Tamsen Webster shares three ways to make a problem stick: give it a memorable name, show it visually as a process, and have your audience self-assess how much they experience it.
When you want to move your audiences to action with your idea, there is nothing more powerful than presenting them with a problem that they didn't know they had in the first place. But sometimes that problem you present comes across as a little bit more mundane than memorable. So how can you make that problem more persuasive? Well, that's what we're talking about on this episode of Message in a Minute. I'm your host, Tamsen Webster of tamsenwebster.com. And it turns out that all you need to do is remember that strong emotions create strong memories. That means that when you wanna make your problem a little bit more powerful and persuasive, just create experiences for your audience while you're presenting that problem that help create those kinds of emotions that will make your message stick. So how can you do that? 3 quick suggestions. One, give the problem a name. That gives your audience the feeling of relief. They finally have a way to talk about this thing they've been experiencing so far. Now, give it a memorable name like the Lost Voice Problem or the Orange Pie Problem, to borrow from two of my clients, and suddenly you also have a sticky name to match with this serious problem that's getting in the way of the thing that they want. The second thing you can do is model the problem. Put it into a diagram or a process that they can see, and so they can understand a little bit better either how the problem works or where it comes from or what its components are. That gives your audience the emotion, the feeling of understanding, which often leads to feelings of empowerment, which are really good feelings to have associated with you. Now, the third thing that you can do is you can assess the problem, or rather have your audience self-assess what where they are on a continuum of experience with that problem. What level are they experiencing? To what level are they experiencing it? When they do that, they can experience emotions, anything from validation, oh, okay, yep, that confirms what I've been seeing, to eagerness to move to a different level of experience of that problem, ideally with you and your idea. When you get your audience to experience this emotions around that problem you present, not only are you more likely to make your message and that problem more memorable, you might just make it memorable enough to share with other people. And that is how to make your message get where you need it to be and to make it have the impact that it deserves. If you want to know more about messaging and message strategy, you can find lots of content from me over at tamsenwebster.com/content or sign up for my newsletter at TamsenWebster.com/newsletter.
