How to Create Winning Messaging

Controversy or challenging topics are everywhere. Typically, organizations or elected officials side-step those topics in an effort to avoid being unfairly labeled. But given the non-stop news cycle, it’s often not prudent to run from topics – it’s much better and ultimately easier for you to figure out where you stand.

Instead of avoiding an issue, get clear on your messaging and turn a challenging issue into an opportunity to highlight your values and vision.

Develop an authentic message

It’s critical that you or your organization first develop a message around the specific issue. It doesn’t mean you’ll publicize it widely, but it will help guide how you respond to questions about it.

Developing an authentic message means that you or your organization spend some time thinking about the issue and what’s at the root of it. Doing this helps you clarify where you stand and mitigates mixed messaging.

Lead with values

A strong, authentic message must be clear about values. When pushed in an interview or when facing tough questions about a topic, returning to the values at the root of the issue or policy is a powerful way to reset and take back control.

For example, after Obamacare became law, the government faced an error-riddled rollout of the program’s website. The site didn’t work, and most people struggled to use it.

When asked about this failure, most Democrats in leadership positions did not handle it well. They made excuses, they blamed others, and they did not lean into values. Instead of saying something to the effect of: “I don’t know why the website doesn’t work” they could have said: “There’s no question it’s frustrating and we’re going to fix it, but the bottom line is, we are the party of expanding access to health care and we’re going to ensure everyone is able to get it.” This takes a tough question, on a controversial issue, and spins it back into the Democrats’ frame, highlighting the values at the root of the effort – ensuring all people, regardless of their income, can access the health care they need.

Leading with values allows you to remind people of what’s at the heart of the issue – you can pivot away from the controversy and lean into the deeper message.

Reframe

Reframing is one of the central pillars of value-led messaging. When asked a question – particularly about a controversy – we tend to accept the premise of the question.

For example, if you were a senior Obama administration official, and a member of the media asked: “This Obamacare rollout has been extremely botched, how will you handle this failure?” You could reframe to say: “Our leadership just passed historic legislation that will ensure Americans can access quality, affordable care without going into massive amounts of debt. We must fix the website and we will, but the bottom line is that millions of people will be finally have health insurance coverage.”

This answer rejects the premise of the question – which was rooted in an idea about failure – and reframes it to focus on the values at the root of the policy – expanding access to health care.

Returning to values allows you to highlight the real issue, not a controversial or spun up scandal. Journalists and others may attempt to define the issue and even misclassify it – it’s important that you be on the lookout for a negative premise in the question, reframe it, and answer with your authentic message.

Repeat

Once you’ve found a strong message, repeat it. A lot. It may feel tedious to do this, but the truth is people need to hear something up to seven times before the message resonates.

When you are asked, repeat the same message, when you are posting on social media, when you are speaking to a group, use the same message so it starts to stick. When battling a controversy, repetition is key. The media and opposing groups will likely repeat the allegation so it’s important that you repeat your message to counter their framing.

You don’t have to use this tactic if the issue doesn’t come up, but if and when it does, launch right into the message (and reframe the question, if necessary). If the reporter asks you: “Anything else to add?” repeat your message there, too. Make sure people have heard your message so many times that it becomes part of the conversation. This helps reclaim the narrative.

Conclusion

While there may be some situations in which you don’t want to dive into a controversial topic, it is worth your time to develop messaging around a thorny issue. Instead of running from these situations, you can use them to highlight your values.

Finding an authentic message that is rooted in values is the first part of the equation. After that, it’s critical that you learn how to reframe an issue or reject the premise of a question. Once you’ve got this process down, repeat your message as often as necessary to help shift the narrative. This strategy will help ensure you’re well-equipped to talk about the topic and that you have the tools to turn what could be a challenging issue into an opportunity.