Features describe a product or service. Benefits describe why those features matter, how they are useful to the target audience, and which attributes make the item more useful than alternatives from competitors. This article explains how to use features and benefits in your marketing communication
Read more
People’s emotions influence what they buy and other decisions they make. Most people believe their decisions are based on rational analysis of the available alternatives. Therefore, most messaging is based on features and benefits. But emotions greatly influence and even determine peoples’ choices. This conclusion applies to decisions by everyone, including consumers, employees, business decision makers and other stakeholders. In view of this, you need to use more emotional words in your messages as an essential third resource with features and benefits.
Read more
Napoleon said, “Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest.” Not quite as simple as that, but fear and loss still feature prominently. Many people agree that the two most powerful emotions, especially in business, are people’s desire for gain – their controlled greed, as evidenced in the WIIFM factor (“What’s in it for me?”) – and their fear. You can capitalize on such powerful emotions in your messaging.
Read more
Systematic framing of messages is vital to successful leadership. Frames provide people with a quick and easy way to process information. They are cognitive shortcuts we use to help make sense of complex information, enabling us to interpret the world around us and represent that world to others. Through framing, complex phenomena can be organized into coherent, understandable concepts. There is no doubt that framing of messages is essential for strong leadership, as discussed in this article.
Read more
Since formal channels of internal communication don’t address all the socialization needs of employees, informal channels play a significant role in their daily lives. Employees will always engage in informal conversations. These are traditionally face-to-face or verbal conversations, but digital channels are increasingly used. Rumors often are one of the outcomes of such interactions. This article explains how you can counter rumors on the grapevine.
Read more
Business communication is littered with long-winded documents of all kinds that we have to brace ourselves to read. The ones that frustrate me the most are the sponsorship proposals of up to 20-30 pages where the fee is not mentioned until the last page – on the basis that the selling process takes place progressively. In frustration, I used to go straight from the first page to the last page to decide if the full document was worth reading – because the fee being asked on the last page would determine whether the proposal was in the ballpark. On the other hand, you can benefit from using this easy 5-step formula for better business proposals.
Read more
What you say matters. How you say it matters equally. Framing is a technique of focusing the attention of people within a field of meaning. It is a form of agenda-setting. Frames are story lines that make an issue relevant to a particular audience. Framing effects occur when a message frame alters someone’s opinion on an issue. Framing is not lying. It is putting a particular spin (a frame) on factual details.
Read more
Messaging is the key to achieving impact with communication. Key messages create focus, control, and intensity in influencing your target audiences in campaigns. This article explains how to create a strong message strategy for communication campaigns.
Read more
One of the worst tasks in communication is to edit text contributed by a co-worker or client. The problem lies not in any difficulty in editing the words, but in dealing with people who don’t like their text changed. In view of people’s sensitivities, it is important to know how to prevent tantrums when you change someone’s text.
Read moreHeadlines are the most important part of any written content. Advertising legend David Ogilvy pointed this out decades ago, and his words are still quoted. Ogilvy said in his classic book Confessions of an Advertising Man in 1963: "On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy.” But Ogilvy’s often-quoted comment related only to advertising – and he died in 1999, before the internet really got going. ...
Read moreHybrid work looks like continuing to evolve as the way of the future. The concept of a hybrid workplace is
Many organizations have had quite a shake-up due to the pandemic. As a result, some may have had to go
PR is an exhausting field to work in, creatively speaking. As a communication professional, you’re caught between the dry,
Join 5,000+ subscribers to our free newsletter, Cutting Edge PR Connections, and get awesome communication tips and articles delivered monthly direct to your inbox. PLUS a $10 voucher to my Amazon paperback books, which normally sell for $19.95 each.
