Zucchini, Patio Furniture and Your Message

Walk into Costco and you can buy almost anything.

You can pick up zucchini, a television, a new set of tires, a kayak and enough toilet paper to last longer than you’d probably care to admit. And somehow, it works. Costco can be many things to many people.

Your communication can’t.

One of the easiest ways to weaken a message is to try to make it relevant to everyone. We add more information. We broaden the language. We explain every angle, so no one feels left out.

And somewhere along the way, the message loses its point.

Who Are You Actually Speaking To?

“Know your audience” is standard communication advice, and it happens to be the starting point in our tool, The Power To Connect. And “Who is your audience?” is a question that’s easy to interpret too narrowly.

Knowing your audience goes well beyond demographics, job titles or where someone sits on an organizational chart. It’s important to understand what’s happening in their world right now.

What are they worried about? What are they trying to accomplish? What has changed for them recently? What questions are already running through their minds? And, perhaps most importantly, why should what you’re saying matter to them?

Consider a customer receiving a marketing message. They’re probably not particularly interested in your company’s goals, your internal terminology or all the features you’re proud of. They’re trying to determine whether you understand their problem and whether you can help solve it.

Employees are doing something similar.

When you announce a new initiative, restructure, policy or strategic direction, people immediately begin translating that information into their own reality:

What does this mean for me? 

That question isn’t selfish. It’s human.

One Audience Isn’t Always One Audience

Internal communication creates an interesting challenge because sometimes you really do need to speak to everyone at once.

Think about an all-hands meeting.

Sitting in that room—or joining that call—might be the receptionist, someone who started three weeks ago, a frontline manager, a 15-year employee and the CFO.

They don’t have the same responsibilities. They don’t have the same context. And they certainly aren’t listening through the same lens.

Yet you have one message to deliver.

So how do you make it meaningful without turning your presentation into the communication equivalent of the Costco warehouse?

A few things help.

Start With What Everyone Shares

Before thinking about roles, departments or levels, identify the common ground.

What matters across the organization? What is the one idea you want people discussing after the meeting?

That becomes the spine of your message.

Everything else should support it rather than compete with it.

Give People Context Before Detail

Leaders often have far more context than the people they’re communicating with. They’ve spent weeks—or months—in meetings discussing an issue before announcing a decision.

The audience may be hearing about it for the first time.

Bring them along.

Explain what’s happening, why it matters and what led to the decision before moving into details. You don’t need to recreate every meeting that came before it, and people need enough context to understand the thinking.

Translate the Message into Their World

A single message can have different implications for different people.

A new business strategy might mean one thing to finance, another to sales and something entirely different to someone working directly with customers.

Acknowledge those differences.

You might say, “For our customer-facing teams, here’s what this changes…” and then, “For those supporting the business internally, here’s what is important to know…”

You’re still telling one story. You’re simply helping people find themselves within it.

Decide What Doesn’t Belong

This may be the hardest part.

Good communication requires editing.

Every fact you know doesn’t need to appear in the presentation. Every product feature doesn’t belong in the marketing copy. Every detail of a leadership discussion doesn’t need to make its way into an employee announcement.

Ask yourself: Does this information help my audience understand, decide or act? 

If it doesn’t, consider leaving it out.

Make the Next Step Clear

Communication can take people somewhere.

Maybe you want a prospective customer to book a call. Perhaps employees need to understand a change. Maybe your team needs to make a decision, adopt a new behaviour or simply leave a meeting with greater confidence about where the organization is headed.

Whatever the goal, make it clear.

People shouldn’t have to sort through your message to figure out what you want them to know or do.

Leave the Warehouse to Costco

There’s a reason Costco can sell zucchini beside patio furniture. People walk through the doors expecting enormous variety.

They don’t expect that from your communication.

Whether you’re writing a marketing campaign, delivering an all-hands presentation or sending an email to your team, relevance matters more than volume.

Know who’s listening. Understand what’s happening in their world. Give them the context they need. Help them see where they fit. Then make the point you came to make.

You don’t have to provide something for everyone. The right message for the people you’re trying to reach will do the trick. No membership card necessary.

Before you craft your next message, start where we do with The Power To Connect: Who is your audience—and what’s happening in their world right now?

Better yet, if you’re unsure what your message should be—or how to make sure it connects with the people who matter—give us a call. We can help.