Or wished that a salesperson would stop blabbering about how perfect their service or product is?
Worse yet, have you ever sat through a presentation that features a lot of PowerPoint slides being read to you by the actual speaker?
The advertiser, salesperson and speaker all missed the chance to reach and influence their target audiences. Period and money are wasted. Productivity suffers. It's probably time to have an Extreme Messaging Makeover.
Three Ways to Achieve Your own Extreme Messaging Makeover
1. Tell Your Story through Telling Stories
Stories resonate and help us connect with others. We remember vivid details of stories told whenever we were kids. The most influential speakers tell unforgettable stories that stir multiple emotions. The most successful advertising campaigns use storytelling to create a lasting impact. The best media coverage is developed by compelling stories.
When presenting to a group, in house or externally, take your messaging to another degree with meaningful and memorable stories. You might discover that a story you think is no big deal is going to be enjoyed by your audience.
Build your company's manufacturer by telling multiple stories that become your crucial message points, convey your real story and produce the image you deserve. Tell your company's story in a manner that focuses on your key target audiences. Make this about them and their wants and needs.
Rather than sending boring press releases that end up ignored through the media, tell interesting, real life stories that people may wish to read and hear. Then, the media can be your conduit to inform your story.
2. Use Startling Stats, Numbered Listings and Acronyms
People tend to remember memorable facts or numbers instead of theories or abstract ideas. Beginning with a relevant fact or statistic is definitely an effective way to grab the audience's attention and give them an easy to remember point. Trident famously used the phrase "four from five dentists surveyed would recommend sugarless gum for their patients who chew gum" in its advertising for many years. Why? It was a startling statistic that created a memorable impact. Trident provided a key takeaway that gained credibility using their key target audiences.
We also remember numbered lists much better than a simple listing of facts. If you number points relating to importance or relevance, your audience will a minimum of remember the top few points and maybe much more. Think back to when a speaker used this technique and said they were going to speak about three major points. Once they said the very first two, you were waiting for the third 1. After the presentation, you probably even tried to consider the three main points to tell others have been not at the presentation.
Acronyms and abbreviations are also an ideal way to help your audience remember things they may not normally retain. Within many organizations and industries, this practice is really popular that a maze of acronyms can actually result in confusion. When that happens, you might find a CQI team is developed to pay attention to PI and maximizing ROI to reduce stress and steer clear of increased visits to doctors in the company's PPO or even HMO... so try not to overuse this strategy.
3. Get Them to Feel Something
Your messaging must make an emotional impact together with your target audience. They have to feel something.
Whenever we listen to a political candidate, entertainer, coach, spiritual leader or rock star, we typically feel some thing. We are emotionally tied to the subject and also the speaker. These communicators know how to stir feelings and engage their audiences.
While you might not see yourself as the rock star speaker or your message to the amount of a coach or politician, you still need to consider how you can make an emotional impact in your audience. Don't fall back on the same aged corporate speak. Do you touch on emotions such as excitement, fear, happiness or sadness? If not, you are reducing the probability of your message resonating and being remembered for greater than a brief time.
Touch emotions to capture people's interest. Focus on what the audience stands to lose in addition to what they stand to gain. Put the message within their terms and focus on the impact on all of them, positive or negative.