Wednesday was a big day for Yahoo!.  They were able to tame the financial beast of Microsoft with a partnership that originally started as a takeover attempt by the software giant.

The announcement was a grand achievement of sound negotiating and long-term thinking.  With so much thought and money that went into the deal, why didn’t Yahoo spend more time on the messaging?

In describing the partnership and its impact for investors, Carol Bartz, the chief executive officer and a director of Yahoo! leveraged the message that the deal would result in “boatloads of money” for investors.

Whether she was consistent in her message or just said it once isn’t really the point.  Just do a quick Google, Bing or Yahoo! Search and you’ll see how popular her characterization has become.

I first became aware of Ms. Bartz’s “Boatloads” comment while watching the unflappable CNBC commentator David Faber chortling and wondering what kind of “boat” Ms. Bartz was referring to.

Was it a toy boat, canoe, paddleboat, cigarette boat, rowboat, oil tanker, cruise ship, container cargo ship?  It is hard to say. 
So many “boatload” visions of the Exxon Valdez surface (or should I say sink) when I read her comment.

Suffice it to say, whoever put “Boatload” on her talking points should be sent off in a dingy.

Photo of my two brothers-in-law on the Madison River in Montana bringing in a boatload of fish.

Sharing your message is all about how you communicate with your target audience (i.e. constituents, customers). In the past, communicating with the larger public was largely relegated to the news media. 

Today, there are a multitude of options available when communicating with a broader spectrum of people.

While there are new ways to tools, the guiding questions about sharing your message remain the same: What do you want to accomplish?  Who do you want to reach?  What do you want them to know about your organization?  What do you want to say?  How do you want them to feel about you and/or your group?  The answers should be found in your measureable objectives, target audiences and key messages.

Sharing your message is akin to having a conversation.  In your personal life, you typically want to celebrate good news with everyone.  If you have bad or sensitive news, would you want to share that face-to-face or one-on-one?  Despite what we see on reality television, the same approach is true in a business setting.

During my ten years as a news reporter and seventeen years in public relations, I cringe at the thought of a news conference.  As a reporter, I like the personalized pitches.  Everyone sharing the same talking heads, same quotes generally the same setting is akin to everyone sharing the same cup of coffee at a breakfast.  As a public relations professional, news conferences are maddening.  Granted they are easy on the client’s schedule, but that is about the only really good thing about news conferences.

Sharing your message is a personal conversation and connection with your target audience.

The news media is not your target audience, it is a conduit to reach your constituents and customers.

The new media (yes “new” and not “news”) provides effective ways to engage your target audience.  Websites, blogs, wiki’s, and social media are all different ways to connect, unfiltered, to your audience.   Direct mail, personal letters, magazines, newsletters are some good standbys to reinforce your brand beyond the computer screen.  These tools are an effective complement to reaching your objectives through traditional media and tactics.

Think of your communication tools as golf clubs.  They each provide a specific purpose to move your message/brand forward.  You wouldn’t use a putter in the tee box or a driver on the putting green.  Knowing your audience and your objectives will help you to identify the right tools to share your message effectively.

Picture provided courtesy of www.golffersavenue.com

We use a number of effective tools to help shape messages.  In a crisis/reputation management scenario, I usually focus on either Message Mapping or the Rule of Threes.

Message Mapping can be effective in developing effective responses to a critical line of questions, where inaccurate information is built into the premise.  It takes a little time to work through.  Think of Message Mapping as a good “defense.”

A good “offense” is found in the Rule of 3s.  Before every interview, I ask my clients what three pieces of information they want to present during the conversation.  Public speakers use a similar approach when developing presentations.

I also like to illustrate the rule of three by sharing with a client that they can survive three days without water, three weeks without food and three minutes without oxygen (that is the friendly reminder to breathe during an interview).

In all seriousness there are three rules of three that are very useful in interview situations.

The first has to do with your disposition during the interview.  You should be authentic, prepared and conversational.

The second is what do when confronted with hostile questions.  You should answer/acknowledge the question, bridge the discussion (usually by providing a natural transition) and convert the discussion to one of the three items you identified in advance of the interview.  Justifiably, reporters hate this approach.  Some people have abused this approach to the point where a reporter could ask the subject what time it is and he/she would break into a talking point.

The third is, have a conversation, engage the reporter and ask questions of your own.  Remember, this is a conversation.  Transition your confidence into asking questions of the reporter about his or her knowledge of the situation.  Now, you don’t want to do a reverse news conference.  Just ask a question to help you clarify your response.  Reporters have to know a little about a lot, help them to get the most accurate story possible.