LEAD STORY
Clear Messages: 4 Tips for Crafting Them
Helping organizations create clear messages is the foundation of everything we do. Whether crafting compelling web copy, engaging people through an elevator pitch, or designing a visual identity, a clear message is paramount but not always easy. Here are four reminders to help you craft the clearest messages you can about your work.
The clearest messages are not only targeted to a specific audience; they contain either explicit or implicit calls to action.
FOCUS. Here, focus does not refer to turning off your phone, locking yourself in a room, and concentrating on the job at hand, although that’s rarely a bad idea when creating. Instead, focus refers to your actual work. What is the overall goal of your organization? Why do you exist? Why do you care, and why should anyone else?
Imperfectly Authentic?
by Douglas Spencer
Sometime just before the pandemic reached its one-year milestone in the U.S., I had a realization, an epiphany of sorts. Most of us were no longer as hung up on perfection as we once had been.
After all, the pandemic had forced us to be nimble and experimental, all of which led us to a lot of easily-forgivable mistakes. Plus, with everyone working from home, Zoom bombs from cats and kids were not only tolerated, but they were also appreciated!
The upside to that, in my opinion, was authenticity. As people watched us make mistakes without judgment, they saw us and related to us as the humans we are. Because people were witnessing us as we are, not as we wanted to appear, they were more likely to believe what we said. Since nobody’s perfect, perfection can come across as artificial, even a little suspect.
Is that still true, do you think? Have we maintained our comfort level with perfection and in the process our authenticity? Let me know. Reply to this email or find me on Twitter, https://twitter.com/DouglasWSpencer.
MISSION DRIVERS
Transformational Travel Council
In this recurring feature of Focal Point, we profile people and organizations on a mission! If you have someone to suggest, let us know!
Transformational Travel believes meaningful travel starts from the inside out. Too often, our travel reinforces our existing boundaries, worldviews, and practices, rather than stretch and evolve them. At the heart of what they do is transformative educational programs that integrate mindset, intentionality, presencing, connection, and meaning-making—all to open minds, introduce new principles and practices and create behavior changes that stick. Such deep shifts cultivate clarity, meaning, and purpose that drive innovation, enrich and unify organizational culture, and improve conscious business results.
By guiding and empowering travelers with practical and accessible tools and practices rooted in wisdom and science, Transformational Travel aims to help travelers align thoughts, emotions, and actions in ways that transform. As an informed and intentional practice, one taps into more clarity, connection, meaning, and purpose when approaching travel more mindfully.
For more information, visit: transformational.travel
MESSAGING ON A MISSION
Listen Up: New Episodes Available!
If you’re not already subscribing to our podcast, Messaging on a Mission, what are you waiting for? Here is one of our most recent episodes. It’s a fascinating look at how academia is preparing the next generation of communicators!
If you or your organization have a story to share about how your message impacts your work, don’t be shy! Let us know! We’re always looking for new guests.
Focal Pointing
March is National Women’s History month, so with that in mind, here are some resources to help you observe it:
Overview of National
Women’s History Month
Women Athletes Who
Changed Sports
A Timeline of Women’s
Voting Rights
Blog Posts You May Have Missed
Well Said
"To me, there is nothing complicated about ordinary equality."
— Alice Paul
As part of Women’s History Month, we recognize Alice Paul. Paul (January 11, 1885 – July 9, 1977) was an American Quaker, suffragist, feminist, and women’s rights activist, and one of the main leaders and strategists of the campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits sex discrimination in the right to vote. Paul initiated, and along with Lucy Burns and others, strategized events such as the Woman Suffrage Procession and the Silent Sentinels, which were part of the successful campaign that resulted in the amendment’s passage in 1920.
