Lead with problems (mostly)
SAFE HAVEN is a residential meth-testing business. Upon interviewing the owner, I learned about the huge mistake he'd previously made as a property investor - losing $97,000 because he failed to meth test. Rather than bury this story in the ABOUT US section of his website, I knew we should build his entire communication around it.
Touch the sore point
For the proud boat owner, it's the condition of their vessel. The wizened fisherman with a bulletproof boat made of aluminum may not care, but the recreational owner with a fibreglass hull certainly does. Before you can sell him a soft-gel encased sinker, remind him of the dings that already bother him. That's the emotional trigger to target first.
Tap into an existing sympathy
"Parking Officers are Scumbag Traffic Nazis". They are heartless and love nothing more than ruining people's days. None of that is true, but it is what many people think. The Waikato Parking Association needed a campaign to change the way people viewed Parking Officers. The angle I took was to tap into an existing sympathy that most people possess: We give more grace to people who are like us.
The key was to reveal the Just Like Us humanity of Parking Officers: they are regular people who happen to do a difficult day job. The way I chose to show this was to present a Parking Officer in a single pose, but in two different contexts: (1) a typical parking situation (2) a typical like us situation. To get the poses and contexts, I chose to go the illustrative route. Far great flexibility + cost-effect + the right tone of voice.
Find a strategic emotional angle
Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted infection. The objective of this campaign was to encourage young men at school to get tested for chlamydia, and, if infected, to get clean. But here was the challenge: the consequences for guys is relatively low (a discharge). For the girls, however, chlamydia can lead to infertility. Tactically, the goal was to mobilise the girls to put pressure on their guys. To create a pincer effect, I suggested putting posters in the guy's AND girls bathroom cubicles.
Be direct
There are even (rare) times when it's appropriate to be offensive. It all depends on who you're talking to and the personality of your organisation and audience. Whatever you do, avoid communicating in a way that is forgettable. Too many companies beige people into ignoring them and pay a lot of money on the way.
Tell a great story
CRUST on the effluent ponds is the bane of farmers. Left unchecked, it can grow a metre in depth and is expensive to remove. My client has an organic solution: good micro-organisms that eat the crust. That's almost too good to be true, so I organised a time-lapse video that literally showed what these good bugs can do in 8 weeks.
How do you find and use the right emotion?
What are you offering?
Do you solve a problem?
Can you open an opportunity?
Do you fortify a weakness?
Can you remove a threat?
Can you enhance my strength?
Will you satisfy my ambition?
Reframe as a problem
A fear to be relieved
An anxiety to be removed
A confusion to be resolved
A lost hope to be renewed
A longing still to be met
A panic to be freed from
Talk to just one person
Talking to one person (vs a target audience) makes you ask specific questions. How would she describe the problem? How does it make her feel? What could I say to make her think, "That's me"? What tone of voice should I use?