The Communications Vault

Where do good creative ideas come from? How do we maintain a fresh creative approach? How do we keep our work from becoming predictable?These are tough questions that creative professionals face every day. Developing good creative is more than just thinking up cool ideas. It’s an organic process that grows out of a specific business need to change a target audience in a particular way (see my post, “Making Change”).

Actors can provide great insight into the creative process. Their work in plays and films forces them to make thousands of creative choices. Every line, every look, every gesture requires a conscious choice.

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Here’s a news flash: Things aren’t always what they seem.

This reality gap is especially true in communications. As business people and communicators, we have messages to distribute and stories to tell. The goal of our messages is to create change in a target audience… to get them to believe, buy, understand, act or learn.

So if we tell them what we want them to know, why don’t they listen? Why don’t they act? Because what we think we said isn’t always the reality of what our audience heard. (more…)

Every time we ask someone to watch a presentation – a video, commercial, website or speech – we’re taking something from them they’ll never get back… time. It’s a priceless commodity and we’d better make sure we’re giving something of value in return.

Think about it. Why should they donate time to our cause? Because we want to sell them something? I don’t think so!

Viewers should give us their time because we have something of compelling value to offer them. We can change their lives for the better, or at least make things easier for them. If we can’t immediately answer their question, “What’s in it for me?” then there’s no reason for them to watch.

It’s a brutal measuring stick, to be sure, but this approach improves retention, engagement and outcomes. If we can measure up, viewers will embrace and spread our message.

So how do we do it? First of all, do your homework. Know your audience, clarify the message, and focus on the benefits. Keep it short; make it simple and finish strong. Address the question directly: “What’s in it for me?”

There are other benefits to keeping the presentation short. ROI is higher because the program is more focused. And it usually takes less money to make a 5-minute presentation than a 10-minute one. Or you can take your 10-minute budget, put it into a 5-minute presentation, and create twice the impact.

Tick tock.

All of us who communicate with others as part of our jobs – and that’s pretty much everybody – are in the business of change. Change is what we do every day. If we didn’t need to change someone, we wouldn’t really need to talk to them.

Even seemingly innocuous conversation seeks to change others: smile at me; like me; recognize how smart I am; validate me.

The products we create at JPL also ask people to change… buy a product, learn a skill, vote for a candidate, or take an action. In every case we want to move them – or change them – from the status quo to a place that benefits our clients, our organizations or ourselves.

Think about it. If we wanted people to keep on doing what they’re doing, why would we need to tell them anything, except maybe “atta boy”? It’s the need for change that makes communication valuable and necessary.

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