10 Simple Communication Rules

If you fail to clearly communicate with donors, volunteers, staff or board, they will ignore you. If they ignore you, the mission fails. It’s not because they don’t support the mission. It’s because of their lack of patience to figure out what you are saying. Don’t muddle your message.

What value is simplifying your message to grow the mission?

In the classic book, Words that work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear, Frank Luntz spells out ten simple rules so Champions hear what you said:

1. Simplicity: Use small words.

   
   

2. Brevity: Use short sentences. Be as brief as possible.

   
   

3. Credibility is as important as the mission: people have to believe what you say before they connect.

   
   

4. Consistency Matters: Repetition, repetition, repetition. People forget, remind them.

   
   

5. Novelty: Offer something new. Create a fresh definition for an old idea. We answer to a higher authority. – Hebrew National, hot dog company.

   
   

6. Sound & Texture Matter: String words with the same first letter sound or cadence … simplicity, brevity, credibility, consistency, novelty … Suzy sells seashells at the seashore … to create the sound of music.

   
   

7. Speak Aspirationally: your message needs to says what your Champion wants to hear. People forget what you say, but they remember how you made them feel.

   
   

8. Visualization: paint vivid pictures. “Imagine” triggers the process of visualizing. Imagine a world without poverty.

   
   

9. Ask a question: “Got Milk?” Rhetorical questions have greater impact than simple assertions.

   
   

10. Provide Context & Explain Relevance: Clarify why they need to do to connect. Without context, there is little value in your message’s impact or relevance. This is the personal part of communication.

The moral of this message?

It’s not what you say, it’s what people hear.

To simplifying your message,

Wes Legg

Coach & Facilitator

Let's talk about simplifying your message.

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