What's Your Message

by Cam Barber

  How to codify and leverage your knowledge

  The Head of Content had accumulated many frequent flyer miles helping his team create quality on-air content. Each conversation was different, as each team is at a different stage of development. No matter how effective you are one-on-one, we all have a limited number of hours in each day. So, the question is; how to get his knowledge out to as many people as possible?

  The first thing we did was codify his knowledge into short presentations. For example, ‘How to create high-performing on-air teams in 3 steps’. As simple as that may sound, it was never conveyed as a 3-step process before. In a nutshell, these 3 steps are:

  1. Select the talent (this is an art in identifying who will work well together).

  2. Build the ecosystem (this is a practical approach to putting the right support team of producers, station managers and others to support the team).

  3. Promote the brand of the show (with a list of steps and strategies).

  Almost instantly, everyone in the organisation had access to his packaged knowledge. This gave him great leverage and increased the perceived value of his role.

  The simplicity and flexibility of the 3-part structure, made it easy to convey different versions of his ‘codified knowledge presentation’. The ‘30-second message’ for spoken conversations went something like this;

  ‘You create high-performing on-air teams by getting these 3 steps right; select the talent, build the ecosystem and promote the brand of the show.’

  Imagine the speaker ticking off 1 finger at a time as he delivered this message over and over. Then, use all means available to convey the details within each step. A more detailed version can be shared with people in a document. A highly detailed version for training. Snippets can be cut into videos. And longer presentations for a speech or conference. All without changing the structure! Only the level of detail changes to suit the situation.

  More impact with less effort

  Everyone had access to his method to create a high-performing on-air team and new employees were brought up to speed more efficiently and effectively. Leveraging your knowledge in this way has powerful flow-on effects. You use less effort to get your ideas across, yet the ideas are easier to follow and more people have access to them.

  These ‘packaged knowledge’ presentations have resulted in many of my clients being recognised as experts, and asked to make speeches at conferences around the world.

  This increases the individual’s personal brand as well as the brand of the organisation, which can help attract talented people.

  MESSAGING PROMOTES YOUR ORGANISATION

  Richard Branson - Nervous, but doesn’t mind

  Richard Branson is another master of the message. Even though he says ‘uhm’ and ‘ah’ when he speaks; and is often busy popping champagne or jumping from a hot air balloon, he always delivers short, catchy messages.

  Whether it’s Virgin Money, Virgin Atlantic or any business in the Virgin Group, journalists always get a clear message. He is a genius at getting the media to come to him so he can deliver messages about his business.

  For example, Branson recently hosted a party to launch new flights between Australia and South Africa. And Sir Richard didn’t disappoint. By taking his shirt off and dressing ‘African’, he got journalists attention. But his real goal is to get his messages published - preferably as the headline. Let’s see how he did. Here are the headlines covering this event:

  ‘Branson in Australia to promote new V Australia Johannesburg services.’

  ‘Branson’s Safari party to Launch VA’s Africa flights.’

  ‘Richard Branson says his Melbourne experience just like The Hangover movie.’

  Oh well, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad. In the 3rd headline, the Herald Sun decided to lead with his comment about how drunk Branson was at last year’s Grand Prix. But it was still a message success, under the headline they dutifully printed all the key messages he gave them.

  Dropping messages in normal conversation

  Branson had great success with a transferable message a few years ago. When he launched Virgin Home Loans, he received a huge amount of FREE publicity by appearing on TV shows. In between stories about space flights and balloon records, he casually sold his new business. Vivid Message number 1:

  “Well, we’re launching this business because you told us you felt the banks were ripping you off with fees.”

  Followed by more chatter with the show’s host. Then an engaging example:

  “When I fly into Melbourne and Sydney I notice that all the big buildings are owned by the banks.”

  Implying the banks are making too much money from you. Then Vivid Message number 2:

  “A Virgin mortgage can save the average homeowner $30,000.”

  Branson’s conversational style shows that his preparation involves getting real clarity about his messages; not trying to script an entire conversation.

  I heard people repeating these messages (virtually word for word) the following days. They found the ideas so compelling they did Branson’s marketing for him, by passing on his messages during general conversation! This is Word-of-Mouth Marketing and is the most powerful of all forms of marketing. (Tip: This rarely happens if your message is too long.)

  Being nervous or uncomfortable doesn’t matter

  So, Branson is a master at leveraging the media using messaging. Great. However there is an interesting aspect about his example.

  Sir Richard Branson gets nervous in front of the camera and when speaking in public. He’s spoken about his speaking anxiety publicly and written about it in his autobiography.

  But it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t bother him that public speaking bothers him (if you get my meaning). This is a good way to reduce the impact of public speaking anxiety. You know it’s there but you don’t add a layer of frustration or drama over the top of it.

  Yes, perhaps there are physical symptoms, like pounding heart, shaking or blushing. But instead of getting lost in those symptoms, you focus your attention on delivering your message or explaining your ideas, and the anxiety dissolves a little.

  You might be surprised how many successful speakers still get nervous. However, it’s not a big problem when you realise that it’s not a big problem (more on controlling anxiety in Principle 5, later in the book).

  The ‘Hot Tub Ski Lodge’ marketing message

  One of the most enjoyable marketing messages I’ve worked on focused on a huge, old wooden hot tub, high on the snow covered mountains of Falls Creek.

  I love to ski. And there’s nothing more enjoyable than soothing aching muscles in a hot tub at the end of the day. Particularly if it’s outside where you can see the stars and watch snow flakes melt on the rising steam.

  Twenty years ago there weren’t many hot tubs above the snow-line in Australia. That’s why I loved staying at Pfeffercorn lodge. It had a magnificent outdoor spa made out of a massive wine barrel, cut in half.

  I became friends with the owner and he would often talk about the challenges he had promoting his property. He had 2 marketing challenges as I saw it.

  How to stand out from the crowd?

  The first challenge was that nothing about his marketing stood out. It talked about the location on the mountain, size of the lodge, the fun of skiing, number of bedrooms, sleeping options available, etc. Fine. But so did everybody else. It was seen as just another accommodation option.

  Built in 1965, Pfefforkorn was a classic, small ski lodge. It’s position was nothing special, in the middle of the village, and it was older and smaller than many other chalets.

  The second challenge was the name, ‘Pfefforkorn’. It was hard to spell and pronounce. This is important. Word-of-mouth message transfer is a big part of any successful idea. The awkward-sounding name made it harder for friends to pass the marketing message on to others.

  One day, as a few of the guests and I were warming our bones in the hot tub, the owner pulled out a brochure to get my opinio
n. The conversation went something like this:

  Owner: What do you think of the new brochure?

  Me: It’s too cluttered and has no key message. Why not make the hot tub the focus? It’s the thing that sets you apart.

  Owner: Well, it is mentioned here on line 12…

  Me: Yes, but why not make the whole focus about the hot tub. Rave about the world famous Pfefforkorn spa! Spend 70% of your brochure on this. Paint a picture of how people can warm their bones when it’s cold outside. Show that it’s the coolest hot tub on the planet, made from a huge old wine barrel…

  Owner: But what about all the other important information?

  Me: Put the details in small print. People know they can ski here. They know you’re at Falls Creek. They know you’ve got beds. Give them 1 vivid message mate!

  To cut a long story short, he did. And the marketing worked it’s arse off. People started talking about ‘that lodge at Falls Creek with the fabulous hot tub’. They would repeat the wine barrel story to their friends because it was interesting to talk about.

  After a while, the hot tub became famous. In 2004 the old Pfefferkorn lodge was knocked down and replaced by a new development, Huski lodge. Guess what key selling point found it’s way into the Huski sales brochure:

  “We will retain the hot tub, which was once a feature out the front of Pfefferkorn, for Huski’s day spa clientele.”

  Is your lodge the one with the hot tub?

  Falls Creek now has more hot tubs per capita than most ski mountains. Older properties have added them, and newly built properties include them. Why? Because every chalet wanted to be able to answer the question that was regularly being asked of them, ‘Is your lodge the one with the hot tub?’

  CSIRO - Securing science funding

  Your message is a doorway to the details of your subject.

  The CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) has 19 divisions. It’s led and managed predominantly by scientists. However, they need to get funding from non-scientists - politicians.

  This was a constant challenge as the scientists would often speak in so much detail that the politicians’ eyes would glaze over and they would suddenly remember they had to be somewhere else.

  One of the divisions asked me to run a messaging session. They had a problem. Their division generated 20% of the revenue for the CSIRO, but only received 5% of the funding.

  What’s the message for a non-scientist?

  It was a communication problem. I spoke to the chief of this division and he said, “Even though we are arguably the most successful division, no one really knows what we do. It’s not as simple as ‘We created WIFI networking or we reduce manufacturing costs’. We have a complicated message.”

  So we gathered the senior people from this division into a room to clarify a super-simple message. A message that could be understood by a non-scientist.

  Initially, there was resistance from the scientists about using nontechnical language. However, ultimately they realised they needed to speak in the language of their target audience (i.e. politicians), to secure funding. The message (that answered the question ‘What does your division do?’) became:

  “We make cool new materials…”

  Yes, the scientists agreed to use the word ‘cool’! Remember, a message is a doorway to the details of your subject. Their simple message was then followed by a range of examples based on each person’s area of expertise. So, they answer the question ‘What does your division do’ with, “We make cool, new materials…”

  “…for example, smart plastics that can breathe - to make contact lenses that don’t hurt your eyes.”

  “…like super-thin and super-strong plastics used in artificial heart valves or plastic bank notes.”

  “…such as new molecules for drugs that help the drugs work more effectively.”

  By having this simple focus of ‘cool new materials’ as a doorway to the details, the scientists were able to have more interesting, relevant and shorter conversations with non-scientists, and help them understand what they did in just a few seconds.

  The Pope Francis effect

  Wow. What an impact Pope Francis has made on the image of the Catholic Church. Their messaging has been haphazard for many decades. The Catholic Church’s basic message until 1962 was, ‘we must follow the rules set down centuries ago’ and the Church’s role was seen as ‘teachers of that law’.

  A 50 year-old message

  From 1962-65, the church conducted the ‘Second Vatican Council’ (Vatican II) to review relations between the Church and the modern world. It was revolutionary for it’s time and moved the Catholic Church slightly away from this posture of ‘the law’. Many rules and regulations were dismissed as unnecessary. Flexibility took the place of rigidity.

  However, the messaging around this change was vague. In their great book Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, Al Ries and Jack Trout (1981) argued that ‘What was painfully lacking was a clear representation of what the new Church was about.’

  No-one had distilled what had transpired in Vatican II into simple messages. ‘Opening the windows’ was the strongest message to be associated with Vatican II as Pope John XXIII often said that it was ‘time to open the windows of the Church to let in some fresh air’.

  A little vague.

  If you are not the teacher of the law, what are you?

  The faithful asked, ‘If you are not the teacher of the law, what are you?’ For years, no simple answer was forthcoming. The response to, ‘What is the role of the Catholic Church in the modern world?’, was never the same twice. Without a consistent message, the Church allowed confusion to reign and lost influence.

  Ries and Trout called this message vacuum a ‘crisis of identity’. They suggested a communications program to reposition the church and reconcile the widening gap between liberal and conservative Catholics. Without this, the key perceptions were driven by critics of the church.

  Pope Francis has finally taken on the job. With a vengeance! He’s delivered more repeatable messages in 2 years than all the Popes since 1965. He’s officially one of the most quotable Vicars of Christ ever (Gehrrig, 2013). His growing popularity is driven by his frequent, quotable messages.

  ‘Did you hear what the Pope said yesterday…?’ is now a common thread of discussion. For example, he told La Vivilta Cattolica that the Church does not need to speak constantly about abortion, contraception and homosexuality because other issues – notably the duty to help those who are poor and marginalised – have been neglected. He even threw in a couple of metaphors for impact. He said,

  ‘The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently … We have to find a new balance; otherwise, even the moral edifice of the Church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the gospel.”

  Under Pope Francis, the new message seems to be, ‘We are here to help, with compassion and inclusion, not to condemn with rules and dogma.’ He famously asked;

  “Who am I to judge?”

  …with regard to the church’s view of gay members, he stated that;

  ‘Caring for the poor does not make you a communist.’

  He explained his view that;

  “Evolution is real and God is no wizard” and “the Big Bang theory

  doesn’t contradict the Christian belief in creation.”

  Above were the headlines in publications around the world. His actual words on this issue were:

  “God is not a divine being or a magician, but the Creator who brought everything to life,” Francis said. “Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve.”

  So, Francis may not be as good at crafting short, memorable messages as journalists who write the headlines, but his messages are getting passed on, and that’s what influences people’s perception.
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br />   Signs of a ‘Francis effect’ abound. A recent Pew survey reported by the Washington Post finds Francis has a 60% approval rating worldwide, with 78% approval in the US, and 84% in Europe. In a poll in March 2014, 1 in 4 Catholics said they’d increased their charitable giving to the poor this year. Of those, 77% said it was due in part to the Pope.

  Backlash?

  Not everybody is happy with the rapid change of direction. So the debate is on and those with the clearest message will have a great advantage. For example, U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke said of the pope’s leadership:

  “Many have expressed their concerns to me. … There is a strong sense that the church is like a ship without a rudder.”

  This is a catchy message as well. Pope Francis addressed the concerns with,

  “God is not afraid of new things.”

  It will be interesting to see where this debate goes. The best messaging will have the advantage.

  Messaging: The holy grail of communication

  The holy grail of communication is a transferable message. One that is easily recalled, then passed on from one person to another. It’s a bit like going viral, but you don’t need social media to harness the power of a transferable message. You just need to clarify it, and deliver it to your audience.

  This opens a simple path that let’s you speak to a group with little effort. You can avoid the long and arduous path of traditional public speaking.