EFFECTIVE MESSAGING for Strategies (G011)

Workshops > Government > Complete List > Effective Messaging

WHY SHOULD YOU ATTEND?

In a complex communications environment with thousands of messages from diverse sources, government communicators face increased pressure to ensure their messages are received, understood and acted upon. Developing and delivering messages in support of an organization’s mission, policies, programs and expected results has become one of the most important and challenging areas of strategic communications. The ability to develop a comprehensive message system that will successfully respond to both their organization’s and their target audiences’ needs amidst today’s communications “clutter” is one of the essential elements in being an effective communicator.

WHAT WILL YOU LEARN?

The workshop will focus on:

  • Linking messages to strategic communications and expected results
  • Developing and applying a comprehensive message system
  • Different types of messaging for different communications media
  • The attributes of successful messages and how to incorporate them
  • Developing and crafting effective messages for diverse audiences
  • Testing messages for optimum impact
  • Monitoring and measuring the success of messages

WHAT WILL YOU TAKE AWAY?

  • Workbook and checklists, how-to procedures/reminders and templates
  • Exercise hand-outs

Agenda

 

8:45 - 9:00 AM

Participant Introductions and Workshop Overview

9:00 - 10:00 AM

Strategic Communications Planning Context
Being strategic - thinking strategically; strategic communications. The planning process & technique, linkages between messaging and strategy. The importance of situational analysis. Understanding objectives and results. Importance of knowing audiences and targets. Different types of audience segmentation. Understanding the Strategic Communication Message Pyramid.

10:00 - 10:30 AM

Case Study Exercise: Understanding our Audiences
Participants working in groups will develop the first elements of audience segmentation and a set of communications themes based upon a scenario distributed to them and will report back with their results. Instructor-led feedback and discussion.

10:30 - 10:45 AM

Break

10:45 - 11:15 AM

The Importance and Impact of Positioning and Messaging
Developing and applying the "message pyramid". Defining our positioning statement. Linkages to messaging. Relationship between messaging, positioning and branding.

11:15 - 11:45 AM

Case Study Exercise: From Positioning to Themes and Core Messages
Participants working in groups will develop a set of core messages based on the previously developed communications themes and will report back with their results. Instructor-led discussion and feedback.

11:45 - 12:30 PM

Message Engineering - The Right Basics
The traditional "R's" of message engineering - the "right" message, audience, vehicle, messenger and timing. The holistic "R's" - relevance, resonance and responsiveness. The practical "R's" - repeatibility, reviseability and reinforceability.

12:30 - 1:30 PM

Lunch

1:30 - 2:15 PM

Messages and Mediated Communications
Understanding that messages are mediated. Speech; text; Video and TV; Web. Impact of different types of messaging on diverse audiences. Which type of message to use when and with whom. Importance of visual messaging.

2:15 - 2:45 PM

Case Study Exercise: Applying Visual Messaging
Participants working in groups will identify and correlate different types of visual messages with each of the previously prepared communications themes together with suggestions for visual message enhancements and will report back with their results. Instructor-led feedback and discussion.

2:45 - 3:00 PM

Break

3:00 - 3:30 PM

Tailoring Message for Diverse Audiences
Crafting specialized messages. What do we have to know. Learning from our research. Putting the "meat on the bones". Revisiting the key "R's" of message engineering.

3:30 - 4:00 PM

Case Study Exercise: From Core to Specialized Messages
Participants in groups of two will develop a series of specialized messages for specific audiences based upon the previously prepared core messages and will report back with their results. Instructor-led feedback and discussion.

4:00 - 4:20 PM

Getting it Right and Knowing It - Testing and Measuring Messages.
Pre-testing. What makes a message successful. Choosing the right tools and techniques to measure the success of our messages. When and what to measure. Linking measurement to the strategy's expected results.

4:20 - 4:30 PM

Wrap-up and Workshop Evaluation


Instructors

Josef Jurkovic

Josef Jurkovic is a CEC director and President of Paradigm Communications with extensive experience as a strategic communications, marketing and international public affairs specialist.

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Stephen Goban

A CEC director, and principal of SBG & Associates, Mr. Goban has undertaken marketing and strategic communications for companies, associations and government departments.

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When, Where How much?

Date not set

Suite 205, 223 Colonnade Road
South, Ottawa

$ 675 (+ tax)

Register for a workshop

Online

By mail

The Centre for Excellence in Communications
Suite 214,
223 Colonnade Rd South
Ottawa, Ontario,
K2E 7K3

By email

registration@comcec.com

By telephone

(613) 233 2175

By fax

(613) 233 7617

E-mail Updates

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Testimonials

"Great progressive approach and exercises with the case study"

"The course was well organized and the material provided was very useful"

"This course provided hands on approaches and processes that I can use in my position"