What are you doing to deliver a message that is clear, crisp, and consistent?

The message you are trying to deliver to your audience is very important to ensure you are working with the right people and businesses necessary to be effective and efficient. So, being clear with your message and its delivery is a key element to your business’ success. Present yourself well.

It’s has been said that you have 7-11 seconds to make a good first impression. You’ll need to capture the attention of your audience promptly.

An audience can be 1 or more people. Here are some ways to grab and hook your audience.
• Make the message memorable - Start your presentation/communication with a highly reactive or interesting graphic, statistic, or picture. Hook them.
• Presentation or converse in a way that provokes an emotional response from the audience. Ask an open ended question that ties your topic to the audience personally.
• Deliver your presentation or conversation with focus so all topics or subtopics are aligned and your message is clearly understood. Be heard and understood. Why are people listening to you? What is it they may be seeking, possibly consciously or sub consciously, to take away from your presentation or conversation?
• Drill down your message to bullet points. 3-4 is generally a good maximum number.

The setting should be considered at time of delivery. Distractions or bad timing can affect the attention of your audience. Also, stay away from using weak words. Do not use vague words if possible.

Tone and inflection are important when delivering your message. This creates the mood and feel of a message. Speech patterns, accents, or the speed of your speech should be taken into consideration as well. Furthermore, personality effects your message. Two different personality types can deliver the same information with completely different tone and inflection which will change the message.

Take a few minutes to look internally at yourself before writing out your message (consider your personality, speech patterns, accent, how slow or fast you talk, etc.). What tone compliments the delivery of your message?

Determine your message. Then read it, write it, and say it aloud. Then, have an honest colleague(s) provide you feedback and constructive critique on how they perceive your message. Ask several colleagues for their critique until you are comfortable with the message you have created. Practice it until it rolls out of your mouth fluent and smooth without being misinterpreted by your audience.

If you are working across multiple departments in your organization make sure the message is clear, concise, and consistent with your mantra or mission statement. Everyone needs to be working together delivering the same message to be properly understood as an organization. On a regular basis, as a best practice, communicate your company tenants and mission to all departments and individuals including: Sales & Marketing, Finance, Customer Service, Field service Teams, HR, etc. Miscommunication could result in major setbacks internally if there is a disconnection between departments and their understanding of the organizations message.

Message is closely tied to your Branding. Keep it clear and think of the audience’s comprehension of your message when developing it. Consider the point of view. Sometimes we can get caught up in seeing the product/service only through our eyes when in most cases we should be viewing our product/service through the eyes of the consumer.