It’s one thing to deliver a message, but it’s another to have that message stick. Alan Coates, 44 Partner – Digital, explores a few theories on how to improve your internal comms message retention.
As communicators, we’re often asked to measure the impact of the work we do. Whether that’s through the immediate quantitative metrics (clicks, likes, views or participation) or qualitative feedback (surveys, comments or focus groups), we can then provide analysis on the impact that our work has had.
One of our first questions is almost always around what the colleague remembers from the campaign or publication. This includes the stories they liked, where they saw the messages, and which messages resonated with them most. This has two roles: firstly, to understand the answers to those questions and secondly, to find out if colleagues remember the messages at all.
Message retention is a primary, but crucial, part of what we do.
How often do we find ourselves in a position where the campaign we’re working on is competing with other communications within the same business for attention? A wellness campaign launches at the same time as the business performance announcement, at the same time as a well-loved senior leader retires, at the same time as the colleague survey goes out… So what can we do to ensure that the messages land and stick?
Clarity for message retention
The first tool is to make the message as short and as easy to remember as possible. According to Atkinson and Shiffrin, we can store around seven to nine pieces of information in our short-term memory, before the brain decides whether it belongs in long-term memory or if it’s abandoned. Think: ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’, ‘Loose lips sink ships’, and ‘Stay alert. Control the virus. Save Lives.’
It’s part of Atkinson and Shiffrin’s Multi-Store Model, which includes three factors:
1) Sensory memory
2) Short-term memory
3) Long-term memory
Incidentally, there’s also a theory that sometimes our experiences go from sensory memory straight to long-term memory – bypassing short-term memory. The experience is akin to seeing or hearing something at the same time as recalling it from long-term memory. This is the theory of déjà vu.
So, now that we’ve made our message short and clear – how can we better ensure it sticks in our audiences’ memory?
Repetition for message retention
Atkinson and Shiffrin suggest that repetition is key. Repetition is a classical rhetorical device. A rhetorical device, you ask? Yes, a rhetorical device that helps retention. Did I do that right?
Repetition is used heavily in the oral tradition of storytelling, and anybody who’s studied English at GCSE level knows that using repetition in a poem is a way to solidify its themes. If you studied The Iliad, how many times did you read “swift-footed Achilles” before that sank in?
There are other rhetorical devices that can work well too, such as alliteration, assonance, similes, metaphors and juxtapositions. All of which can present your ideas in new and memorable ways to your audience.
However, in Martin Luther King’s famous speech, he repeated “I have a dream” eight times. In Churchill’s famous call-to-arms, he said “We shall fight” seven times. These things stick for a reason.
So, now our message is short, sharp and we’ve considered repetition. What else can we do?
Melody for message retention
I’ve recently started scrolling YouTube Shorts as a way of getting my daily zeitgeist. I downvote anytime Joe Rogan comes around in the hope that the algorithm will finally take the hint.
Blowhards aside, there’s a lot of good stuff in short snippets (Atkinson and Shiffrin-approved). I recently came across entrepreneur and keynote speaker Vinh Giang, who also does a lot of vocal coaching. The video I saw was this (see below), which – as somebody who’s dealt a lot with words in his career – really resonated with me.
The idea of adding melody to your messages and using audio as well as words can lead to lasting and memorable messages. If you can whistle the McDonald’s catchphrase or sing the lyrics of an entire song from start to finish – you’ll prove the point.
So, in a short, clear and melodic way, here’s my summary on how to improve internal communications message retention:
Keep it neat, keep it on repeat, and keep it to the beat.
If you need any support in making your internal comms messages stick, why not get in touch and find out how we can help?
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