Messages and suggestions

Building a marketing message for a product or company is a challenge. Dr. Milton Erickson had an idea about it

Our challenge, marketers, is to build an accurate, sharp message that engages with the target audience. There are so many messages we create. the company's messaging product’s messaging, value proposition, company’s message to the employees, communication message, promotional messages.  and the list goes on

But how can we create a message that is so sharp and creates curiosity, a call to action, and engages with the target audience? It's a challenging task.

One of the interesting models, I have been exposed to during my career is the Ericsson model. Named after Dr. Milton Erickson. Erickson became known in the world of therapy, as the new approach to hypnosis.

Which means, he believed in storytelling to make a change.

This model is based on neurological studies of left and right hemisphere brain functions.

The left hemisphere processes information linearly, rationally, decisively, and purposefully. The right hemisphere processes information in parallel columns, irrationally, in images, symbols, and ciphers. Since the psychosomatic symptoms are transmitted from the brain to the dominant functions of the right brain, which is the center of sensation and the language of images, the symptoms respond to a metaphorical - pictorial - experiential language that does not require rational and logical interpretation. According to Ericsson, metaphorical communication can connect to the symptom and make an impact.

We, marketeers, do not pretend to be hypnotic. But we want our message to make an impact.

So here are few examples from the Ericsson model for using message building

1.      Lost performative – building massage by using value judgments while omitting the identity of the "judger". For example, we know you are interested ...

2.      Cause and effect – building a message said directly or implying that one thing causes another. For example, using terms: then, because, when

3.      Complex equivalence – building a message that two things or their meaning are presented as one. For example, using the term: it means that ...

4.      Universal quantifiers - absolute generalizations like - always, everyone, every time

5.      Nominalizations - building a message as a process. A verb that becomes a noun. For example: “because the product improves your possibilities that can make it possible for you to…

6.      Tag questions – building a massage that ends with a question to prevent resistance (relevant to online marketing. For example – “isn’t it? Right”

Confusing, right? That’s was Milton Erickson's way.