The Message Map- a Cool Tool

How many times in your career did you have to make a presentation and had trouble hitting the mark?  Either your pitch was off point, did not cover the essential elements or you just rambled without having the focus you knew was needed to get your message across. Think about your having to make a presentation for funding for your pet project or presenting a strategic plan to your Board, dealing with an unruly press (of course the press is never unruly!!) or even presenting your credentials in an interview setting.

This is where message mapping can help prepare you for such presentations. I have used this template in different situations in my career and I want to send my thanks to Tripp Frohlichtstein, a media guru and founder of Media Masters, who taught me this method nearly 25 years ago and who recently passed away. It is actually a very simple architecture of building your messages using three different building blocks and is shown as follows:

Home Base:  The major point you are trying to convey and when discussions become tough the presenter goes back to the home base and restates the major point he/she is trying to get across.

Message Pillars:   The home base, major message is supported by 2 to 4 message pillars which are categories of items upon which the major message is based.

Proof Points:  These are the specific quantifiable or discrete items that support the message pillars.

Let’s take two examples. One of the examples is based on trying to sell a new idea to your board of directors.  In this case, the message map may have the following components;

Home Base:  We have a new SaaS product that is based on proprietary behavioral analytics incorporated with Artificial Intelligence that enables Fortune 2000 companies prevent cyber attacks.

Message Pillar 1:  Technology

               Proof point 1: 5 patented algorithms

               Proof point 2: Technology licensed from University of California

Message Pillar 2:  Partnerships

               Proof Point 1: Partnerhsip with IBM Watson

               Proof Point 2: Broadcom partnership for new chip

               Proof Point 3: Visualization tool provided by Palantir

Message Pillar 3:  Customers lined up for Beta

               Proof Point 1:  Fortune 10 company in aerospace agreed to test product in the US

               Prood Point 2: GSA contract in process

               Proof Point 3:  5 additional customers agreed to try before buying

Message Pillar 4: Competition

               Proof Point 1:  Cost will be 50% of existing competing products      

               Proof Point 2:  Competitive moat can be established based on patented algorithms

               Proof Point 3:  Co-branding with partner  creates distinct product set in eyes of the customer.

By visually writing these points out on a piece of paper the presenter has a great tool to use in preparation for the Board presentation. Additional data supplementing each message pillar or proof point can be developed as well.

The second example where the message map is useful is in preparation for interviews and  I have this technique to prepare them. Let’s say the person is a marketing expert looking for a new C-Level job where he doesn’t have the precise experience in the industry but has a related experience in working with recurring revenue streams. I will fill in part of the message map and perhaps the reader can think about what else needs to be filled in as proof points.

Home Base:  Marketing executive with more than 25 years experience developing recurring revenue streams in a diverse set of industries which relies on my creativity, innovation and use of third party partnerships to generate improved margins. (Note the bold elements which set up the 4 message pillars.)

Message Pillar 1: Recurring revenue streams

               Proof Point 1: Three companies where I led marketing to 4 new recurring revenue products

               Proof Point 2: Total revenue for 4 products was 200 million per year by the second year

Message Pillar 2: Creativity and Innovation

               Proof Point 1: Used Lead User research to design a platform product which was extensible                                          to 2 other market segments

               Proof Point 2:  Relied on my contacts at my alma mater to develop licensing agreement in                                           exchange for share of future revenue

Message Pillar 3: Partnerships

               Proof Point 1:  Partnership with University

               Proof Point 2:  Partnership with new sales channels including Geek Squad and CDW

Message Pillar 4: Improved Margins

               Proof Point 1:  Gross margins ranged from 40-65% on each product introduced.

While these examples are fictionalized (based on fact by the way), they illustrate the power of the message map. Clearly there are many elements of using the message map that are not covered in this blog. Yet the power of this type of tool is evident. 

If you have questions please contact me at dfriedman@clevelpartners.net and visit our site at www.clevelpartner.net for other resources and tools that can help your business grow. 

The Pen IS Mightier than the Computer- Sort Of!

Many people who know me realize that I collect pens- fountain pens. Some of my collection is shown on the left.  Last year I went to the LA Pen Show for the first time and it was packed around the mezzanine of a Marriott Hotel.   Today, I received an article from an investment group and the writer, Patrick Wilson, Senior Economic Analyst for Maudlin Economics (@PatrickW) wrote an interesting piece which resonated with me.  I wanted to share that.

As an angel investor with TechCoastAngels (www.techcoastangels.com) we listen to pitches to see which companies are investable for our investor group.  After each presentation we take notes and provide comments- both what we like and concerns.  I recall one time when a colleague was to take notes but he did not have a pen and paper and he had to find his computer.   (Of course, I offered him a pad and pen but he politely declined.)   When I read this article and thought back to my days in school and even the way I do stock and market analysis for investments, marketing, or just learning, it made me realize a few things.

First, as Patrick points out the newest technology isn’t always the best tool for the job nor as helpful as you think it might be. Recall the acronym KISS.   Pens are KISS at the right time and place.

Patrick wrote

For instance, recently I saw a Quartz article on cursive handwriting. Many schools that stopped teaching it now realize that was a mistake. Research shows that writing by hand actually helps your brain work better.

The reasons for taking handwriting seriously are worth considering even if you’re not a kid or a parent worried about education. Anyone can benefit from penmanship’s cognitive benefits, whether you’re taking notes at a meeting or just trying to figure out what you think.

Brain scans during the two activities also show that forming words by hand as opposed to on a keyboard leads to increased brain activity. Scientific studies of children and adults show that wielding a pen when taking notes, rather than typing, is associated with improved long-term information retention, better thought organization, and increased ability to generate ideas.

That matches my own experience. I used to see people at conferences taking notes on their computers and feel a little embarrassed to bring out my paper notepad. But having tried both, I found that handwriting is faster, and I retain the information better.

For all our whiz-bang technology, it turns out that a pen and notepad work better than the latest “notebook” computers and you never have to recharge them. (They’re also hackproof, at least for me. No one else can read my writing even if they steal my notepad.)

I liked the article on several levels.  First, find the right tool for the problem.  If a company is looking to do a marketing campaign, they might not need an Oracle system for a direct mail program but rather Get Response or even an Outlook plug in depending on their list size.   If a company has a large project to manage, should they use Microsoft Project or something like Odoo?  The answer is it all depends on circumstance, complexity, skills of the people using the tools and the like.

If you have questions on tools to be used in business, I would be glad to chat.  Or if you just want to talk about fountain pens we can do that as well.  BTW from left to right, the fountain pens are: Delta Dolce Vita Large, Visconti Cosmo, Pelican 800, ST DuPont Orpheo Palladium, and Waterman LeMans 100.   Contact me at dfriedman@clevelpartners.net or 949 4394503.