Leff's PR & Media Spotlight, Podcast 1

Messaging

Today we're talking about "messaging."  You probably hear this phrase quite a bit, especially when someone's talking about political candidates.  They talk about "staying on message" or "he didn't get his message across."

Basically, what we're talking about is being able to concisely get your point across.  That "point" is your message.

It's important that what you're saying is consistent, no matter who you're talking to.  It could be when you talk to a potential customer, an investor, or if you're trying to market a product or service, to a reporter.

Let's use a reporter as our example today. 

Every time you talk to a reporter, what you're saying must be consistent.  If you own or run a company, it's vital that every one of your employees is saying the same thing when they speak with the media. That's what we call that being "on message."

For example, you wouldn't want one employee to be saying "our new medicine cures 100 percent of patients," while someone down the hall is saying "we don't really know how effective this medicine really is."  You want all your employees to be saying the same thing.

I recommend to my clients that they develop a short list, usually three short points that we refer to as "Key Messages."  Three points are easy to remember, both for the speaker and the listener.  

You should be able to describe your product, your service, your event, your political agenda, whatever, in just a few seconds.  Usually you don't have a lot of time to deliver your message. Consider the time it takes to ride up two floors on the elevator with someone – or leaving a 10 second message on a potential customer's answering machine.  You need to be able to deliver your messages that quickly.

The trick then is to incorporate those messages into all of your various communications, be it press releases, speeches, advertising copy, etc.

Once you're got your messages down, you'll be able to hit your point every time.

Mitch Leff is president of Leff & Associates (www.leffassociates.com) an Atlanta-based public relations agency.   In addition to public relations services and media training, Leff also offers two public relations focused web sites:

•    Mitch's Media Match (www.MitchsMediaMatch.com) is a new online service for Atlanta and Georgia-based media that matches their story assignments and story concepts with local sources and experts.  FREE for journalists. 

•    Leff's Atlanta Media (www.LeffsAtlantaMedia.com) is an online resource featuring a comprehensive directory of Atlanta media, plus media relations guidelines and prepared templates for commonly used press materials.