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- Expecting people to do the right thing for the right reason. This mindset leads
organisations to ignore the reality that self-interest drives what individuals pay attention
to and act upon. Not surprisingly, organisational messages fall on deaf ears when
groups try to catch the attention of audiences by speaking about what interests the
charity instead of the audience.
- Telling people what they need to do rather than connecting with what they want to do.
People are often more motivated by their desires than by their needs. Continually
focusing on what people should do because they need to do it and ignoring the power
of desire as a motivator may seem righteous, but it is a recipe for failure in getting
across a message.
- Assuming that creating awareness or providing information will, by itself, accomplish
a charity’s mission. Creating awareness, informing, educating or persuading are only
stepping stones on the path to action. Unfortunately, many non-profit groups cannot
articulate what action they are trying to effect. Developing a message that succeeds
in moving people to take a desired action requires a clear focus on what that action is.
- Deciding to do something without fully assessing the financial and other implications
of doing so. Once a group has identified what people want, it needs to determine that
it has the time, money, expertise and other resources to deliver results that match up
with those desires – or its message will fail to generate the sustained action needed
to make change.
- Providing the maximum amount of information as quickly as possible in the belief
that this is key to communication success. When developing a strategic message,
whose purpose is to connect with and engage key supporters while laying a foundation
for delivering the organisation’s in-depth information, more is often less. The process
of capturing and holding attention relies upon a listener being able to easily grasp what
is being said – and that is easier to do when sentences are short and simple.
- Making communications a second-tier function, not a strategic component of a
charity’s mission worthy of attention from the highest levels of the organisation. The
best programmes, the most persuasive policy positions, the most worthy causes –
are invisible if the messages that carry them into the world are not as strategically
crafted as the programmes and policies themselves.
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