We see it time and again. Critical policy messages that miss the mark.  The reason is simple: they were vetted with the wrong people.

If you are based in the Washington, DC area, whether you’re a corporation, association, think tank, or politician, here’s some free advice: Test Your Message Outside the Beltway.

We do policy message testing for a living.

➤ Please reach out- we’d love to help.

That’s what we’ve been telling our clients for nearly two decades. And even though they know that—of course they know that—clients are always surprised at what outside-the-Beltway testing turns up.

Here’s why it matters:

➤Average Americans Only Consume a “Trickle” of News

Most people outside the Washington metro area are not immersed in the details of your issues—sometimes they’ve never even heard of the issues. We’ve validated this again and again through our Swing Voter Project, which taken us to swing states every month for the last 18 month. Average Americans by and large get their news is small doses from LOCAL SOURCES. Yes, some watch cable news  but are almost as likely to get their news from Facebook.

➤Average Americans are Fixated on Themselves

This is not to imply that they don’t care about other people or the world as a whole. It simply means that while trying to pay their bills and care for their family, they don’t have the LUXURY of immersing themselves in DC news.

Some of them are working multiple jobs.
Some of them are a health crisis away from bankruptcy.
Some of them are working 18 hour days to keep the family farm afloat.
Some of them are caring for a chronically ill family member.

Their challenges are real and immediate.  

➤Validate That Your Policy Messages Are Connecting

And the best way to do that is to test your messages with them. Get in their heads. See their reactions. Hear their thoughts. Then refine based on what you’ve learned.

Again, our clients know all this. But they still—regularly—say things like, “I did not expect that one to tank!”; “I am really surprised none of the respondents have heard of that.”; “I didn’t realize our language was so full of jargon until this dial test.”

And we especially like: “Good thing we tested this!”

We do policy message testing for a living.

➤ Please reach out- we’d love to help.

——–

To demonstrate how different Washington, D.C. is from other parts of the country, here are some facts and comparisons:

—Bigger salaries: highest per capita income in the country ($75,569; the national average is $49,571)[1] with an annual growth rate of 4.5% (vs. 3.6% national average)[2]

—Educated: 55% of the population 25 years or older has at least a bachelor’s degree (29.3% nationally);[3] 31% have an advanced degree (11.2% nationally)[4]

—Expensive housing: median value of a house is $460,700 ($163,900 nationally)

—Lower rate of home ownership: 40.4% own their own homes (63.7% nationally)

—High crime: 6,408.6 crimes per 100,000 people (3,295.0 nationally)[5]

[1] http://www.courant.com/business/hc-per-capita-income-connecticut-20170328-story.html
[2] https://wtop.com/business-finance/2017/03/dc-per-capita-income-25-percent-higher-national-average/
[3] https://www.iowaeconomicdevelopment.com/50states
[4] https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_15_5YR_S1501
[5] https://www.iowaeconomicdevelopment.com/50states

They’re rituals. They’re religious, cultural, and civic. Every society has them. We do them for our families, for our countries, for our teams. (Just try to neglect them: “But we always have monkey bread Christmas morning!”)

Turns out, these rituals aren’t magic; they’re science. And (no surprise) why we have them and perform them is the subject of studies.

Follow the links for the details, but here’s a glimpse of the findings: Pre-task rituals can reduce anxiety and improve performance. Engaging in a sequence of ritualistic movements tricks the brain into thinking it’s in an arena of stability and predictability. Which is calming.

More on point for the holiday season: Rituals unite us. They solidify and sacralize human bonds. They enhance our sense of belonging. They also can enhance our perception of value: A ritual for eating chocolate can make the chocolate taste even better.

So keep up those traditions, as they feed your soul. Start new ones with extended family and business partners. Traditions transcend family bonds. They reach into your community and your work life. And it is all good–for you and others.

Enjoy the season.

Fierce competition and restricted access to the O.R. continues to increase the importance of clear and consistent messaging of your healthcare products’ most impactful benefits. These efforts aren’t easy but are critical to framing your value proposition for multiple influencers and decision-makers.

With copious experience testing concepts from fuzzy front end to launch and training hundreds of marketing and R&D partners in healthcare and other verticals, I offer many ideas for starting and optimizing your work.

Regardless of which NPD process you follow, once you’ve empathized with your target and identified a solution to a key unmet need, you need to clearly articulate a benefit statement to guide you through screening, development, and commercialization of one or more concepts.

The benefit statement is the primary advantage of your product or service, or THE CUSTOMER PROMISE, i.e., What’s in it for them?

A great benefit statement must be:

Crafting strong benefit statements requires time and effort, often by a multi-functional team. However, some of the key benefits to your organization include:

Improved efficiency in getting the right products to market – weak solutions fail faster while solid ideas avoid rework delays.
Stronger internal alignment – improved communication enables multiple functions to understand the end goal and work together.
Easier planning for a smooth launch – increased confidence in forecasting of sales, production, and support required.

All these benefits ladder up to efficiency of time and work, which results in WINNING in the marketplace.

Just as one unmet need can spawn multiple solutions, each solution may produce multiple benefits.  It’s critical to understand which of these benefits matter the most, and for whom, to know where to focus your messaging strategy and communications spend.  A solid market research strategy can help you here. (Let’s talk!)

As you work on your benefit statement, you’ll want to consider these options of how to position your benefit.

Below I’ve provided healthcare examples of each of these options to get you started*:

Proven higher quality – Anthem® wellness programs make the most of your employee’s benefits. Empowered employees make smarter lifestyle choices for a happier, more productive workforce. It improves company culture and can lower costs, too. On average, care management programs were able to reduce costs by $2,044 per each engaged employee.¹

New level of benefit – Sysmex WAM is an enterprise-wide software solution that will take your laboratory to the next level in system optimization to improve productivity, reduce clinical errors and support a sustainable paperless environment. Sysmex WAM is the only software solution that is adaptable to your changing environment to help you control your future.²

Category superiority –  The ECHELON CIRCULAR Powered Stapler is designed to reduce leaks without compromising perfusion – resulting in 61% fewer leaks at the staple line compared to the Medtronic DST Series EEA Stapler.³

Solve a paradox – Utilize a greater range of motion than the human hand or leading laparoscopic staplers with SureForm 60.⁴ 

Tap into trends –  Halo Clinical Communication Platform helps protect patients from delays in care and clinicians from alert fatigue and burnout by unifying clinical communication across the community on a single platform.⁵

Address category negative – The MEDIVATORS line of disposable infection control products like irrigation tubing and single-use valves eliminate the need for very difficult manual cleaning and disinfection thus reducing infection risk and increasing patient safety.⁶

Unique new benefit – By providing stable pneumoperitoneum, constant smoke evacuation, and valve-free access to the abdominal cavity, the AirSeal® System reduces procedural time, costs, and hassles in ways that conventional insufflators, trocars, and filtered tubing systems simply cannot do.⁷

New secondary benefit –  The Centrella® Smart+ bed helps meet the changing needs of healthcare facilities and delivers elevated care through patient safety and patient satisfaction.⁸

After optimizing your benefit statement, you’ll need to strengthen it with one or more compelling proof points or reasons to believe, which may include claims, testimonials, recommendations, and other approaches.

Gina Derickson, Research Director, Engagious | gina.derickson@engagious.com

* Examples were taken from the listed websites. All product names, trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners. All company, product and service names used in this article are for identification purposes only. Use of these names, trademarks and brands does not imply endorsement.
Sources:
1  http://www.anthem.com/employer/health-and-wellness/
2  http://www.sysmex.com/us/en/Products/InformationSystems/Pages/Sysmex-WAM-System.aspx
3   http://www.jnjmedicaldevices.com/en-US/product/echelon-circular-powered-stapler
4  http://www.intuitive.com/en-us/products-and-services/da-vinci/stapling/sureform-60
5  http://www.halocommunications.com/halo/
6  http://www.cantelmedical.com/medivators
7  http://www.conmed.com/en/hybrid-product-landing-pages/airseal
8  http://www.hillrom.com/en-us/products/smart-beds-and-surfaces/centrella-smart-bed/

Now, all of that wouldn’t mean a thing if the content itself wasn’t valuable, but fortunately that is most definitely not the case. As the title clearly suggests, this book highlights the 10 types of stories told by great leaders. These include things like a founding story, a vision story, a strategy story, a customer story, a sales story, and five others. Each story explains why it’s important to have one of your own, an effective example, and tips to use in crafting your own story. Exactly what you need to understand it and begin crafting your own stories.

The best way I can describe this book is that it’s like a spark. It’s the catalyst for helping to bring these stories out of you. Even after 25 years in business, and owning my own company for 10 of those, I realized I don’t have all 10 of these down. In fact, not even close (which was humbling to say the least). Personally, I’ll be using this book as my spark to get my 10 stories down and I think if you give it a shot you’ll surprise yourself as well.

As an entrepreneur, business owner, leader, and salesperson, I always get value from Paul’s books and I’m happy to say this one is no exception.

Here are my Top 10 recommendations for How to Hire a Messaging Agency.

Do Your Homework: Keep a running list of agencies and campaigns that impress you.
At least you will have a starting place.

Be Honest with Yourself: How much bandwidth can you commit to managing an outside team?
Know this going into it.

Get Specific: Every agency has a specialty.
Know what you need (advocacy messaging? advertising messaging?) and find the right match.

Find the Right Size: Make sure the agency’s size matches your expectations. You don’t want to be the smallest client, making it easy to relegate your projects to the B-Team.

Go With Experience: If you are looking for a real partner, find a team that has related experience in your field. If you need messaging for B2B, find a team that has done B2B.

Secure Top Talent: Know who will be managing your account. That individual is your lifeline– and can sink a project if they are not strong or experienced enough.

Know Your Status: Know who their big clients are and what % of their bandwidth they occupy. You don’t want to be playing second fiddle to them for the duration.

Be Smart With Money: It’s a major factor and often an agency will cut a deal on the first job. But know that going in so you can prepare
for future projects.

Trust Your Gut: At the end of the day you are choosing a group of humans that you need to work with. Are they switched on? Do they have that sparkle in their eye?

Pull The Trigger: Your final decision will likely involve a leap of faith. If you’ve been diligent, odds are good you will end up with a partner you can work with.

In the end, your success depends a lot on your own preparation. I have faith in you; You can do this! We’re with you all the way.

If you need help with brand messaging or customer insights, we’ve got those chops. So put a check mark in our “been there, done that” column and give us a shout. Happy to talk through whatever you need.

See more of my blog posts here.

In Warren we met July 8 with twelve swing voters—nine who voted for Obama in 2012, and Trump in 2016; and three who voted for Romney in 2012, and Clinton in 2016.

We talked about the weather, and their families (we’re polite, after all). We asked them what they’re looking for in a leader; what issues are important to them; what they thought of President Trump and the Democrats in the hunt for his job. We showed them clips of the recent Democratic debates and asked them to rate with dials how much they liked what was said.

They’re concerned about immigration, health care prices, and retirement. They think the economy is growing, but they wouldn’t describe it as booming. We heard, again, that issues that are important to the 24-hour news stations (like impeachment) aren’t really important to them.

It’s all interesting—read the whole report here—and we’re grateful, as always, to the respondents for letting us take a look under the hood.

Some highlights:

On immigration: They want to take care of struggling Americans first. “I don’t want to be a jerk,” said one female Obama-Trump voter. “I feel terrible for those people, but there are people here in this country that are struggling to survive.”

On Trump: They said they don’t like it. But they like that he speaks his mind, and that he’s getting things done, or trying to. So they’re sticking with him. All nine Trump voters, and one Clinton voter, said they would vote for Trump over Clinton if there were a presidential election between them tomorrow.

On Democratic presidential hopefuls: The current crop doesn’t excite them. They couldn’t identify pictures of most of them; nor could they say much about them. They’d like for Oprah to run.

On the Democratic debate: They didn’t watch much of it. Of the parts we showed them they said the candidates’ positions are too liberal, and would make these voters more likely to vote for Trump.

On large corporations: They don’t believe large corporations care about America’s best interests. As one respondent said, “I’ve been in a lot of meetings where we decide where we put the plants—Korea, China, places like that—and America’s best interest was [never considered].”

On tariffs: They support them, especially on cars and car parts made in other countries. They want to protect American jobs and American wealth.

On climate change: It’s not a top five issue for a little more than half of them (“many other issues matter more to me”), but it wouldn’t cause them to vote against (or for) someone who is vocal about addressing it.

B2B marketing is more complicated than consumer marketing because of three key differences.

In all cases, your success in B2B hinges on doing your homework, asking all the right questions, and crafting the perfect message.

COMPLEXITY Products and/or services are more complex, with more barriers to switching	Many products sold to businesses are further transformed into a different product that is sold to the end customer. For example, before a shampoo maker can change the vendor of one of its raw materials, it must complete sufficient attribute, performance, and stability testing to make sure it is compatible in their formulation. Often one purchase in a business ecosystem prompts other changes. For example, a software purchase may require an upgrade to a network’s operating system, which may lead to a new laptop, so the purchaser must consider all these costs together, not just the software purchase cost. Some business purchases require time or labor costs, such as training. When a hospital starts using a new brand of catheters, every nurse on every shift must be trained how to use it.
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” -Albert Einstein
Approach: Focus your value proposition on the ‘utopian’ view of how their world will look if they make this change. Demonstrating a positive seismic shift in their business makes these ancillary changes seem less significant and more worth the long-term investment.
DECISION-MAKERS More people are involved, in different roles with different needs for information	Many people and functions may be involved in the purchase process, as decision-makers, influencers, or end users, with each function having different consideration criteria. Most hospitals have a multi-functional value analysis committee that evaluates purchases, often with the goal of standardization over physician preference. Multiple decision-makers add complex dynamics of differences in personalities, authority, and implied power, which all need to be dealt with diplomatically. A decision made solely by a procurement function may be driven solely by cost, with little or no consideration of the end-user’s specific needs or the impact of the purchase on the customer experience.
“We look up at the same stars and see such different things.” -George R.R. Martin
Approach: Know your audience. Ask questions about the decision-makers learn what really matters to them. What makes them tick? Focus on communicating the decision as an easy win and one that makes them the ‘hero’ (this could be personal recognition, or cost savings, or Innovation leadership, etc.).
TIMING Sales cycles are longer and limited with fewer opportunities to make a sale	Fiscal year cycles, budgeting processes, and contracts may limit times when a business can make a new purchase, including times when they are open to learning about new products and services. Internal procurement-driven processes often lengthen the process, requiring scheduled committee reviews, multiple competitive bids, and extended negotiations. Industry-specific cycles may also impact timing. For example, you would think twice about setting up a sales call with an accountant during tax season or a retailer during the holidays.
“The strongest of all warriors are these two — Time and Patience.” -Leo Tolstoy
Approach: Do diligent research. Know their fiscal cycles, ask about the procurement process, know the industry cycles and universal events around which companies coordinate product announcements, sales quotas, etc.

So what does that mean for your messaging strategy?

You need to SIMPLIFY the needed information to influence the right PEOPLE at the right TIME, so they choose YOU!

To do this, there is no shortcut. But if you put in the work, as with most things in life, success will follow.

Let me know which challenges you’ve found to be most difficult.  I’d love to chat about how we can address them together.

In our latest episode of “How to Woo and Win a Swing Voter,” there was a plot twist. Maybe you saw it coming:

Swing voters in different segments of the Midwest do not always fall for the same pickup lines.

In Wisconsin, Ohio, and now Iowa, we’ve had conversations with swing voters—people who voted for Obama, and then Trump; or Romney, and then Clinton. And while they’re all flavors of Midwest, we’re learning to distinguish some of the subtler flavor differences.

Engagious is partnering with Focus Pointe Global to hold monthly focus groups in swing districts across the United States. It’s only a couple of hours in an evening, but it’s a way to see the faces and hear the voices of the nebulous and coveted “swing voters.” It’s kind of an exercise in discomfort and vulnerability: They let us pick their brains and share their thoughts with the country; and we (and anyone who follows this project) let them assail our assumptions and biases.

On May 6, in Sioux City, Iowa, Engagious met with 11 swing voters. All 11 respondents voted for Obama in 2012, and Trump in 2016. As in Wisconsin and Ohio, we asked about President Trump, the Mueller report, Democrats running for president, the economy, and other issues in the news. As in Wisconsin and Ohio we heard that what’s really important to the news outlets isn’t always deeply important to the news receivers. They didn’t recognize most of the Democratic candidates for president. They think Congress should move on from the Mueller investigation. They didn’t know about Medicare for All or the Green New Deal.

But there were differences. For instance, in Ohio, most of the respondents voted against “the other guy” in 2016. In Iowa, more than half of the respondents voted for Trump, not against Clinton. In Ohio most of our respondents would vote for Obama in 2020 if the Constitution allowed it. In Iowa all but one of our respondents would vote for Trump over Hillary Clinton, and eight of 11 would take Trump over Barack Obama if there were an election tomorrow and those were the choices.

Unlike Ohio (and Wisconsin), our Iowa swing voters had a longer list of “likes” than complaints about President Trump. Negative press about Trump isn’t going to sway their vote. What will sway it is how the country is doing, and how they personally are doing. They also indicated that far-left policies promoted by Democratic candidates would push them to vote for Trump.

Our Iowa respondents scored 6.7 out of ten that the U.S. is headed in the right direction, but only a 5.2 for Iowa’s direction. Was it a case of “national prosperity isn’t trickling down to the local level”? Maybe. But one respondent said, “I like what Republicans are doing on the national level, but I don’t really like what they’re doing here in Iowa.” So maybe they don’t like Iowa’s leadership. (Hard to say what “right track/wrong track” means to each individual. Economy? Culture? Security? Environment? Something else?)

They didn’t articulate what socialism is, but they don’t want it: “Socialism is going to give us Venezuela.”

As in Ohio, Iowa respondents want President Trump to encourage renewable energy. Wind has been good for Iowa, they observed. And while we usually demand a belief in climate change in order to do something about it, one of our respondents effectively dismissed that notion with this comment: “ I don’t believe that climate change is the big affair that people make it out to be. . . . But I do think Trump should do his best to encourage affordable, sensible, renewable energies.” The other respondents agreed.

Want more? Check the scores and watch the highlights. The drama continues next month, when Engagious travels to Erie, Pennsylvania. What will we find in this former manufacturing and steel powerhouse? Tune in June 3. (Yes, we mixed the sports and telenovela metaphors, and no, we’re not sorry.)

It stands to reason that customer testimonials in advertising, especially in direct response categories, are most effective when they emulate the essence of a friend or family recommendation.

How can you do that? To start, let’s evaluate what makes friends and family recommendations so persuasive.

First, friends and family genuinely care about you and the problem you’re trying to solve.  They are motivated to help you because they want you to be satisfied and happy.  Rarely would they benefit personally from your product purchase or are they paid to make a recommendation.  As a result, their words are perceived as very objective.

Next, by default, your friends and family tend to be similar to you in many ways – lifestyle, needs, preferences, considerations, and values.   If a product works for them, it’s likely to work for you.  Moreover, the way they think and talk about the benefits of a product are similar to they way you think and talk about benefits.  Their personal experience is the closest comparison to you actually using the product yourself, which lowers the risk of trial.

Finally, their recommendation is a two-way conversation.  You are able to ask about any concerns or questions that you have, while you’re considering the purchase and while you’re using the product.

With those strong points, how can advertising capture the power of word of mouth?  Here are a few key considerations when creating user testimonials:

• Emphasize that the users aren’t actors, but are real users – not too beautiful, scripted, or polished – that have a legitimate need for the product.
• Include before/after pictures that show a definitive improvement that can’t be explained by other factors (such as lighting, cosmetics, angles, or Photoshop).
• Have users tell their story in a conversational style, including a sincere reason why they stand behind the product.
• Lastly, get feedback from your target customers before airing the commercial. Measure how believable and persuasive your user testimonials are (along with your claims, demonstrations, spokespeople, and visuals) and edit or replace them as needed.  Understand why elements aren’t working and if they have unanswered questions so you can optimize your messages before airing them.

If you’d like to make sure your testimonials are optimized for effectiveness, ask me how our Perceptional Analyzer dial technology in focus groups can work for your ads.