How do you identify the key messages for a communications plan?

I believe, as an impact communications professional, identifying key messages involves a structured approach that starts with thorough research and data collection. Understanding the vision, and the specific impacts of the initiatives, gathering both quantitative and qualitative data, becomes important. Creating a comprehensive guide that includes all key messages, core themes, supporting data, and implementing a dissemination plan across various channels, for effective message delivery, and monitoring the outcomes to track engagement and feedback becomes necessary. Finally, making adjustments as needed to continuously improve your communications strategy, is very crucial to keep evolving as per latest trends.

The first and foremost step is defining our communication objectives. Once the objectives are clearly defined, it becomes possible to develop a comprehensive communication plan. Before drafting the plan, I concentrate on what I aim to achieve through it. The second critical factor is understanding the nature and characteristics of the audience. The type of audience I am addressing plays a pivotal role in shaping the specifics of the plan, tailoring it to meet the unique needs and preferences of the intended audiencecommunication.

Don't be verbally creative when defining communication goals. Carefully consider what you want to achieve through communication and then articulate how this change will be accomplished through communication. A seemingly dull goal opens up opportunities for creative solutions. Additionally, simplifying makes the objective easy to commit to. And a fundamental point that communicators often forget: engage in communication to advance organizational objectives, not for the sake of communication itself.

This is absolutely key. Communication objectives gives one a good starting point to start asking questions about your goal. Who, why, and how? Obvious questions sure, but without these, the comms strategy will not be complete. I find this an excellent starting point to a greater strategy. Another key point to note is to continually revise and update the strategy and plan. Objectives can change through the process, and so can response.

Para establecer los mensajes clave en un Plan de Comunicación, primero debemos conocer cuál es el Plan de Negocio. ¿Dónde estamos y dónde queremos llegar? Y la siguiente pregunta es ¿cómo debe ser nuestra comunicación para que nos ayude a llegar a nuestro destino lo antes posible? A partir de aquí hay que hacerse preguntas fundamentales: qué decir, a quién, cuándo, cómo, dónde y por qué. Y de las respuestas de estas preguntas comienzan a salir los primeros mensajes clave, que posteriormente habrá que saber aterrizar y articular en la comunicación empresarial.

One fact that is required of effective speakers is that they know their audience. That is why once you commit to a public speaking engagement, to better the plan of your presentation, you need to do some investigating. Whether it is one person or a group of 1,000 you are speaking to, you must include in your analysis: who are they; why is your presentation important to them; what is the purpose of the discussion; how familiar are they with the subject; what is their level of expertise on the subject; are there any cultural differences to be aware of; and lastly, do they know who you are. Understanding your audience will elevate the chances of capturing their attention, engaging at a higher level, and completing a successful communication.

Getting to know your target audience is the first and foremost step towards creating a communication strategy that will be understood and resonated with. You need to know your target audience inside out - their needs, pain-points, limitations etc. The whole point of effective communication is to create an environment where your audience feels heard, included and understood. Here, while writing the message, you need to think from the perspective of your audience - what does X want from my brand or service? X wants something that another brand isn't able to deliver. Make that emotional connect and fill that gap - your perfect communication strategy is ready!

Conocer en profundidad a aquellos a los que quieres venderles algo, ya sea una idea, un producto, un servicio..., es imprescindible. Y no me refiero a los datos demográficos ya que para mí es lo menos importante. Tampoco me refiero a los problemas que tienen y quieren solucionar y los conocidos "puntos de dolor" (algo bastante más crucial), sino que me refiero a la IMPORTANCIA de conocer las verdaderas razones de por qué tu audiencia quiere "algo", esas razones que no cuentan ni cuando alguien les pregunta.

Once you have mapped out your audience groups, following your research, the next step could be developing target audience personas. The key messages can then be developed based on the audience personas.

Having a Problem+Solution+Benefit approach is strategic and result oriented. But here, make sure to add social proof to enhance your credibility. Problem + Solution + Benefit + Proof = Trust Add client testimonials, customer stories, statistics and graphs that show how your results deliver. The human mind always looks for some kind of proof or validation before accepting your words. Giving social proof equals giving that validation to your target audience. If 500 people have benefited from a product or service, your audience will definitely want to be amongst the next 500. So give it to them.

En ese sentido, sería importante que la narrativa contenga los focos de posicionamiento con los cuales la empresa o entidad quiere ser percibida o reconocida antes sus stakeholders. Es decir, ¿cómo quiero que mi grupo de interés hable de mí? ¿Con cuáles cualidades me relacionan? Todo esto, sin dejar de considerar la filosofía de gestión corporativa: propósito, misión, valores...

Tienes que tener un mensaje principal que te identifique y te posicione como empresa. Tu propuesta de valor. Algo que no está reñido con tener distintos argumentos de venta en función de cada tipo de cliente, ya que perfiles diferentes tienen distintas necesidades y a cada uno solo le interesa lo suyo. Sin olvidar que cualquier mensajes o argumento de ventas debe ser claro y concreto. En comunicación, menos es más. Lo contrario produce confusión y desconfianza.

Prioritizing key messages is a critical step in communications planning. It is tempting to communicate multiple key messages at once to ensure all bases are covered, but it will only confuse and overwhelm your audience. Not all in your team will also understand this, hence communication practitioners should learn to develop strategic and compelling key messages. In my experience, zeroing in on the objectives always helps me rethink whether I should include a particular message or not in a plan or campaign. It also helps me communicate to the rest of the team why I prioritize a certain key message and leave others as supplementary or for future campaigns.

Un método eficaz para formular los mensajes claves consiste en abordar a las personas claves dentro del equipo que brinda atención directa al cliente o a una audiencia determinada. Esto te permitirá obtener insumos de calidad sobre los puntos más importantes para determinada audiencia. Esto también puede ayudar a formular posibles preguntas y respuestas (FAQ, por sus siglas en inglés).

Analysing the audience is obviously an important step. However, once you grasp their specific needs, challenges, and constraints, please start the experimentation phase with your messaging. Don't postpone it. It will give you real answers to your assumptions. You can always correct your strategy in the communication process. I prefer to use tools like A/B testing and note in a CRM system messages and campaigns my prospects responded to. At the end of the test period, the CRM system provides me with analytics of messages and campaigns that resonate most favourably with my prospects.

Knowing who your target audience is paramount accompanied by a case scenario. Than pre-testing your key messages with your audience helps to to refine sets you off to a effective key message that addresses the needs of your targeted audience. Importantly, your audience must relate and feel that the key message is speaking/addressing their needs.