Testing your messages

On deadline this week so the posts will be short. I'm working on messaging projects and thought I'd share the filter I use to test message effectiveness (and to keep everything on track) because nothing can get out of control faster than messaging projects.

I use The 5 Questions to develop and test messaging through all stages of the process, from the beginning drafts to the final polish.

• What is the issue? [What you are talking about and why you are talking about it. Try to make this as specific as possible.]

• Why should people care about the issue? [What's at stake?]

• What is your organization doing about the issue? [Be as specific as possible here as well.]

• What happens if your organization fails? [What happens if donors don't support your activities? What bad thing(s) will happen?]

• What do you want the reader to do? [Call to action -- make it as specific and as easy to do as possible.]

If you only have answers to 3 or 4 of these questions, you might not even want to start writing. Few things are more frustrating than trying to write good messaging with some big pieces missing.

Go back and get the answers to the questions you haven't answered because close doesn't count in messaging. It's like the lottery that way. If you want the big jackpot, you have to get all the numbers. If you want good, effective messaging, you have to answer the questions.

And if you don't ask the questions now, you can be sure a donor -- if they pay attention long enough -- will ask them later.

And last, core messaging is short. Usually no more than 5 to 7 very clear, very direct sentences. So. Does your messaging get the job done? Can you answer all 5 questions clearly and concisely? More importantly, can your fundraisers?

If you have any tests that you use or if you've seen any good messaging lately, please post a comment below. I keep a file of effective messaging (well, okay, I keep a file on just about everything) and I'm always looking for good things to add.