The 5-Point Test to Determine How Well Your Advocacy Messaging is Performing - Episode 35

You're listening to the nonprofit power podcast. In today's episode, we share a five point checklist to help you determine how well your advocacy messaging is performing for you. So stay tuned. If you want to have real and powerful influence over the money and policy decisions that impact your organization and the people you serve, then you're in the right place. I'm Cath Patrick, and I've helped dozens of progressive non profit leaders take their organizations to new and higher levels of impact and success by building powerful influence with the decision makers that matter. It is possible to get a critical mass of the money and policy decision makers in your world to be as invested in your success as you are, to have them seeking you out as an equal partner, and to have them Bringing opportunities and resources to you. This podcast will help you do just that. Welcome to the nonprofit power podcast. Hey everybody. Kath Patrick here. Thank you so much for tuning into another episode of the nonprofit power podcast. I'm so glad you're here for today's episode. A key driver of advocacy success is the effectiveness of your messaging. If your messaging isn't landing, the decision-maker won't engage. It's that simple. But when your messaging is dialed in to that decision maker, they're leaning in, they want to know more and they're excited to work with you. Mhm. Hey there folks. Welcome to the nonprofit power podcast. I'm your host Kath Patrick. If you don't have the level of engagement you want with one or more decision makers in your world. Chances are there are some aspects of your messaging that could use a tune-up. There are five major tests of messaging effectiveness. And we're going to take a look at each of those and get into how you can adjust your messaging to address any areas of underperformance. And take your messaging effectiveness to the next level. So, what are those five tests? They're pretty simple. And chances are one or more of these is going to resonate with you pretty strongly. The first test is, does the decision maker get what you do? Do they understand it? Do they get the nuances? Second test is, do they value what you do? Third, do they see how their interests align with yours? Fourth, do they feel motivated to take the actions you want them to take? Because if they're not motivated, don't look for much action. And fifth, do they see you as a trustworthy and reliable partner? With each of these, you're probably dealing with a matter of degrees with any given decision maker. And you may find that your messaging is landing really well with certain decision-makers and not with others. To improve the effectiveness of your messaging you're going to need to become a bit of a detective, and dig into the details of all of these five big questions that are the test for messaging effectiveness. Digging into those details, playing detective will help you identify which aspects of your messaging may be missing the mark, or missing altogether. So let's take a look at that first one. Do they get what you do? If they don't understand what you do, you can't get anywhere with them. Right. And I hear this so often from nonprofit leaders. They'll talk about we've talked to this decision maker half a dozen times, they've been to our program, and they like us, but they still don't really get what we do. So some questions to dig a little deeper, are do they understand which specific problem or problems that you solve? And when I say, do they understand it? What I mean is, could they explain it to someone else? Do they understand the nuances of your solution and what's unique about it? And could they explain it to someone else? Cause that's an indicator of real understanding. Another useful question to ask yourself and reflect on is have you noticed that there are certain questions you get frequently, that indicate a lack of understanding of some fundamental aspect of the work that you do? If you put together your answers to these three questions, you're going to have some really good clues about where to revisit your messaging. So if you're finding that the part they're not getting is which problems you solve. And this is really common. That whatever space you're working in, whether it's housing or healthcare or workforce development or nutrition or education, wherever you are. Most decision-makers have a general sense of the broad problem. That's not the issue here. The issue is they don't understand your piece of it. They don't understand what about your work, the problem you solve, how that piece of the problem, that aspect of the problem is important. And why it's important and how solving it changes results, changes what happens in people's lives. Maybe they get the problem you solve but they don't get the details of how you solve it. What's unique about your approach to the solution? What do you do that's different from others? What do you do that gets more impactful outcomes, that's more effective. And then that last one of, do you notice the same kinds of questions coming up over and over again, or the same kinds of misconceptions? If you hear a decision maker describe your program to someone else, and there's a piece that they're consistently getting wrong. And usually it will be that they're overgeneralizing. Or worse, they're saying you're just like XYZ other organization that in fact solves an entirely different piece of the problem. Or maybe doesn't do such a great job or whatever it is. So if they've lumped you together in their mind with a bunch of other programs that in fact solve different aspects of the problem. And have perhaps different levels of impact in their outcomes. That's a big problem for you. But you can't fix your messaging until you figure out which part of the, "they don't get us" is the part that is the problem. With all of these, the first step to fixing your message is the same. You have to dig into what are the small ingredients, the small pieces of what is not landing, what they're not hearing. Cause I'm pretty sure you've been telling them for since forever what it is that you do. But if they're not getting it, then there's something about your messaging, that's not connecting for them. That's not helping them see the distinctions that you need them to see. So in order to fix it, you've got to take it apart. And say, okay, for decision-maker X, what do they get? do they get any part of this or are they completely clueless? Another question to ask yourself is, when you have a failed understanding or a misunderstanding, is it true across all types of decision makers or all decision makers in general? or is it the case that a certain type of decision maker, or maybe just one or two individuals are not getting what you need them to get. Because in each case, the remedy will be different. If you're noticing that, for example, city and county agency people who are also immersed in the business of addressing problems on a direct level that they pretty well get what you do, and they understand the distinction. But say state legislators really don't. that they tend to lump you in with other groups and don't really get the difference. That's one piece of information. But if you find that everybody's not getting it, then you know you have a big gap in your messaging that needs to be corrected across the board. Sometimes your messaging will need to be reworked across the board. Sometimes it'll be specific to a certain individual decision maker or a certain category of decision maker. Contracting partners may get the problem you solve, but they might not get the nuances of how you solve it. So that's different. They're clear on the detailed problem you solve, but they have a misunderstanding about your approach, your methodology. The way you do it that is a key part of why your outcomes are so exceptional. So then, you've got to focus in on that piece with that audience. Hopefully, this is making sense. This is a giant deconstruction project, basically. But it's helpful to give yourself these kinds of breadcrumbs to ask deeper questions, instead of feeling frustrated that they're not getting it. Instead ask yourself How could I frame this differently? How could I shape my messaging to get at the specific aspects that they're not getting? But before you can do that, you got to take that apart and understand which pieces are falling through the cracks and which pieces are landing. So the next big test is, do they value what you do? Now this is a little bit subjective, in that they could just not care about the problem and therefore they don't see any particular value in solving it. That's not so much a messaging issue as it is a beliefs and values misalignment issue. Although that can still be addressed with messaging. Let's say they agree that the problem you solve is a problem worth solving. But they may not understand all the aspects of value that you bring. So some detective questions to try to take this apart are, do they understand the full impact and value of the outcomes that you create? And do they understand your impact and value in multiple terms. Do they understand the impact and value in how it improves the lives of the people you serve in concrete terms? Do they understand the return on investment? How it generates a net cost savings in the long run or whatever your financial value proposition is. In many, many cases for direct service non-profits there is in fact, a longterm cost savings associated with it. But you have to find that framing and articulate it clearly. And the other question to investigate is do they understand how it improves the wellbeing of the community in concrete terms? Ideally you want them getting all these pieces, because the more you stack those together, the higher the overall value in the decision makers mind. And you want them valuing you at the highest possible level. But it's important to understand there are different ways of articulating value, of assessing value. And you want to cover all of them. I know you already know that you should be talking about value in these terms. But the questions you're trying to ask yourself are, what pieces of this message are not penetrating, for which individual decision-makers or which categories of decision-makers? And then part of what you want to ask yourself is, what is it about that individual or that category that makes them see this whole situation a little bit differently? What is their unique perspective on the problem, on the solution that we provide, and on how one would characterize value? What are their perspectives around those things? Whatever their perspectives are about what is valuable, about what problems are important, about the details of the problem and how it matters that it's specific and unique. All of this has to be framed in terms that that decision maker is going to resonate with, that's going to make sense to them in their existing perspective and worldview. Now, ultimately of course, over time, you hope to expand their perspective and worldview. And that will be awesome when you get there. But initially, and often for quite an extended period, you're really having to work with their preset perspectives and worldviews. And you're figuring out how to articulate your stuff in a context that resonates for them and causes them to understand the nuances of the problem. Understand how you bring a unique solution, understand how that is a unique value proposition and that it is highly valuable. But you can't do any of that until you figure it out what part don't they get? And why don't they get it? If they don't get it, there is a mismatch between how you're explaining it and their set of filters, their worldview, their perspectives that are not letting them hear it the way you intended. So you're just being the detective and you're deconstructing until you figure out which pieces of this need to be tweaked. So that we can get this to land with this individual or with this category of decision-maker. So these first two pieces, that do they get what they do and do they value it? Those are fundamental. You've got to get those right before you move on to anything else. But the next piece in this, the next level, is, do they see how their interests are aligned with yours? And this is huge. This is an absolutely essential ingredient for them being motivated to help you. Unless they can somehow help you without lifting a finger, which is unlikely. They're going to have to invest some time and energy and possibly some money into taking the actions that you want them to take. So they got to have some interest of theirs being met. So some detective questions to ask are have they shared with you any problems or challenges that they're dealing with? And if you can't recall them ever talking about that, then that's an indicator that you may have a conversational area that it's going to be very important to explore with them. And then my next question for you is how else have you identified their pain points? If they haven't told you what they are. What other work have you done to figure out and identify what their challenges and struggles and areas of pain are? And then have you clearly connected the dots for them? Because one thing we have to be super cognizant of is that the decision maker is not going to do any of this work for us. Unless they are already completely bought in, in which case you're not having this particular set of messaging struggles. But until they are fully bought in and they are a champion for your organization, they're not going to do the mental heavy lifting of identifying your value and getting clear on the specific problem you solve and all of that good stuff. And they're also not going to necessarily be motivated to be identifying how you can help them solve their problem. If it's screamingly obvious, then they may light on that. But often it's not. Often we have to explain show, tell how the work we do, the problem we solve or the outcomes it delivers, are going to help them with one of their problems, their challenges, their pain points. So, if we haven't done the work of identifying their challenges, problems, and pain points, it's going to be much harder for us to craft messaging that shows them how our stuff aligns with their stuff. And another note about connecting the dots for them. there's messaging that's communicated in person, in conversation. And then there's all other messaging. All of the messaging that's communicated not in person, not with the opportunity to see their face, get their immediate feedback. The best place to test messaging. Is face-to-face. Or on a zoom or whatever, but where you can gauge their reaction in real time. And they have an opportunity to converse with you. So that you're getting feedback, even when they're not saying a word. Because you can see immediately if they are not engaging. If they look confused, if they look bored, If they're leaning in, that's a good thing. If you've said something that has been off putting to them. All of those are opportunities for you to be rapidly going through in your mind. Okay. Whoops. That was not a place to go. Let me try a different tack. a lot of times the connecting of dots for them, finding the alignment between the two of you, is best done in an in-person interaction. Because stuff you think is like a super, no brainer alignment, everybody could see this glaringly obvious thing. May be something that they don't think is aligned at all. And you don't want to invest a whole lot of time and energy pursuing the thing you thought was a no brainer when all their body language or their comments or their lack of engagement or whatever they're doing is telling you that no, that is not landing for them. So much of connecting the dots around alignment is about listening. And again, that's really difficult to do if you're not in a two way interaction. So for this bit of messaging, it is best developed and tested and refined through in-person interaction. Every time they say something. Every time they ask a question or make a comment or make a point. That is information for you. That is space for you. To try another approach to showing how your interests align. So we're going up in levels of nuance and sophistication here. The next test is, does the decision maker feel motivated to take the actions you want them to take? Again, this is a, progression. They're not going to be motivated if they don't get what you do, if they don't value what you do, and they don't see how your interests are aligned in some way. But once you've gotten those three happening. Then the question is now, are they motivated to want to jump in and work with you to take the actions, or to take the actions together, depending on what it is that you're asking from them. And so if that piece of your messaging isn't working. If you've taken care of those first three, And yet they're not as motivated as you'd like them to be. Then there's some messaging detective work to be done here, too. And in this case, the first and most important question to ask yourself is, do they know precisely what actions you want them to take? Have you told them? I am amazed at how often folks forget this piece. And it happens for a bunch of different reasons, but it's very important to be clear about what it is you want them to do. And in order to do that, you've got to be clear. If you've worked with me or listen to many of these episodes, you know that I pretty much ban the word support in any conversation with decision makers because it's meaningless. You can't quantify it. You can't measure it. You can't tell if it's happened or not. You don't want their support. You want them to take a specific action, whatever that is. And it might be a small, easy lift for them, or it might be a really big, heavy lift for them. Or somewhere in between. But if there's not something very specific that you ultimately want them to do, you can't tell them about it. And then they can't do it. Now some other detective work questions to gauge where the messaging issues may lie. Are they excited about working with you or helping you? This is a huge piece. If they're not excited. Then there's something missing. Now that doesn't mean that to be jumping up and down and crazy excited, but you should perceive from them that they see that their interests are aligned and they believe this is going to produce an important value. That's going to be a good result. That's going to help people and going to move their agenda forward too. If they see all that and believe it. Then yeah, they should be excited to work with you, to do the thing that you're asking so that together you can make an important thing happen. One key question to ask yourself. Is have you engaged their emotions with your messaging? We love to hang out in the left brain with all the logical reasons why somebody should do something, and that's all good. We need that. But most decision making actually happens in the right brain. And if their emotions aren't engaged in some way, then you're not going to have that investment. You're not going to have the same level of excitement. You're not going to have the same desire to engage with you, to help you to take the action and to stick with it. So if your messaging has not engaged their emotions, you need to figure out how you're going to get that piece involved. Another good detective question that's like a little marker of motivation, which is closely tied to level of engagement. Is do they ask good questions? Do they ask questions at all first and foremost, but are the questions they ask good ones? do they communicate that the person is engaged enough that they're really now starting to think about this? They're taking on the problem. They're like, How could we be doing this even better? How could we, what if we, this? What about that? What if we did it this way? Those kinds of questions. Or help me understand this on an even deeper level. They probably won't say it quite that way, but that's the implication. They want to understand the problem or the solution or the value on an even deeper level. And when that happens, they're engaging. They're, really starting to now invest in being part of the solution with you. All of that ties to motivation. It's about emotional investment. It's about, I care about this now. I want to see this happen. And so all of these little markers can help you identify, do we have that? And if we don't, what pieces of it may we want to tackle with better messaging? With messaging that goes after the piece we don't yet have. And the last thing is not primarily a messaging issue. But I would be remiss if I didn't address this as a critical caveat. Which is, do they see you as a trustworthy and reliable partner? There is a messaging piece of this, which is important. But you have to have done the work to build know like, and trust with this decision maker. There's no way around it. And it's a lot about how you show up. Every time you make a promise. Every time you say you'll do something that you do it. You do it when you said you'd do it. you deliver and then some. You prove yourself to be easy to work with. To be responsive in your communication. It's all the pieces of being a good colleague, collaboration partner. You have to do that work. But you can find yourself in the situation where you're engaging a decision-maker that you haven't worked with before. And you want them to take some action. And you haven't yet had an opportunity to prove that you are reliable as a partner on the ultimate thing, because you haven't gotten there yet with this decision maker. So it can feel like a little bit of a catch 22. But this is where good messaging does come in. And so with your messaging you're going to communicate evidence of your reliability and value as a partner. Just to understand that it has to be backed up with actions. Because how you show up will be the ultimate proof as to whether your messaging is real or just a bunch of noise. So some things to look at for messaging content. Do you have testimonials from other similar types of decision makers? If you're engaging a legislator, do you have another legislator that you've worked with, who can vouch for you? Or a contracting partner. It comes up a lot in contracting situations where you're just breaking into contracting. You've done a pilot with one. And that went really well. So now you've got a track record. Now you have somebody you can point to, to say, yeah, when we worked with so-and-so, this is the result we got. This is what we were able to do. This was amazing. They benefited in this way, our clients benefited it in this other way. Everybody wins. It was great. And you do that kind of thing. So any evidence of success in similar partnerships or other endeavors that in any way parallel this, that demonstrate your reliability and value as a partner. You want to be able to talk about that in ways that play up your value as a participating partner. Because the heavier the lift you're asking of them, they need to know you're going to be there doing some of that lifting with them. That you're not just going to say, yeah, yeah, you should do this. Or you should find this money or whatever. And we'll sit back here and wait for that to happen. You have to walk the talk. there are ways you can create messaging around that, that help them feel more comfortable and less worried. Because I promise you that whether they've said it out loud or not, They are worried about risk. If they've not worked with you before, they're worried about risk with engaging with you specifically. If they have worked with you, but you're proposing something that's very new, they're worried about the risk that's associated with that. And so you're going to have to have messaging to address that as well. But often, really at the heart of it is can they trust you? Are you reliable? You've got to alleviate all of those unspoken questions for them in one way or another. And one of the things you can do, if you're very early in a relationship, is you can manufacture opportunities to demonstrate reliability. Little ones that build on each other. So if you have a meeting, an encounter. And you say, I'm going to get back to you with this information or this new piece of research or whatever it is that you say you're going to do next. You tell them what you're going to do. You tell him when you're going to do it. And then you deliver well ahead of schedule. And you provide them with something that is very easy for them to use. you add value wherever possible. So for example, if you're talking with them and you say, this such and such research study was amazing. it demonstrated what the return on investment is for this particular approach to a solution. And, you know, we were part of that study and it's just really impactful, has got some incredible results. I'd love to share that with you. Great. The minimum action would be to send them that 50 page study. If you told them you'd get it to them on the 10th, you get it to them on the ninth. But the much higher value action that shows that you're thinking about them, and you're creating value for them every chance you get. Is you create a one-page summary that says, here are the highlights. this is why I wanted to share this with you. This is some of the most exciting information that's contained in here. You know, you're welcome to read the whole thing, but here are the highlights. This is why this is so powerful. Here's what it means. And here's what it means for the thing we were talking about the other day that we're talking about working on together. You connect all the dots for them. Don't make them do that work. Do it for them and you have just demonstrated reliability and value as a potential partner before you've ever made an agreement to work together at all. So there's tons of ways that you can be both demonstrating that reliability and trustworthiness, and at the same time framing messaging, in the form of that one pager, that focuses their attention on the stuff you want them to focus their attention on. So it's a double win. So. These are the five major tests of is your messaging landing, is it performing well for you? And if it's not, here's how to dig in like a detective and figure out what are the pieces that need adjusting. To make them resonate better with a particular decision maker as an individual or with a category of decision-maker overall. And the thing that is most important to understand with all of this, is that it's all on you. It's the job of your messaging to take the decision maker to the place they need to be in order for them to take the actions you want them to take. If you leave any of this to chance, or leave it out of your messaging, chances are you'll not see the results you're hoping for. Your messaging has to do all of this work for you because the decision makers not going to make those leaps on their own. They're not going to sit back and say, gosh, I wonder if our interests align? I wonder how they align? They're not going to sit and say, I wish I understood more clearly what it is this organization does. They're not going to do any of that work. That is all work for you to do. To bring them along on a journey of engaging them and motivating them to take the actions that will advance both your interests. And will get you what it is you need for the organization and the people you serve. Thanks for listening and I'll see you in the next episode.