When I turned on the TV the other day, I was lucky enough to catch the end of a teleshopping segment. These shows are real masters of a particular aspect of communication, repeating the message.
It’s something that I often have to remind myself of. Things that are important to me should only need to be said once. It’s important, so people should be paying attention and they should remember what’s being said.
In reality, this is far from true. People may not recognise that it’s an important statement. They might not be ready to hear the importance of it. Maybe something else is on their mind, or they simply aren’t listening.
Teleshoppers know that you may just switch on to the channel, that you aren’t likely to be be paying attention but they want to catch you and get you to take an action.
They endlessly repeat their core message. Pay attention. This thing solves a problem. It’s a problem you have. It’s good value, it’ll be better for you if you buy this thing today.
They also do it in a range of ways. Someone shows the product. They talk about it. Messages scroll across the screen or take over the entire display. The words change, but the point is made again and again until you have no chance of misunderstanding it.
These are techniques you can bring into use when you have an important message to share. Think about how you’ll repeat it. You need to share it more than once, and you need a plan. Use different channels to help it land.
Say it face-to-face. Broadcast in an All-Hands. Send an email newsletter. Repeat it next time. Follow-up to confirm that people know what’s going on an to confirm the message is landing. Adapt if you need to.
Don’t overdo it, and don’t use this for every message, but if you need something important to be understood, steal a leaf out of the teleshopper playbook.
James Osborn 