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What is Your Message?

Our technologically advanced society has forced us to go into isolation to get a break from the onslaught of information bombarding us from all sides. Radio, television, email, printed media (such as newspapers, books and magazines) and the Internet are all methods that people are using to get their message to each of us. Even in your car you get signs, billboards, bumper stickers and car decals shouting at you about someone's message. If you were to undergo hypnosis and be made to read back everything you have read during the course of one day, you would be amazed at how many things were recorded by your brain.

The fact that our minds are steel traps for information is not a new concept. Scientists for years have told us that our minds are amazing, that we can store unlimited amounts of information and that if we could harness the full potential of our brains, we would not need computers. Unfortunately, the retrieval process is the key factor in our inability to spout off what we know at critical moments (like during that Chemistry Test, or on our wedding anniversary). As people age, this process is even more challenged to the point that we forget more than we know.

What does this have to do with your message? What is it that you want people to do when you write sales copy? If you answered "buy my product" you are correct, but the more correct answer is "take action." While every message is a sales message, what you are selling is not always a product or service that requires a customer to exchange money for it. Sometimes the message is designed to get someone to click on a link, fill out a form, write your congressman, or stop smoking cigarettes. The end result of the message can be someone "buying in" to your way of thinking.

What about if I am not writing sales copy? An article is sales copy, even if there is not a product at the end of the story. You still are creating a situation where the buyer (reader) is either going to agree with your view (thesis) or disagree (you did not make the sale). When you successfully craft your message, the reader will agree with your line of reasoning and you have made the sale! Congratulations.

I write to let my mind release the pent up intelligence that it often does not have a chance to let out in my day to day encounters. Not everyone agrees with my way of thinking and I accept that. In fact, my goal is to reach people who may not think the way I do and to potentially allow them to see a different perspective. I would be elated if that resulted in turning someone from "the Dark Side" when they initially did not agree with me, but I am fine with the idea that I may not have influenced anyone with my musings. My hope is only to touch people with kindness or at least positiveness, and to give a little of that experience that my fortysomething years on this planet have taught me.

I know, that last statement makes me sound like an alien. Technically I am not an alien, because I was naturalized back in the 1980's, so now I am non-alien. Almost human. My wife would happily tell you that I am very much human, too human. But I love her anyway.

When you write, how are you putting your thoughts across to your audience? Do you go for shock value? Do you entertain? How much of your personality comes out in your writing? Again, I will repeat that you will not relate well to everyone who reads your writing. Just make your message as palatable to as many readers as possible without watering down your content. You want to inform and at the same time touch each reader with your personality and give them a chance to get to know you. If you follow this strategy, you will develop a group of people who will eagerly await your next article or book. Some will eagerly await your emails if you are just sending out newsletters.

Plan out your message before you get too involved in the writing. Outline as much of your message as you can before you begin fleshing out the details. Think of an outline as the skeleton of your message, and the words you use to blend each section together are the muscles, organs and tissue of your story, e-book or novel. I remember reading Piers Anthony's comments at the end of one of his books and how he said he never wrote a book until he had sold the story to the publisher. He said he would completely outline the story and send that to the publisher, and after he got the nod from his publisher, he would fill in the details of the story, following his outline as the guide for the adventure that he created for his readers. His success using this formula is proof that you should be planning your writing so that you can keep yourself as organized as possible.

Imagine the time savings of putting your outline in front of you and then writing your article based on your outline. You will not be deviating from the course you set out, because every time you pause to see where you are, you get a reminder of the next topic, and you can flow into the next section from one paragraph into the next.

While I did not want to get into the mechanics of writing (I have to follow my outline), the flow mechanism mentioned above is a great method for keeping a reader intent on your message. If you can hold a reader's attention for long periods of time, you can cash in by having them devour your other works in the future. Who doesn't want a loyal following of prose-starved readers?

Are you ready to reach out to the world with your message? The Internet is a canvas, and your words are the paint, and you are the artist who can take the plain, vacant canvas and turn it into a work of art that people will want to tell their friends about. And after all, isn't that the end result we are trying to get for our message anyway? Your words, being passed from person to person virally, infecting more and more of your intended audience as though it had a mind of its own.

It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Your message. Especially if you hear someone else passing it on to their friends. So what is your message? I'd really love to hear it.

Micheal Savoie can be found at his blog: http://michealsavoie.com/welcome when he is not setting up his Viral Attitudes Seminar Series. If you want to be updated on the next location and date of Viral Attitudes Seminars, sign up for his informal newsletter at http://viralattitudes.info/notify so you can be the first to know. If you are speaker and would like to join the Viral Attitudes Tour, post a note to Micheal on his blog, and he will get back to you straight away!

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