COMMUNICATION: Can’t Get Your Message Across? Here’s Help

Can You Deliver Your Message?

So you’ve been brainstorming and you’ve come up with an idea you think can make a difference for you and for the company.  Just how big is it?  And how do you plan to get it across?  How many times has your “good idea” been left behind while that from another creates excitement and momentum?

Let’s face it, we all like to share our ideas and hope they generate excitement for the company.  And your idea might be the one with the most potential – you just don’t know the way to get it across the finish line.  

Communicating our thoughts to Players in Pro-am

Over the last two years leading communications at LPGA, I've helped us build.... and shared a seminar with our players called "Winning the Game with the Media"... which we've tailored to their needs of growing their own brand - and ours as well - through media opportunities.  Some call it "media training"... I call it "media understanding." At each seminar,  I NEED to make sure I get my ideas across and I need our players to be able to walk out the door and be able to tell others what was discussed.                

Author John Jantsch – called the "World's Most Practical Small Business Expert" by some - wrote “The Referral Engine”… where he talks about the importance of growing a business.  Marketing a business comes through communication and referrals.  This book has been a big help to me over the last few years of broadening my horizons beyond just being a television host. I've done as much speaking about "communication" and setting YOU and your ideas apart from the rest as I have about my years working on television.  
At the LPGA these days... ideas are a big part of the momentum we're living and everyone on our team is encouraged to share and sell.

Jantsch talks about the 4 C’s to Business Success. 

*content – the business and what it is

*context – do people know what your business is and what you’re selling

*connection – those who buy your business or what you sell

*community – those who refer your business to others

Communication is really no different and I believe that the 4 C’s apply to communicating an idea or concept to others just like they do in selling or marketing a business concept.

 *content – the idea or message itself.  What is it you are promoting?

*context – how simple is the message content?  Can people easily understand it?

*connection – can those on the receiving end of your message or idea latch on?
*community - those who "buy in" and become sellers of you and your ideas

Does YOUR message arrive?

Remember the “message in a bottle” story?  Someone puts a note inside a bottle, drops it in the ocean and hopes somebody sees it to come to the rescue.  We’ve all heard it. 

Your idea is something that has to get from point A to point B.  Along the way, the success or failure of the message content depends on the simplicity of the message and the way you sell it to others.

So consider your idea as a “message”… and when it comes to communicating it… take the time to evaluate the message or idea and create a plan to deliver it in the best way to receive the best results. 

In communication, a message isn't just something... it's the only thing. 

Thought of the Day - Don't sell your ideas short.  Just make sure you've thought about how to sell your ideas.

Follow me on Twitter  @KraigKann