From Leadership Institute Training 7/20/13

1. The Leadership Institute
DEVELOPING & DELIVERING
YOUR MESSAGE

2. The Leadership Institute
YOU ARE NOT NORMAL!

3. The Leadership Institute
The Single Most Important Question
WHY
should
they care

4. The Leadership Institute
A common problem…
WE ALL HAVE
ALZHEIMER’S
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 DAY 2 DAYS 4 DAYS 16 DAYS
Memory retention

5. The Leadership Institute
What’s your message?
Selling the product
 Do you have a good product?
 Can you sell the product?
Our product is the candidate
 What is the image that you want to portray?
 Candidate is not a laundry list.
 It’s OK to be on the offensive.
 Be what you are, not what you’re not.

6. The Leadership Institute
M=EC³
Message equals:
 Emotion.
 Contrast.
 Connection.
 Credibility.
“This is the day of dramatization. Merely stating a truth isn’t enough. The truth has to be
made vivid, interesting, and dramatic. You have to use showmanship. The movies do it.
Television does it. And you will have to do it if you want attention.”
Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People

7. The Leadership Institute
M=EC³
Message equals:
 Emotion: how do you want the audience to feel?
 Contrast.
 Connection.
 Credibility.
“An emotional pitch simplifies a message,
allowing it to cut across economic,
gender, or cultural lines.”
Bang! Getting Your Message Heard In A Noisy World
By Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval

8. The Leadership Institute
M=EC³
Message equals:
 Emotion: how do you want the audience to feel?
 Contrast: how are you different?
 Connection.
 Credibility.
“You must be bold and dramatic enough to get your message across, always in
competition with millions of others, without plunging to your death.”
Chris Matthews
Hardball

9. The Leadership Institute
M=EC³
Message equals:
 Emotion: how do you want the audience to feel?
 Contrast: how are you different?
 Connection: why should your audience care?
 Credibility.
“Moral outrage is the most powerful motivating force in politics.”
Morton Blackwell
The Laws of the Public Policy

10. The Leadership Institute
M=EC³
Message equals:
 Emotion: how do you want the audience to feel?
 Contrast: how are you different?
 Connection: why should your audience care?
 Credibility: why should your audience believe you?
“Tell the truth the first time and you don’t have to
remember what you said.”
Tip O’Neil
Former Speaker of the House

12. The Leadership Institute
Leesburg Grid
 Identify strengths and weaknesses.
 Find the credible contrasts.
US-on-US US-on-THEM
THEM-on-US THEM-on-THEM
For example…

13. The Leadership Institute
Leesburg Grid
McCain / McCain
 Experienced leader.
 Character.
 Maverick / Independent.
 Beholden to no one.
 Reagan foot soldier.
McCain / Obama
 Celebrity.
 Elitist.
 Dangerously inexperienced.
 Liberal.
 Bowls 37!
Obama / McCain
 Creature of Washington.
 Sold his soul to GOP.
 Racist.
 Curelessly rich.
 Bush clone.
Obama / Obama
 Hope.
 Change.
 History-making.
 Charitable.
 Really, really smart & worldly.

14. The Leadership Institute
Leesburg Grid
Coke / Coke
 Classic flavor.
 Taste you grew up with.
 Refreshing.
 Sweet but not overpowering.
 The Real Thing ™.
Coke / Pepsi
 Bad imitation.
 Overpowering.
 Trendy, but not tasty.
 Nothing but fizz.
Pepsi / Coke
 Boring.
 Stodgy.
 Flat.
 Your grandparents’ soda.
 Has been.
Pepsi / Pepsi
 Hip.
 Cool.
 Sweeter.
 Soda of the stars.
 The New Generation™.

15. The Leadership Institute
Types of Public Relations
Two basic types of public relations
 Offensive.
 Defensive.
Always be offensive
 Be on the offensive.
 Frame the debate.
 Make your opponent respond to you.

16. The Leadership Institute
Dealing with the Media
 The media is not the enemy.
 The press doesn’t need you,
you need them.
 Your job is to tell your story
– get your message out.
 Build a relationship with
reporters.
 One person should talk to
the media.

17. The Leadership Institute
The press secretary
 Delivers the message.
 Defends the image.
 Lyn Nofzyger: “Most
candidates have a
compulsive urge to answer
a question. It was my job…
to keep the candidate and
the campaign on track.
Otherwise the other guy
wins.”

18. The Leadership Institute
The press secretary
 Develops a reliable media list.
 Writes press releases.
 Uses advisories and photo releases.
 Conducts news (press) conferences.

19. The Leadership Institute
The visible stuff
Writing an effective press release
 Use the release as part of overall strategy.
 Make sure you are sending a release that is NEWS.
 Use associated press (AP) style.
 Only spin in quotes.
 Follow the inverted pyramid.
 Include contact information.
 Use -30- or ### at the end of the release.
 NEVER, EVER, EVER LIE!

20. The Leadership Institute
Inverted Pyramid
Most important or pertinent information
2nd most important
Info of medium importance
2nd list important
Least
important

21. The Leadership Institute
Behind the scenes
Working with the media
 Never let the candidate take a direct media call.
 Never let the candidate provide and interview
without proper advance work.
 Never lie to a reporter.
 Only spin in quotes.
 Get the reporter what they need to get their story
out.

22. The Leadership Institute
Frame issue or debate
 He who frames the debate most often wins it.
 Partial-birth abortion vs Dilation & Extraction.
 You set the stage by how you frame or define the
issue or debate.

23. STAY ON THE
MESSAGE!!!

24. The Leadership Institute
Transitional Phrases
 “The moms and dads I talk with tell me…”
 “We’re getting away from the important issue
here…”
 “Let’s not forget the big issue here…”
 “The most important issue we need to talk about
here is…”
 “That’s an interesting point…”
 “Equally important…”
 “Let me tell you what this means to you…”

25. The Leadership Institute
Final Thoughts
 Remember the message formula (M=EC³).
 Use the grid to develop your message.
 Stay on message.
 Stay on message.
Stay on message.
Stay on message.

26. The Leadership Institute
THANK YOU!
Questions?