Potluck Food Poisoning?
Communication That Counts.

Quick Links|part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5

PART 4 - The METHOD

So far, we’ve examined the Message, the first of our three M’s, and learned that it’s essential to have a refined, focused and compelling Message.  We’ve also examined the Market (or "target audience") and determined that it’s to our advantage to examine our prospective audience and look for ways to use the linguistic and lifestyle commonalities they share to reinforce the relevance of our Message and make it more appealing to each specific group of people.  Well, if the Message and Market stand on opposite shores, then it’s the Method, our third and final M, that bridges the waters of troubled communication!  Only when we have refined our Message and defined our Market can we begin to select the best Method to connect the two.

The Method, simply put, is the means of delivering our Message to our Market.  It encompasses a number of important decisions that will ultimately determine how effective all of our other preparation will be.  We’ll begin with a closer look at the decisions we must now make!

First, given the things we’ve discovered about our target Market, what kind of media will best deliver our Message?  To be clear here, “media” simply refers to the “medium”, or “thing carrying the Message”.  While the term audio/visual probably conjures images of film-strips and pocket protectors, this term largely encompasses most of the communication efforts we all make.  Efforts made with Print, Video, Signage, Object Lessons, Word of Mouth and Music all fall easily into this category.  And while there is a world of communication that occurs through our other senses (smell, taste and touch), most of our weekly efforts won’t utilize these, so we won’t be discussing them here.

Some people hear and remember.  Some see and remember.  To most effectively communicate our Message, we will usually need to incorporate both audio and visual Methods.  This multi-sensory approach, when combined with appropriate amounts of repetition, can help your Message pierce through the myriad of other Messages that compete for your Market’s thought space.  When selecting the specific Methods we’ll use, we want to consider a couple of things:

Thirteen-year-olds don’t get a lot of personalized mail (and I’m talking postage, as in the old fashioned stuff!).  If that’s your target Market, a well crafted mail piece will probably get their attention.  If our Market is business owners, we may want to buy space at a local business expo.  If our Market is a typical Sunday-morning congregation, an a-typical delivery of the sermon- such as an object lesson, or perhaps beginning with an unannounced, extended period of silence to help illustrate the morning’s topic of “resting”- will help peak interest in the message that follows.  Whichever Method we choose, and they are countless, it must get the attention of our Market.

And you thought you just had to get their attention!  Holding attention is always more difficult than getting it.  These days, attention spans are short, at best.  Call it a product of our “microwave culture” if you want, but the fact remains, if the rest of the world is communicating in sound-bytes, our Message- on at least some level-  should also be deliverable in a 10 second, ear-catching one-liner that helps our Market remember that there’s more to the Message that will interest them. 

It is here, as we attempt to hold attention, that the crucial issues of relevant content and delivery style become absolutely paramount.  Relevant content simply means that our Message has been refined (see “part 2” of this article) and tailored to appeal to our Market (see “part 3”).  See how this all comes together?  The 3M’s certainly do meet here, and it’s now, as we choose our Method, that our preparation thus far begins to enlighten our selection process. 

Another equally critical component of both getting AND holding attention is the Style of our chosen media.  Some of the key elements of Style are:

Let me stop here to comment on one of the single most important elements of Style, this being the Quality of our presentation.  And by Quality, I mean “professional presentation”.  Unfortunately, Quality is often the first thing to be sacrificed, often due to budgetary limitations, though sometimes due to a lack of knowledge.  Unfortunately, much otherwise good communication is disregarded simply on the basis of a poor-quality presentation.  Here’s the thing…  As I mentioned in our introduction to these topics several weeks ago, we live in an over-communicated society.  Everywhere we turn, most hours of the day, we are bombarded with communication of some sort, and most of it is of a professional nature.  Whether we like it or not, our audience is used to being communicated to in a professional way, and they have learned (if not been conditioned) to quickly filter incoming Messages based on their perceived Quality.  They will classify Messages presented in a less-than-professional way as less-than-important Messages.  This happens mostly on a subconscious level, but it DOES happen.  Many people will even subconsciously presume that you, the author of the Message, really aren’t concerned about addressing them in a serious way, and that based solely on the poor Quality of your Message’s presentation. 

In my many years as a communicator, I have witnessed so many potentially great communications that were simply not effective due to poor presentation.  For example, a mail piece using clip-art which is printed on plain paper is quickly sorted to the back of the stack, whereas as an over-sized, high-gloss, brightly-colored picture of a volcano, printed on a heavy card stock, will probably be read before I get back from the mailbox.  I’ve seen so many video testimonies that were absolutely wonderful, except that you couldn’t ignore the sound of the roaring waterfall, or passing traffic, or plane flying overhead, or that you couldn’t see the person’s eyes due to poor lighting or camera work.  The presentation detracted from the Message.  We’ve all heard a preacher whose microphone was constantly ringing with feedback.  I bet you don’t remember what they were talking about on THAT occasion, do you?  You just remember the poor presentation.  Whether card stock or caring nursery workers, Quality is an essential ingredient in ANY Method we choose to employ.

And finally, one last thing that we should consider when selecting our Method (or Methods):

We do ourselves (and quite possibly our Market) a great service when we give them communication tools instead of communication.  “Huh?”...you say.  Consider this.  If we present our Message with a Method that will continue to inform our Market long after our initial communication effort, they are far more likely to receive and remember our Message.  Still not sure what this looks like?  If you have a magnet on your refrigerator with a restaurant’s phone number on it, you understand what I mean.  Well designed and targeted Methods become tools that communicate our Message for us, alleviating the need for us to repeat the Message every day.  Consider that you can’t possibly know when your Market will take a break from their day to consider your Message; now wouldn’t you want your Message, in an attractive and memorable form, to be available to them when that magical moment arrives?  Of course you would!  And what’s more, well-crafted communication tools empower our Market to carry our Message to an audience far wider than we initially have access to. 
So, what might this look like?  Well I mentioned the magnet on the fridge.  How about giving your congregation a small flashlight with your sermon’s key scripture (about letting your “light” shine) printed on it as a take-home reminder.  How about building an interactive CD-ROM that provides an entertainment factor for the kids and a medical release and camp booklet, included on the disc, for mom and dad?  The possibilities are endless!  Just ask yourself, “How can I make my Message easy to remember and share?”, and you’ll be trucking down the road to effective communication! 

We've truly only scratched the surface here with regard to what we call in our company "Strategic Creativity", or the scientific & strategic use of creativity in design and communication. I was sharing with someone just today the challenge of trying to cram a book's worth of information into a brief (though decreasingly so), informative article. I fear I've not done our topic justice here, but alas, this article is getting quite long already! We’ll conclude our series on effective communication next time by taking a look at some real-world examples of truly successful communication and see just how well they measure up to our 3M process!