No matter what sort of communicator you are, you may well find this useful. It’s MAM: a mental check I’ve been using for years to help keep my eye on the targeted communications ball.
It’s so basic I’m often surprised that more communicators aren’t aware of it. I alway mentally scoot around it several times, checking and double checking, before signing off any content.
Of course, it all starts with your objective. So what is it you want to achieve? To reach that objective you need to move people from ‘A’ to ‘B’ through their decision-making or buying journey. Bearing that in mind, take a look at that piece of content in front of you and ask yourself …
Message: are you saying the right thing?
Is it the right key message to trigger your target towards your objective? Does your messaging address their needs? Does it add value to them? Will it persuade? What will stop them from believing what you have to say? Address it. Adjust your messaging. Align it so it meets both their needs and yours.
Audience: who are you communicating with?
Are you sure this is the right target audience? Will they help you get where you need to go? Think in terms of real people with specific needs: personas, not segments. Give them a face. Look at your audience again. Are you sure these are the right people? Cool. Next step …
Medium: best delivery?
I use ‘medium’ in this context for both channel and format. Let’s say you’re working on a brochure for senior B2B decision influencers to get more lovely thought leadership. Is this the right format to publish your content in? Would a video work better? What about a presentation? Should you back it up with a blog post? Add a pdf? And what about channels? Scribd? Slideshare? Your blog or site? Where do your target audience hang out? Where do they engage? Which combination will work best?
And that’s it.
MAM is the adjustable spanner of every communicator’s toolkit.
A little more poetically, it’s my Holy Communications Trinity.
And just because I’m such a music fan, here’s my other one …
UPDATED: August 8th 2012
