Refined Messaging 

It’s been said by speech makers and orators that it’s much more difficult to give a brief message than to deliver a lengthy one. With a lengthy one, few details need to be sifted out. While lengthy addresses like Edward Everett’s were common in his era, many people today do not have the attention span to embrace a two-hour speech, distilling as we listen. While Abraham Lincoln had not been feeling well that day, he delivered a powerful and well refined message that excellently summarized the American Civil War and the virtues of the American democracy.

When it comes to your brand messaging, brevity is always appreciated. Get down to business quickly. Do not waste your clients’ time. If a sentence does not add to the effectiveness of your speech or brand message, delete it. Also, be clear what your intentions are. Throughout his leadership, Abraham Lincoln wrote and spoke with clarity, consistency, and brevity in his messaging.

Clarity and Consistency

Abraham Lincoln was not only clear about his goals of uniting the states and abolishing slavery, he moved with great consistency. He dealt with many complex issues including the Civil War, Abolition, and the modernization of the American economy. He worked through much opposition from both his own Republican Party and the Democratic Party, while remaining steadfast in his beliefs. He held fast to both his religious beliefs and his beliefs in the foundation from which America was built. While he believed that all men are created equal, to be clear, he did not believe that men should be equal in all areas of life, but be given equal opportunity. After all, Abe was born in a poor family and was self-educated, but later became an astute politician and ranked as one of the most beloved U.S. presidents.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

How do we find another Abe, who clarified his care about both the expansion of the American economy and the expansion of liberty and freedom?

Does having a larger government mean less freedom of the citizenry? 

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Build Your House on the Rock

When you are creating your online platform, are you pouring your foundation on rock or shifting sand? If you are running a B2B or B2C, are you connecting with the online marketplace in a meaningful way?

Three items to consider when building your online platform:

 

1). Consider what value your are bringing to the marketplace.

Are you promoting your business or offering added value? You can do both, but you may only have one chance to make a good impression online and consumers sense when you are pushing to sell them something. So, how do you sell something without seeming to be trying to sell something? If you are selling online, you may try leading with a Free or Low Cost offer that leads to introducing your primary product (E.G. “Free ring resizing” or a gift with purchase that leads to increasing sales of diamond jewelry). This is best applicable to establishing a new online platform or introducing a new product online and it’s a good way to collect contact information. If you are blogging, comment on others sites and be an encourager and sharer of good information and offer much more value to others than you expect in return.

 

2). Get clear about your messaging.

It’s important to know how to explain what you do or what you are selling in 15 to 20 seconds. Some call this an elevator pitch. Watch the video  (on this post) for a simple way to get clear about your messaging. People who visit your site will leave quickly if they are not clear about what you do or if they don’t see a value in what you offer. Integrate stories and or testimonials into your company and or product messaging.

 

3). Post relevant and timely content.

If you post new ways to use your product, new products or services, or simply relevant industry news, that is much better than having your latest post be about last year’s election. Boar’s Head used a clever social media tactic a few years ago, asking people to post stories on Facebook about a time when someone took their food. The winner received something free in return. I don’t remember what the free offer was, because that wasn’t the important draw. I thought it was a fun and clever topic and it worked for me.

If you are not adding value, not clear about your messaging, and not relevant, your online foundation will crack. People may visit your site once, but will likely never return. You don’t have to be perfect, but if you listen to what the marketplace is talking about online and you address the needs of your tribe, they will sense that you do care.

As Jesus said, do not be “like a foolish man who builds his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matt 7:26-27).

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Here are three helpful questions to consider as you build your own platform:

What makes you tick? In other words, you must get clear about why your product or service exists. When you walk away from a successful transaction with your ideal client, what exactly are they left with? Think of what they will tell their friends and peers about what you’ve done for them. The answers to those questions need to be front and center in your messaging. It should be at the top of your landing page, in your elevator speech, and on your business card.

What makes your client “click”? As our friend, Robert Hunt, said recently over coffee, “We don’t market to ourselves!” It’s common for us to make assumptions about what resonates with the reader or listener. This is why having a listening post is so important. You have to know what your tribe is thinking and saying in order to speak their language and meet their need. What may make perfectly good sense to you, may not resonate with them one iota. Why should your client click the link on your page that asks for their email address? What makes you tick has to align with what makes them click!

Are you changing the world? Sounds grandiose, but we’re not talking about the whole world here – just the world you and your clients inhabit. If you’re not different from the others in your space, then you’re just taking up space. For example, at Platform Creator we want to change the perception of those who are wary of “techy stuff”. To do this, we come alongside our clients and help them see that the internet is not magic. We show them that it takes work to create an online platform that gets results, but its work that can be pivotal in helping them change the world.

Do the work of developing a clear agenda before you develop your platform. Learn to see your platform from the perspective of your client.

Now go change the world!

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