Messaging and Framing

How You Say It, Is Just As Important As What You Say

“Unless you frame yourself, others will frame you — the media, your enemies, your competitors, your well-meaning friends.” ~ George Lakoff

Keys to Messaging and Framing

Here are our main keys to messaging and framing:

• Create concise messages focused on a specific audience and their values.
• Use a message box to think through your message along with the opposition’s message.
• Tell a story, not just the facts!
• Our mental frames decide what information we believe or ignore. Frames are ideas (e.g., climate change is real or small government is better).
• Create “sticky” ideas (i.e., the Heath Brothers’ “Simple Unexpected Concrete Credential Emotional Story” framework). Examples : proverbs, anecdotes, spotting stories from you or your team, etc.

What Makes a Good Message

Overview

A message is a value/idea you are working to convey, with a clear call to action to a specific audience. Creating a message helps you identify how you communicate to your intended audience (e.g., through your use of slogans, stories, and media sound bites).

Examples of Slogans

Slogans serve as concise summaries of your message. Here are some examples:

• Nike: “Just do it”
• De Beers: “A Diamond Is Forever”

• Barack Obama: “Change We Can Believe In” (or “Hope” and “Change”)
• Homeboy Industries: “Nothing Stops A Bullet Like A Job” 
• U.S. Department of Transportation: “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk”

Elements of a Good Message

Here are some things to keep in mind when creating your own message:

• Convey shared values that resonate with your audience.
• Have a specific call to action.
• Know the target audience you are messaging to.
• The message should be catchy (e.g., something that could be put on a bumper sticker).
• Focus on solutions (e.g., aspirations, future action, etc.) and emotional connections (e.g., a story).
• Have one simple message. Do not try to fit two or more ideas into your message. Keep it clear and accessible.

Message Box

What is a Message Box?

A message box is a visual tool to help you hone your thoughts, stories, and statements. Below we will look at two examples of message boxes that you can use.

Message Box

This message box (sometimes called the Tully Message Box) is designed to compare your message with that of your opponent. It is useful for both issue and electoral campaigns.

Template

What we are saying about ourselves	What they [the opponents] are saying about themselves
What we are saying about them [the opponents]	What they [the opponents] are saying about us

What Makes a Good Frame

Overview

George Lakoff’s book, Don’t Think of an Elephant, explains how a frame is “A mental construct that guides how people think about issues” (e.g., environmental, political, social, etc.). The frame sets parameters and gives a particular perspective that encourages the viewer or listener to consider certain details and to ignore others.

Framing is about language. The way to make people understand why you are right is by using language that they understand and the values that are important to them.

Lakoff notes that “Frames are ideas, not slogans.” Therefore, you need an effective communications infrastructure to enact your frame long-term (e.g., across media, elections, policy fights, day-to-day language, etc.). Frames generally cannot be adopted in a short period.

Why Framing is So Important 

Lakoff notes if you tell people facts that do not fit with their frame, the facts will bounce off and the frame will stay. Facts are never enough if no one understands you or can relate to you. Unfortunately, as Lakoff says, “The truth alone will not set you free. It has to be framed correctly.”

For example, here are two sets of competing frames. If you believe one of these, you are unlikely to consider evidence that contradicts your belief. 

• We need a tough on crime approach vs. We need a restorative justice approach
• Donald Trump is making America great vs. Donald Trump is damaging the country

Negating a Frame Activates the Frame

Lakoff writes, “even when you negate a frame, you activate the frame. If I tell you, ‘Don’t think of an elephant!’, you will think of an elephant.” Or when Nixon said, “I am not a crook,” everyone thought he was.

Lakoff maintains that this means we have to stick to our language, instead of using our opponent’s language (e.g., Democrats using the language of “tax relief for the middle class,” which only activates the idea that taxes are bad, rather than for the common good).

Examples of Frames

Here are some examples:

• Global warming – The earth heating up is a real threat and we need to act to address it. (note – the global warming frame gradually got co-opted by the frame of climate change which was seen as less dramatic and made changing weather seem more natural, and thus less an urgent issue to address).
• Tough on Crime or War on Crime/Drugs – Both conservatives and liberals built up a narrative that we needed to punish individuals and communities, and have a strict disciplinary approach to address crime. 

Elements of a Good Frame

Here are some things to keep in mind when creating your frame (summary of ideas from George Lakoff):

• Focus on values, rather than data/information.
• Frames take time to develop. Frames are not like a message you can immediately put into use. You have to build narratives, campaigns, etc. All are built around frames over the long term.
• Build around a story/narrative. You must have a compelling narrative to unite people around.
• Ask yourself, what do you want people to think or feel when they hear the frame? Whether it is a slogan, sound bite, etc., what are the key things people should think or feel when they interact with your framing?

Sticky Ideas

Overview

Chip and Dan Heath in Made to Stick write, “By ‘stick,’ we mean that your ideas are understood and remembered, and have a lasting impact – they change your audience’s opinions or behavior.”

Here are some examples:

• The Heath brothers give the example of a health researcher trying to get people to eat less movie theater popcorn. They did not create a fact sheet with charts. Instead, they did a press conference with visuals. It showed that a single medium popcorn with butter has “more artery-clogging fat” than the two to three full meals of fast food and unhealthy meals they had on display. This got so much media attention that people for a time significantly reduced how much popcorn they ate at movie theaters.
• The idea of walking “10,000 steps” to encourage people to be active. Instead of saying exercise is good for you and that it will make you healthier, the idea of having a specific goal leads many to take action.

SUCCESS Framework for Sticky Ideas

Here is the Heath Brothers checklist for “sticky” ideas: “a Simple Unexpected Concrete Credential Emotional Story (SUCCESS).”

1. Simplicity – Strip down the idea to its “essential core.” 

• Examples of this include proverbs, anecdotes, and organizational “axioms”.
• Some examples include: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” “don’t tell me how to do it, show me how to do it,” etc.

2. Unexpectedness – Make people want to learn more. 

• Use the idea of unexpectedness to get people to initially hear your message or idea, and then use other elements of the SUCCESS framework to hook them over a longer-term. 
• Here is an example: Did you know if we ended fossil fuel subsidies we could lift half of all Americans out of poverty?

3. Concreteness – Make our ideas vivid and descriptive.

• Remember, stories and proverbs are excellent tools to make things concrete (e.g., “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.”).
• People need to be able to visualize what we are talking about or else it will be difficult for them to remember.

4. Credibility – Ensure people believe what you are saying.

• For us to internalize ideas, we have to believe the messenger as well as the ideas themselves. 
• Example: Sometimes we will believe our friends on social media or people we see on YouTube rather than experts in a certain field. Sometimes it is the opposite.

5. Emotions – Get people to feel.

• Remember Maya Angelou’s quote “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
• Example: Show a picture of an example family you are trying to support with donations (as opposed to statistics of the hundreds of people the donation will help). 

6. Stories – Make it easy for people to remember and act on what they hear.

• People have a much better time remembering an anecdote, even if it is of someone they do not know (e.g., My friend found out once they joined a workout group they really enjoyed exercise a lot more than when they were going to the gym by themselves).
• The Heath brothers note that “Spotting” a good idea/story is more important than creating one. Look for examples within your organization and efforts that capture the idea of what you want people to do (e.g., a strong anecdote, someone overcoming a challenge, etc.).