Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "One’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."
Connecting with both the head and the heart is important in the development of effective business communications. We need to balance our messages with both a logical and an emotional component, and when one of these elements is left out, the message often fails to make a connection with its audience.
To craft the logical side of your messages—use the left side of your brain to formulate communications that are effective, intelligent and easy to understand.
It doesn’t matter if it’s marketing materials, employee communications, or a chat at the watercooler, there are no shortcuts to making an intellectual connection. But there are a few tricks of the trade to make the process easier and more effective. Here’s a partial list.
- Walk a mile in your audience’s shoes. Or at least take a short stroll. Find out who they really are, what they know or don’t know about the subject, and what preconceived ideas they might have. To mind-meld with your audience, think about what the information you’re communicating might mean to them. And then adjust the message and express it with their needs in mind.
- Answer "why?" Once you know where your audience’s head is, craft the message in a way that answers the question: "Why is that important?" Make people care about factual information by focusing on benefits, not just features. People need to know how your message relates to them specifically. Give them a reason to care.
- Use facts as hooks. Did you know that 95 percent of central Illinois businesses could double their profits in the next five years? While this statement isn’t a fact, it got your attention. It shows how powerful facts can be (when they’re true) in making your messages relevant and memorable. Likewise, if you have an important product or service benefit your competition can’t match, or if you have a competitive advantage such as quality or price (anything that can be objectively quantified), focus on the facts, hanging your hat on this point of difference for as long as it’s effective and grows your business.
- Tell the truth. Never over-exaggerate or spin information to change its meaning. Today’s audiences are much too intelligent for that. And once you’ve lost their trust, you’ve lost them totally.
- Don’t presume for others. Once you’ve delivered the facts, it’s up to your audience to draw their own conclusions. Nothing closes off communication faster than setting yourself up as the ultimate expert. Using phrases like "I know you’ll agree" or "it’s obvious" not only looks like you’re trying to put yourself on a pedestal, it also gives your audience an opportunity to disagree.
- Keep it short. Don’t overwhelm the audience with every piece of factual data available. Pick the two or three most important ones (that’s all people will be able to remember).
- Keep it simple. Respect your audience’s intelligence, but don’t complicate the message with big words or technical jargon. Whether talking to your next-door neighbor or to a convention of brain surgeons, it’s always best to keep things simple, personal and friendly. If it’s not something you’d say in everyday conversation, don’t say it.
- Think beyond sentences and paragraphs. Most people don’t have the time or desire to read detailed information. So make them feel like they’re not. How? By organizing information into easy-to-digest chunks, using copy bullets, making lists, and creating diagrams and charts. And then putting it all into a hierarchy—with the most important information in a headline and the supporting data in bullet points.
Remember, the most effective messages connect with both the head and the heart—making people think and feel. IBI
