The Art & Science of Key Messages (Part One)

Effective communications is both an art and a science, and to be successful, any marketing communications program must be relevant to your target audiences. At the very heart of the communications program are key messages. For this reason, developing key organizational messages is a critical first step to any communications campaign.

Key messages should speak directly to target audiences’ interests, while effectively impacting the desired behavioral changes. Too often, organizations craft overly complex messages by including "everything and the kitchen sink" that they want to say about the organization. The result is key messages that tend to be too long and difficult to remember. Instead, messages should be clear, concise and direct. “Easier said than done” – true, but not impossible. Following are some quick tips for developing memorable messages for your organization and for training your organization's ambassadors (spokespeople, other employees, volunteers, etc.) to deliver those messages.

Identify Target Audiences
Some important first questions to ask when beginning the message development process: Who are you trying to reach and why? What is it that you want your audience to learn or do as a result of your message?

Key messages are what you want your target audiences to "take away" from your campaign or program. Your organization will have multiple target audiences, but instead of trying to come up with 12 messages for the 12 target audiences you've identified, there's probably an opportunity to combine these audiences into like-minded groups. For example, let's pretend your organization is a food pantry providing food to individuals and families. While the food pantry may identify numerous target audiences, there is a natural way to "group" audiences because of what you want them to do.

Potential targets for a food pantry include:
• Donors – People and businesses that donate money and food to the organization
• Influencers or key stakeholders – Policymakers and community leaders interested in finding ways to reduce the number of families living in poverty
• Clients or customers – Individuals and families who use the services of the food pantry.
In this example, you can begin seeing how your messages are targeted to each of these distinct groups.

Following is an example of a key message directed to donors:
"ABC Food Pantry is a model of efficiency and stability, from its low administrative costs and vast volunteer base, to how it collects and delivers food to people in need." From there, you can insert a proof point to back up the message. "In fact, 93 cents of every dollar raised goes directly to providing services to people who are hungry."

Check back for part two of this blog where I'll cover more on how to develop key messages and proof points.

~ Barb Jones

An inspiring tale of one's quest to become healthier

Do you ever read a blog that gives you the extra push you need to make something happen? Most recently, I enjoyed a post from our client, Bob Mook, at the Colorado Health Foundation. His post, "To health and back again," focused on his quest to live a healthier life - for him and his family - and offered some key advice: While health-focused organizations like LiveWell Colorado encourage and promote healthy living, "revolution also begins at home – as in your home."

Just like me, Bob's post, might give you the extra push you need to walk, run or venture to the gym this weekend.



~ Jennifer

Team Impressionistas Takes a Second Look at First Impressions

Around 55% of another person's perception of you is based on how you look. Fair? No. Human nature? Regrettably so. We’d all like to believe that an employer will choose substance over style during a job interview, but there’s no denying that wardrobe is part of a first impression.

You know the scenario – the golden call for a job interview comes in and, the night before, you’re tearing through your closet trying on every suit you own to decide if it’s “the one.” I’ll admit I’ve probably spent more time prepping my interview outfit than my interview question responses.

But the reality is that not everyone has the luxury of picking and choosing from a closet stocked with professional attire. If you’re a low-income woman on a budget, there’s one place you’re likely to turn for a little wardrobe 9-1-1 – Dress for Success Denver. As part of GFM’s 10^th anniversary Get Giving initiative, the Impressionistas Team is donating money and time to help Dress for Success Denver continue to help women make powerful first impressions in the workforce through updated wardrobes, as well as career training and counseling. And, seeing that it’s the nonprofit’s 5^th anniversary this year, the timing for our partnership couldn’t have been more serendipitous.

The timing is also opportune for you to donate. Are you now working in a more casual or remote environment, yet keeping a stash of just-in-case suits? (This was so me until recently.) Did you lose or gain weight and can’t bring yourself to purge the old-you attire? Label it lazy, hopeful, sentimental or something else, but really… it’s time to put those perfectly good suits to good use.

Here are a few ideas you can do today to help Dress for Success Denver’s disadvantaged women in their journey to economic independence:

• Donate… duh. Drop-offs are the second Saturday of the month at Dress for Success Denver, which means the next one is Nov. 12. Mark it on your calendar today. Heck, go a step further and round up suits from your friends and/or officemates. Help them help others.
• Don’t donate. What I mean to say is don’t donate anything you wouldn’t wear yourself. These women want to feel chic, professional and confident, so bring only new or nearly new clothes with no stains or tears (that means no 80’s shoulder pads a la Melanie Griffith in “Working Girl”). Current wish list items are: white button-down shirts, black slacks sizes 16-26, camisoles, nice jewelry and handbags.
• Financial support. Don’t have suits to spare? Financial donations in any amount help.
• Volunteer. Visit the Dress for Success Denver volunteer page to sign up to be a personal shopper, career center counselor or donation day warrior.
• Show some Facebook love. Follow Dress for Success Denver on Facebook to learn about their events, their needs, help share their cause with your own networks or just to tell them what a great job they’re doing.

~ Rebecca

GrrrrroundFloor Animals Get Giving to support Morris Animal Foundation’s Canine Cancer Campaign

Morris Animal Foundation’s Canine Cancer Campaign tag line says it all, “Best Friends Helping Best Friends.” It was our team’s love for our best friends that quickly united us to support the Canine Cancer Campaign as part of GroundFloor Media’s 10^th Anniversary Get Giving project. For me the decision was also deeply personal; this past June I lost my best friend Duke to lymphoma.

Duke was a labor of love. We rescued him when he was just shy of his second birthday. We were told that we were his fourth home, but that had nothing to do with behavioral issues rather lack of time to care for a high-energy Weimaraner. We welcomed Duke into our home, and he quickly became my shadow. He was never keen on leaving the house and often had to be bribed to go for a walk. Offering a ride in the car was always met with hesitation and usually required us lifting him reluctantly. Duke was a home body. Sounds great except that it was Duke’s home and he was adamant about not letting others in, making it difficult to entertain or host house guests.

In March, something changed in Duke. At first, the vet optimistically thought it was a minor infection, but he wanted to run additional blood work. A few days later that blood work confirmed the worse –Duke had lymphoma. According to Morris Animal Foundation, 1 in 4 dogs will die of cancer. It is also the leading cause of death in dogs over the age of 2 years, and the risk increases with age. On June 20, my best friend Duke became part of that statistic.

Morris Animal Foundation’s Canine Cancer Campaign is funding research to help develop prevention strategies, test new treatments, establish tools for cancer researchers and train new scientists specializing in cancer research. Our team hopes that you will support this campaign by helping raise funds to one day cure this disease that affects so many of our "best friends." For every dollar we raise, through its 10^th Anniversary Get Giving program, GroundFloor will match it up to $2,500.00. Please take a moment to visit our giving page and learn more about Morris Animal Foundation’s Canine Cancer Campaign. Feel free to share the link with friends and family because together we are working to fund a cure.

~ Kristina, team member of GrrrrrroundFloor Animals

10th Anniversary Get Giving: Underwearness

As part of its 10th Anniversary celebration, GFM has identified four charities to which staff teams will be dedicating time and effort, as well as donating $2,500 to help the cause. In this video meet Koree Kongphand-Buckman, founder of Underwearness. GFM will be supporting Underwearness in the coming months by helping to fulfill and deliver orders around the Denver metro area, as well as raising awareness for Underwearness through some local media outreach. You can learn more about Underwearness at www.underwearness.org.

Celebrating by Giving Back

As most of you know by now, GroundFloor Media is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. And as you also know, giving back to the community has been an integral part of our agency from Day One. So, it only seemed natural that our celebration should include a community component. The only question was what it would look like…

In the end, we decided to build upon our existing Get Giving program and donate $10,000 ($1,000 for every year the agency has been in operation) to four nonprofit organizations. Our crew divided into four teams, and each team chose a nonprofit to support. The only stipulation was that the organization had to be a 501(c)3 – otherwise, the sky was the limit. Not surprisingly, knowing our crew, women, children and animals rose to the top, and the selected nonprofits were:

• Colfax Community Network: advocates for and works on behalf of children and families residing in low-income, transient housing (primarily residential motels) along Colfax Avenue
• Dress for Success – Denver: promotes the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing them professional attire, a network of support and career development tools
• Morris Animal Foundation: advances health and welfare research that protects, treats and cures companion animals, horses and wildlife worldwide
• Underwearness: provides new underwear to children in need

Our teams will be jumping in to volunteer with each of these groups, in addition to providing them with $2,500 apiece. We’ll be conducting a clothing and hygiene product drive for Colfax Community Network (CCN), as well as planning a field trip for the kids involved in CCN’s after school program. We’ll be working with Dress for Success – Denver as it celebrates its own fifth anniversary. And we’ll be supporting Morris Animal Foundation’s Canine Cancer Campaign and helping to deliver underwear to kids in need.

Of course, we’ll be blogging, tweeting and posting to Facebook about our adventures along the way – so be sure to check frequently for updates. And if you’d like to find out how to get involved with any of the above projects and/or organizations, please check out our newly launched 10^th Anniversary Get Giving webpage. We have been so fortunate to be a part of this community for the past 10 years – we are thrilled to be able to give something back as we celebrate this milestone.

~Laura Love-Aden