MessageCraft ®

Messages that fail are just noise.  Killer Messages are easy to define and measure. Message Craft® messages work. Craft your message and get your message across clearly and without static or distractions.

You win the pitch, you get the sale, you get selected, you win elections, your ideas are adopted. I have used MessageCraft® principles to help a Prime Minister with his speech to the United Nations, in the NOtoAV referendum, in the purchase and sale of significant businesses including a UK contractor to Rolls Royce and a Football Club. I have also been very active in politics.

Key Achievements:

• worked with Sri Lankan Prime Minister on UN General Assembly speech
• bringing the Labour Party onto the NO2AV campaign
• 34 new MPs in British Parliament in 2010
• over 100 of the 306 current Conservative MPs have been through my training
• conception and organisation of the Human Trafficking Annual Media Awards
• helping to secure the biggest swing in the country 14% - Cannock Chase

Killer Messages mean Money in the Bank, Votes in the Ballot Box.

The 10-step MessageCraft® process minimises or neutralises your negatives and maximises your positives in pitches, presentations, interviews, campaigns and speeches. Making sure that ALL 10 stages are addressed is part of the success of the MessageCraft® process.

MessageCraft® is a rigorous, proven and comprehensive 10 step process that I have identified, developed and designed over nearly 20 years ago in the communications industry.

Sometimes uncomfortable, always demanding, (generally) fun, never tame, the MessageCraft® process tests, probes, and occasionally razes to the ground and reconstructs the message and the message deliverer.

Working with me through the MessageCraft® process has been likened to working with Simon Cowell. And it is rigorous and demanding – otherwise what use would it be? But what Simon Cowell never shows on TV is the reconstruction work that produces the results. As a professional and ethical trainer I inevitably deconstruct but I ALWAYS reconstruct.

MessageCraft® is far more wide-ranging than standard off-the-shelf Pitch, Presentation and Public Speaking courses.

These typically focus only on delivery or StageCraft skills, which is a 1/10 section of  the MessageCraft® process. Standard courses merely put the speaker in front of a video camera and criticize the negatives, while accepting the content and ignoring the style and personality of the deliverer.

Great presentations demand substance AND solid content – underpinned by professional message preparation.

The holistic (jargon alert!!) 10 step MessageCraft® process considers:-

• the audience and the required outcomes. What action(s) should the message trigger?
• the strengths and weaknesses of the message and any required re-focusing
• the content, style and linguistics of the message – vocabulary is key!!
• the abilities, skills and style of the deliverer (which does include video feedback)
• the “Paxman-Proofing” – the Teflon coating that enables you to handle the most robust of post-presentation questioning.

And yes – after going through the MessageCraft® process you will be Paper-Free

MessageCraft® goes far beyond the generally misused beginners mantras such as “Tell them how you are going to bore them, bore them, tell them how you bored them…” (yawn).

As a MessageCraft® client, you can my use last minute warm-up service before you go “live” - either on-site or on the phone.

MessageCraft® is a bespoke service. So I will meet you first to discuss your exact requirements. To do my job properly, I need to understand you, your situation and where I need to get you. Do you remember that famous line in the Ogilvy & Mather advert?

“At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.”  

David Ogilvy spent over 2 weeks reading about the Rolls Royce in question before he came up with that classic. He took the time to understand the client. He also helped them sell a lot of painted metal. I have always been a fan of Ogilvy and his approach.

MessageCraft® is not a quick and dirty “Cut and Paste” solution. Generic solutions may be good enough for some, but you won’t find them here. It’s about your voice, your message, your agenda.

Message Craft®