No matter the medium, the message is the message

If you don’t have something to say, it doesn’t matter where you try to say it.

In an age of saturated social media, short attention spans and artificial intelligence, communicators spend a lot of time and resources trying to figure out the best way to get a message across – and what channel/platform/interface/bot will have the most impact.

But they often overlook the most important communications tool of all: the message itself.

Nearly everyone knows (and some even understand) Marshall McLuhan’s famous dictum, “The medium is the message.” Writing in the 1960s, McLuhan posited that a message’s impact and meaning is shaped by the medium in which it is delivered. From a theoretical standpoint, that’s still true – even if the number and variety of media have exploded since the days of tie-clip, the chalkboard and the cathode-ray tube.

But for PR professionals – especially from trade associations, NGOs and other lobby groups clamoring for attention from journalists and policymakers – I propose an updated twist on McLuhan: The message is the message.

Translation: If you don’t have something to say, it doesn’t matter where you try to say it. No amount of infographic wizardry or AI gimmickry will help it make an impact. This puts a premium on finding a short, simple message and then framing it as news rather than blatant flackery.

Here are a few useful tips for crafting a compelling message:

• Have something to say. This should go without saying. But it’s surprising how much PR fails to make any point whatsoever, or is so over-reliant on jargon or backstory or rhetorical throat-clearing (“…in the framework of…”, “At a conference last week…”, “…towards a viable blueprint for…”) and word salads (“…our journey…”, “…smart and sustainable…”, “…future-proof…”) that no actual message gets across. A communications director’s most important job is forging a coherent, compelling message from confusing and often competing interests. Ideally, your message should substantive content, stylistic flair and a timely call to action.
• Don’t be afraid to provoke. Once you’ve got something to say, make sure it will provoke a response. This can be difficult for many communicators, who must answer to members or shareholders or corporate boards allergic to anything even the slightest bit controversial. It may seem like a lot to ask, but to really hook a reader or viewer or listener, you have to be willing to use words, images and concepts that shake people awake and upend expectations. Resist the temptation to rely on jargon and cliché.
• Shorter is always better. One of the best things about Twitter when it started was that it enforced brevity – even after the decision in 2017 to double the character limit. (Now Twitter Blue subscribers can tweet up to 10,000 characters, which more than crosses the line from tweet to rant.) There’s no reason almost all communications can’t be shorter and punchier. No matter how long your publication – a tweet, a LinkedIn post, a position paper, a press release, the executive summary to a major report – you must get your point across in a few words in the first sentence or two. You’ve got approximately one phone screen’s worth of space to capture an audience’s attention.
• Make it news, not publicity. A policy position or annual conference isn’t always news. In fact, it almost never is. News requires friction/conflict/movement/surprise/counter-intuitiveness/timeliness. Something needs to happen. A new product or decision needs to do something or be important for a reason. The more a communications piece looks like a news article, the better. That means skipping the background and diplomatic protocol of the titles of who spoke at your conference and getting to the point. The order of presentation should be: 1) NEWS DEVELOPMENT; 2) WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT; 3) DATA/EVIDENCE/SUPPORTING ARGUMENT.
• Speak for something. Too often associations fail to speak on behalf of the people and causes they represent, choosing instead to be characterized by some acronym or committee or – heaven forbid – platform: “Last week, WAWA, the World Alliance of Widget Associations, welcomed…” It’s more effective and more compelling to speak on behalf of actual people, or a coalition or community or cause: “Rising household electronics prices will hit consumers unless widget policy is…”

The media landscape is ever-shifting, and communications pros will always be looking for the newest, coolest tool to try. But one thing that will never change is the need for a meaningful message. Without it, the medium won’t matter at all.