Message Development Basics

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Message Development Basics

• A Biodiversity Project Workshop
• September 2004

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Why do we need strong messages and communication
strategies?

• We live in a culture saturated with appeals that
  compete for attention and concern
• Americans are accustomed to the sophisticated
  messages of advertising and marketing and have
  lots of filters
• Strategic communication is essential to the
  success of much of our work

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1. Determine your Goals

• Know what you want to accomplish
• Know the time frame
• Know your resources
• Get specific with objectives can you measure
  your success?

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2. Determine your time frame

• Short term action
• Long-term attitude shift
• Decision-making process and key events?
• The best messages and campaigns can advance both
  near-term and long-term goals, but it takes
  careful planning.

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3. Determine Your Audience

• Who are you trying to reach?
• - The general public?
• Particular segments of the public by
• Demographics?
• Attitude?
• Some other framework?
• How will reaching this audience achieve your
  goals?

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4. Identify your audiences valuesand concerns

• Values ideals and core beliefs, such as
  responsibility, respect for God, love of beauty,
  fairness, justice, etc.
• Values are attitude filters we use to assess
  information and weigh decisions about
• Concerns things that were worried about, such
  as our health, jobs, money, loss of habitat, etc.

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Communicating with Values

• Why, because values shift the debate to things we
  care about deeply, not isolated facts
• Different values fit different issues for
  different people few one size fits all
• Activate values dont try to change them
• Values-based doesnt mean value-laden

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Human values across cultures

• Fairness
• Truth
• Compassion
• Responsibility
• Respect
• (From the research of the Institute for Global
  Ethics, www.globalethics.org)

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Primary American Values

• Responsibility to care for ones family
• Responsibility to care for oneself
• Personal liberty
• Work
• Spirituality
• Honesty/integrity
• Fairness/equality
• (From the research of Belden Russonello
  Stewart)

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Secondary American Values

• Responsibility to care for others
• Personal fulfillment
• Respect for authority
• Love of country or culture
• (From the research of Belden Russonello Stewart)

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Values linked to Environmental Issues

• Responsibility to care for the Earth and future
  generations
• Responsibility to ones family
• Responsibility to oneself
• Spirituality and sacredness of nature
• Personal fulfillment enjoyment and aesthetics
• Love of country or culture
• Personal liberty and fairness
• (From the research of Belden Russonello
  Stewart, 1996 Biodiversity Poll)

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5. Why should your audience care? Listen and
learn.

• Start with values
• Identify concerns
• Consider who they trust
• Identify where this audience gets its information
  about the environment
• Focus groups, surveys and other public opinion
  research can provide valuable insights.

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6. Develop a Message

• The Message Paragraph
• States why this audience should care about your
  issue it speaks to values and concerns.
• Describes a threat or problem and who is
  responsible.
• Provides a solution and describes an action that
  will address the need and the threat.
• Give people something to do.

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Anatomy of a message

• A. Start with VALUES
• The Great Lakes are one of the natural wonders
  of the world and it is our responsibility to
  protect them. They are a place we call home and a
  resource for us to use and protect they are
  the heart of the ecosystems that we rely on for
  life. They are a gift of nature, whose beauty and
  bounty enrich our lives and identify our region.

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Anatomy of a Message

• B. Identify and illustrate the THREAT
• Yet there are those who would sell Great Lakes
  water for profit, like oil or lumber. And the
  region is using Great Lakes groundwater faster
  than nature can replenish it. There is currently
  no regional policy that will prevent exports or
  overuse within the ecosystem.

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Anatomy of a message

• C. What can be done why should we act?
• We all have a responsibility to protect and
  conserve the lakes, not for a single interest,
  but for our families, for wildlife, and for the
  future. We cannot wait for a disaster to happen.
  We can all take steps now to help keep the lakes
  healthy forever.

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Anatomy of a Message

• D. Get SPECIFIC about the action
• Conserve water and take pressure off groundwater
  sources that supply the Great Lakes.
• Dont buy bottled water from groundwater sources
  because groundwater is vital to Great Lakes water
  supply.
• Tell your Governors to sign the eight-state
  agreement to conserve Great Lakes water.

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7. Be Careful with Language

• Dont use the term biodiversity unless you
  define it.
• Avoid jargon like riparian, vascular,
  extirpated.
• Talk about real places, e.g. forests not
  public lands.
• DO use terms like habitat, ecosystem and nature.

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8. Choose the right Messengers

• Must be credible to your audience.
• Real people affected by the issue are usually
  more persuasive than environmental professionals,
  but dont overlook experts is expertise is
  important.
• Children are often effective messengers for
  biodiversity and environmental health.

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9. Use Anecdotes Tell Stories

• Put a human face on a human story
• Real lives saved (drugs, flood protection)
• Real jobs in real communities (salmon fishing)
• Generation to generation sharing place,
  experience, memory, family
• Heroes
• Horror Stories
• Charismatic and surprising critters

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10. Choose compelling images

• Images that reflect the messages a positive
  appeal to values
• A shocking picture of the problem
• Compare/contrast side by sides of that which is
  worth protecting and images of loss or
  destruction
• Attention grabbers

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11. Use Straightforward Facts

• 100,000 acres (not vast amounts of forest)
• Nine of out ten frog species (not many)
• Facts that relate to our daily lives
• The water we drink
• The food we eat
• The air our children breath
• The view from our windows

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12. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

• Slogans, Sound bites and tag lines
• Consistent graphics
• Resonating consistent messages

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13. Pathways How do you connect with your
audience?

• Where does this audience get its information?
• Who do they trust?
• What access do you have (or do you need) to reach
  this audience?
• Whats the right medium and venue TV?
  Magazines? Nature Centers? Church?
• Which niche within these venues news, lifestyle
  feature, religion page?

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14. Track, evaluate, modify

• Stay on message, but have a back-up plan
• Track and evaluate how your messages and methods
  are working are they reaching your audience and
  communicating what you want
• Anticipate counter messages and be ready for them

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Tips

• Communicate to reach, not convert
• One value rarely fits all some fit most
• The world is cluttered with values-based messages
  from big corporations and politicians you need
  to be fresh to cut through
• Tell stories that connect the dots to everyday
  experiences
• Appeal to balance

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More Tips

• Inclusive language, e.g. we believe is
  powerful, but dont use it if you are not part of
  the authentic we
• Some issues are right vs. right especially when
  values are involved avoid declaring someone
  elses values wrong if they are widely embraced
  public values
• Lead with stories, follow with facts
• Facts are still important dont forget to do
  your homework

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Emerging Strategies

• Community Based Social Marketing www.cbsm.com
• Affect-based learning conservation psychology
• Frameworks http//frameworksinstitute.org
• Metaphors George Lakoff
• Social network analysis www.edgeresearch.com
• Keep your toolbox fresh!

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Reach people where they are

• Through what they value
• What theyre concerned about
• In the mediums and the circles of contacts that
  they use and trust
• Give people something positive that they can do
  to make a difference