Getting your message across
Do you have something to
say? Is there something that your customers should
know that makes your products more valuable to
them? Ever feel like you're yelling into the wind?
Don't lose heart. You're probably doing a bang-up
job with what you are saying, maybe you're just
not saying it the right way.
The first thing to look at is how we communicate.
Most people are surprised to learn that verbal
and written language forms only a small part of
human communication. We use all our senses when
interpreting the information before us - sight,
sound smell, taste and touch.
Try
turning the sound down on the TV or switching
to a foreign language channel for a while. You
can still work out what's going on. The body language
of the actors, the lighting, the music (if you
have the sound up!), the styling of the set -
all of these things combined immediately tell
you part of the story. The verbal language is
just another part of the story. The trick to getting
your message across is to make sure all the other
parts of your message and how it is delivered
supports what you are saying.
Consider the graphic style of your marketing
pieces - the choice of typography, the choice
of paper and other printing options such as laminating
or foil embossing, how your material is bound
and presented. All of these aspects should work
together to create a cohesive message.
The second thing to do is to ask yourself who
you are talking to. Identify your target market
and have a good look at what appeals to them.
Ask existing clients and customers what the do
and don't like about your product. Go through
your client list and identify the industries that
most use your products and services. Are they
private citizens of a particular age group? Are
they large businesses or smaller businesses? What's
the average annual turnover? How many staff do
they have? Graffiti and loud music isn't going
to sell your product to retirees so make sure
that how you "package" your message
is relevant to your target market.
Make
sure your message is written in a writing style
that is appropriate for your audience and consider
employing a professional copywriter to do the
job. The graphic style should also be directed
at your market. For example you might use bright
colours and bold shapes for something to appeal
to children or softer colours and script fonts
to appeal to an older female audience.
The third thing you need to do is look at how
you package your information to make it meaningful.
Many years ago when I first started work at BP's
Development office in Melbourne, I was asked to
produce some dry, pre-formatted overheads for
the financial manager to present in London. They
had all the facilities to scan images to use as
part of the presentation but didn't know how to
use it, so I suggested we hook it all up and add
some images to the presentation. The manager readily
agreed and we spent a stressful day (and well
into the night) setting up the job and testing
the limits of the rather outdated colour printer.
After much delay the manager (who was by now
definitely over the idea of photos
in presentations) walked out the door, presentation
in hand, with a few seconds to spare to catch
his flight. It was a couple of weeks before he
returned and I fully expected to be told we would
not include images again. Instead
he told me that the London office finally understood
why it cost so much to continue exploration in
remote areas of Papua New Guinea. Images of forest
so dense workers have to cut their way through
with a machete at a snail's pace, roads washed
away in a single downpour, mountains and cliffs
so steep they offered no alternative but the "long
way around". In a single presentation he
had justified the unusually high cost of the operation.
London had been ready to pull the plug on the
whole exercise. Instead they increased the budget.
A picture paints a thousand words indeed!
Numerical data is another area that can look
dry and uninteresting. It is often, however, the
most important information so enticing the audience
to read it is crucial. Most people are familiar
with producing graphs to present data, but there
can be more to it than plotting a scale. Colour
again plays an important part here, as do graphical
elements. Consider a scale with a shorter range
(say showing only 50% to 100% rather than 0% to
100% for example) to emphasise the differences
and anomalies in the data. Ideally the audience
should be able to glance at a graph and understand
the significant feature or trend.
Take some time to have a good look at how you
are presenting yourself. Examine your existing
marketing material and ask yourself the following:
- How do you communicate?
Is your visual message consistent with what
you are saying?
- Who are you talking
to? Does your audience relate to your
visual message and what you are saying?
- Is it easy to see
your point? Do you use tools such as
images, graphics, diagrams or graphs to convey
information in addition to your copy?
Once you have stopped saying "Yes"
whilst shaking your head to the contrary, you
might find there's more people listening out there
than you think!
