MESSAGE DEVELOPMENT AND EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

DEFINITION OF MESSAGE

A message is a concise statement whose purpose is to prompt your audience (the people you want to reach) to act in a way that supports the goals of your organization or advocacy.

SOME OF THE BASIC PRINCIPLES IN MESSAGE DEVELOPMENT

Know your audience. -You need to know your audience in terms of their concerns, values, interests. This is important as different targets will also need different messages. Messages need to be tailored according to the audience you are targeting

Keep your message simple and brief. Make sure the information can be easily understood by someone who does not know the subject. Jargon is confusing and should be avoided. Even common terms like sustainable development may not be clear to some groups. Also avoid too much information

Use real life stories and quotes-The human element makes a problem real. Quotes and personal stories bring to life the challenges of a problem in a way that general explanations cannot.

Encourage the audience to take action. Your audience whether its policymakers or the general public need to know what they can do to support your cause. Offer simple suggestions, like vote yes or increase allocations to the health sector for a health nation etc

Use clear facts and numbers creatively. Good information boosts the clout of any advocacy. But the facts you choose and how you present them is important.

Present a possible solution-Tell your audience what you propose to solve the problem. Keep the solution simple such as the government needs to increase budgetary allocation to the health sector or the government needs to put in place laws to prohibit child marriages

Steps contd Pre-testing-you need to pretest your message in order to assess if it is going to work or not. Many times advocates assume that messages will work any way.

MESSAGE DELIVERY
Some of the common ways of message delivery include: Person to Person

One on One meetings Public hearings Seminars, workshops

Print Newspapers, magazines, journals; Posters, leaflets, booklets; Stickers Letters to decision-makers

Electronic Radio Television; Internet;

Discuss some of the messages produced by CSOs in Zambia