(ANS) – The secret of making an impact with today’s audience is multi-faceted. It’s no secret that reaching an audience in today’s distracted and disrupted world is a real challenge. Although we have more channels for reaching them than ever before, those very channels slice up the audience, making it more difficult than ever to make an impact. As a result, when leaders engage our team at Cooke Media Group to help them share their story, we walk them through a process we customize with every leader to clarify and focus their message, find the right audience, then explore the tools to maximize the results. Here’s a handful of the issues you must explore. (reprinted from Phil Cooke, a Christian media expert)
Why Communicating Your Message Today Is More Difficult Than You Think
1. It all starts with strategy – knowing what sets you apart and who would care most about your cause or story. Today it takes more than someone with a video camera, a social media expert, or a graphic designer. Before any of those team members start working, it’s critical to find the answer to “why.”
2. Then, we bring that to life with messaging. Clarifying exactly what your message should be at this moment. Oddly enough, most of our clients try to communicate too much – largely because they’re thinking of themselves, and not the audience they want to reach. Certainly, many organizations and visionary leaders have much to share, but in today’s hyper-competitive world, most people respond to too much information by shutting down and turning off. So it’s critical that we streamline the message and focus on what matters from the audience’s perspective.
3. Identity development is a key part since “perception” is so important in a distracted world. A large number of organizations spend too much time focusing on their brand without realizing how important perceptions are in a distracted word. However, positioning is actually the secret sauce in helping your message rise above the noise because it focuses on what your audience thinks, what they need, and how you fit in. This goes beyond your brand and is often overlooked by many organizations.
4. Then, deciding how to share that message is vital. Social media, short video production, broadcast radio or TV, movie, live events, blogging, podcasting, live streaming and more. Remember: It’s not how you want to reach them, it’s how they want to reach you. There’s no point in creating the best podcast ever produced if your audience is somewhere else. That’s why finding the right platforms are so important for connecting with your audience.
These days, a great number of leaders and teams recognize the power of media, but don’t understand the best way to leverage that power. So our team can help create a plan or strategy to teach, coach, and develop those teams and can also run quick audits to ensure they’re using the right tools the right way.
There was a time when sharing a message meant standing on a soapbox and talking to people passing by, preaching in a pulpit, or printing a book or newspaper. But today with an almost endless number of media options, making the right decision about the what, when, how, and why of your message can be the difference between success and failure.
The stakes are high, and your message matters. Choose carefully.
