The Art of Business Communication

5

Making key messages memorable

Strong key messages

One secret of making a presentation memorable is to have a really strong key message. The key message will be something that stands out, yet is supported by the detail of your presentation.

Effective key messages tend to be:

• concise;
• easy to understand;
• memorable.

Advertising is full of memorable key messages that fulfil those criteria:

• ‘Just do it’ – Nike.
• ‘Your country needs you’ – wartime recruitment campaign in the UK.
• ‘Five a day’ – health campaign to encourage people to eat fruit.

When it fulfils these three criteria, the chances are that you will make your message stick successfully. Repetition of the key message in different ways is another method of getting it across. ...