group.

Show Off Your Six-Pack of Ripped Results!

Develop Your Marketing Muscles!

Every once in a while you’ll find that I brag on the team here at Think! Since marketing, communications strategy and results are our “thing” we interact with our clients and the “business we want” on a regular basis.

This is the latest piece that goes out next week. It started with an ad from a 60+ year-old comic book. After hours of retouching it looks brand new. Then the copy is a scream. Okay, I admit to a slight bit of prejudice. We want to remind both our corporate and outside supplier clients that we are there to generate meaningful results. However we are determined to make the experience enjoyable for everyone.

Click On The Image

If you want to see a larger version that you can actually read just click on the image above.

Share What You Are Doing

If you have a marketing piece that you are proud of please share. We'd love to see it. As I tell my kids, sharing is a good thing.

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Please Subscribe! There's a new article every week and we are determined to give you valuable information you can use to be successful and make more money. So, go to the Be The First To Know box and just fill it in.

Andy Johnston is an multi-faceted communication professional with deep experience from strategic planning, to messaging, to marketing, to media, to events, to training, to creative direction … and there are several other ”to’s.” Andy is known for his energy, creativity and his unique ability to discover the key results that must be generated – and then to develop ingenious ways to engage and motivate audiences. Positive business results are the objective. He believes that one of the most important results is an enjoyable experience for everyone involved. Andy is a principal partner at Think! Consulting Group and The Idea Group.