Our #1 favorite messaging trick...
Written by Niki Juhasz
I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I’ve always, always been nervous before meeting a partner’s family. So imagine my chagrin when a few years ago, one boyfriend tried to soothe me with the line “Don’t worry, they aren’t going to hate you just because you’re an immigrant!”
Cue my reaction.
Oh.
My.
Gosh.
THEY ARE GOING TO HATE ME BECAUSE I’M AN IMMIGRANT!??! I wasn’t worried about that, but I sure am now. Why, after all, would he have called that out specifically if it wasn’t a possibility? If it wasn’t a concern for him? Now, that's all I can think about.
Here’s the thing. What that partner did was reinforce (and add to) my concerns, which is a mistake we see in communications every day.
So what does that mean? Let’s break it down!
In many communications initiatives, you just KNOW your target audience is going to find fault with your campaign. They are going to have questions, concerns or downright oppose your work.
Once you explain your vision, they’ll say “what I’m worried about is...” and launch into why they don’t support you. What comes after the “what I’m worried about...” is the concern—in other words, the challenge you need to overcome to gain your opposition’s support.
For example:
Your campaign vision: We want every kindergarten student to have access to a literacy coach.
The concern: What I’m worried about is...won’t that cost our taxpayers a lot of money?
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When we face these types of concerns, the big question as a communicator and advocate becomes, “what do I do about that concern?” The natural impulse is to call out the topic your audience is worried about (in this case, the literacy program being expensive) in your messaging. However, this reinforces the concern!
In our example, that could include saying something like:
Reinforcing the concern: We know a $5 million tax increase sounds like a lot, but it’s a very small amount to pay to ensure our students have the right reading supports.
This approach is a mistake because if our audience members don’t have this concern—or weren’t even thinking about it—now they are, because you called it out. (I wasn’t thinking about my immigrant status as a problem, for example.)
Suddenly, we’ve created more challenges for our campaign to overcome and unintentionally reinforced our opposition’s messaging
The answer to this challenge is addressing the concern—without actually naming it. For example:
Overcoming the concern: For less than the cost of one pizza per month, you can help our students learn to read and thrive in school—setting our community up for success, too.
It’s all about the positivity! Your language should address potential concerns, without actually stating them. Using easy-to-understand comparisons can help you connect with your audiences, too.
By using this simple framing trick, you’ll not only avoid that “OH. MY. GOSH. moment,” you’ll likely build support as well.
P.S. Storytelling helps connect with your audience and overcome concerns, too. By making storytelling an integral part of your messaging, you can build strong relationships with your community, funders and partners.
