The Articulate Consultants Overview of Key Messages

“The future of the book is the blurb.” Marshall McLuhan said this in his 1965 book, The Medium Is The Massage. McLuhan foresaw how communications technology would create a global village where succinct, convenient communications would be favoured and bring people together. Now, the right key messages can make those who stand behind them stand out and prosper.

Global village or not, we live in an era when many people encounter much more information communicated to them than people did in any prior era. This is why those who intend to achieve more through their communications must strategically consider what to say, how to say it, who should receive it, and by what media.

A few words matter, particularly in business, where the right few words can differentiate a company from its competitors. Concise, meaningful, authentic key messages are more important now than ever.

what key messages are
Key messages are words that convey the essence of something with a distinct identity and purpose. It could be a company, a team, or other organization; a product line, a project, or discrete bundle of services; or a mission, a philosophy, or set of values. A key message puts a brand into a few well-chosen words.

A key message could be:
• a single-word expression.
• a phrase.
• a single-sentence declaration or exhortation.
• a statement of a few poignant sentences.

Examples:
• name.
• nickname.
• motto.
• slogan.
• mission statement.
• statement of core values.
• vision statement.
• elevator speech.

what key messages do
A key message concisely communicates identity and purpose, ideally in words that the right people accept instantly.

what makes a key message key, or how it is important
Key messages unlock awareness and understanding of identity and purpose, creating clear understanding in a few words. Key messages promote brands to target markets.

what makes a good key message good
In any context, a good key message clearly states the central idea and identifies the benefit it offers. In the context of marketing and managing a brand, a good key message meaningfully identifies the brand and concisely states what it means to the market – ideally positioning it as irreplaceable.

what makes a bad key message bad
A bad key message identifies the brand or central idea in a flatly factual way, lacking a hook. It might state the purpose or intent in a way that lacks any special or unique quality. A bad key message could even repel the people meant to be attracted.

how long key messages last
Just as a slap in the face is always memorable, so a remarkably ill-timed, improper, weak, or otherwise out-of-sync key message leaves a lasting impression – even among those who push it away.

A key message that goes unnoticed because of its irrelevance, blandness, or mediocrity has minimal impact – sometimes despite persistent promotion. When promotion stops, the key message could already be dead.

Just as a sweet melody seems precious to many listeners, so an on-target key message can gain supporters rapidly. A strong enough key message can gain self-appointed promoters who help its spread. (It “goes viral.”) In such cases, a key message can last an era and seem to have a life of its own.

what difference a good key message makes
A good key message has a way of corresponding with the values or mood of the market so that it touches people as intuitively correct and validating or compelling. Whoever stands behind a good key message could be liked by and even find loyalty among those who respond well to it.

For example, consider how “Just do it” helped a sporting-goods company harmonize with its market and increase loyalty and market share. That slogan has had significant equity value to Nike for years.

how to reduce reliance on luck
Sometimes, those who coin a key message that hits the target only succeed after a few lesser successes. Musicians, for example, can perform good music for years before playing a true hit.

Intelligent trial, testing, and monitoring are second-best only to great luck. This is how a company seeking to stand out in its market and succeed can increase its probability of success by working with an expert in marketing who specializes in key messages.

This and the Joe's Hotdogs parable brought to you by
Glenn R Harrington of Articulate Consultants Inc
www.articulate.ca

Nine Reasons to Pay A Pro Editor

Part 1: Five Ways Your Computer Fails You

The five statements that follow point out how spell-check, grammar-check, and style-check tools fail to catch some errors in spelling, grammar, and style. It is possible that the word-processing program you use catches one or more of the errors mentioned here. Even so, the five statements and examples given reveal how software developers cannot replace the expertise of a pro editor. This expertise has been crucial to innumerable writers to ensure that their writing fulfils its potential. Review these and decide whether your writing should proceed toward publication without the input of a professional editor.

1. Spell-check does not recognize the parts of speech.

Practice and advice are nouns. Practise and advise are verbs.
Center can be a noun or a verb. Centre is only a noun.

All six words appear here correctly spelled and pass through spell-check. Yet, spell-check cannot tell you when a word is the wrong part of speech for a particular sentence.

2. Grammar-check always discourages the passive voice, though it exists for a reason.

Passive: The papers were shipped by courier yesterday at five o’clock.
Active: I shipped the papers by courier yesterday at five o’clock.

The sentence with the passive verb emphasizes the papers having been shipped. The sentence with the active verb emphasizes the speaker’s responsibility for the shipping of papers. One could serve you and your readers better than the other for your particular context. By always discouraging the passive option, grammar-check does not support an informed choice toward better communication.

3. Style-check cannot help you with the logic of your sentences.

Everywhere we looked, there were happy people – even where we couldn’t see them.
This sandwich is big, and Tina is small, so we should leave now.

Style-check passes over some sentences flawed in ways that would make readers stumble, including sentences with logical flaws, as in these examples.

4. Grammar-check cannot help you with some examples of subject-verb agreement.

None of those shovels is mine.
Her family has always been supportive.

None is a contraction of not and one. When none is the subject of a sentence or clause, use singular verbs, as with one. Similarly, family, like crowd and other collective nouns, is singular and goes with singular verbs. Thus, neither of these two example sentences warrants correction.

5. Spell-check cannot tell you when you use the wrong word.

Lisa drove the car right into the post.
Lisa drove the car right into the past.

If you intend to type post, but enter past, your computer won’t notice the error. Likewise, till (the verb for turning soil or the noun specifying the part of a cash register that holds bills and coins) and 'til (a contration of until) also slip past spell-check when misused. Yet, the time has come when spell-check often accepts till as correct where 'til ought to appear. These exemplify contextually-wrong words that could go before your readers after passing through spell-check, grammar-check and/or style-check tools.

Part 2: Four Ways Friends and Colleagues Can Lead You Astray

The four statements that follow show how editorial review by friends and colleagues generally involves risk to the success of any document. Though a friend, family member, colleague, or other person might provide immensely helpful input toward the success of a document, it also happens that such people become unhelpful meddlers despite the best intentions or qualifications. Even if you consider yourself able to avoid these pitfalls, it is suggested that you never regard the editorial input of a friend or colleague as eliminating the necessity of a professional editor.

6. Many editors edit simply to please themselves.

Friends and colleagues playing the role of editor typically differ from the writer regarding grammar, punctuation, capitalization, spelling, style, or level of detail. This often results in their attempting to correct the document by revising it to their own standards, which might not be correct, consistent, or better than the writer’s standards.

7. Friends and colleagues are often not sure how to improve a document for its intended readers.

The value of an editor comes from improving the reader’s experience of the writer’s work. This requires the editor to know who the target readers are, what they expect, and how to fulfil those expectations. Thus, a book on photography for children, for example, might benefit from a photographer’s input on technical matters only.

8. Subject-matter experts can help you to get facts right but can obstruct your success in other ways.

Colleagues (even subordinates) may bring their own agenda to an editorial review. This can include their meddling in the facts and inserting their own voices as if co-authors. This can lead to the document becoming a distorted patchwork of facts that’s less credible to your readers. Fixing this could take a lot of time and effort, then leave you needing a good editor again.

9. Friends and colleagues often introduce distortions when intending to improve a document.

Regardless of what qualifies a friend or colleague to edit a document, it is common for the editorial role to bring out unhelpful co-authorship. For example, if he or she considers the two topics inseparably linked, the editor might consider it necessary to include discussion of topic Y because the document mentions topic X. Though there could be merit in this, it might take the document beyond the interest or beyond the comprehension of the intended readers. Otherwise, it could make the document too lengthy or out-of-focus.

What you can do.
First, focus on getting the contents of your document as correct and complete as you reasonably can. Then, pay a pro editor for thorough editing. A professional editor can make and suggest revisions more comprehensively, more constructively, and more contextually appropriate than software tools supplemented by a friend or colleague. Once you have integrated the editor’s input, then pay for professional proofing.

This and the Joe's Hotdogs parable brought to you by
Glenn R Harrington of Articulate Consultants Inc
www.articulate.ca