3 Insights That Can Help Streamline Your Bioresearch Brand’s Pitch.

Recently, two of Maine’s leading Biomedical Institutions, The Jackson Laboratory and the MDI Biological Laboratory, successfully passed bond measures (Question 4 and Question 5 on Maine’s 2014 Ballot) to fund their facilities and research into the future.

These success stories are largely due to the clarity of the messaging that drove their campaigns and their ability to easily share those messages across many different communication channels. Your Bioresearch Institution may never have to pass a bond measure, but it can benefit from clarified messaging.

Ready to make your pitch stronger? Here are 3 insights you can gain from The Jackson Laboratory and the MDI Biological Laboratory:

3-4 “Power Points” Are All You Need
When trying to gain support from a broad audience, the best approach is a simple one: Define your main message and support it with strong arguments. In the case of these two bond campaigns, the main appeal was to get the public to vote “Yes.” To encourage that action, each of these institutions had to give compelling reasons why they deserve support.

MDI Biological Laboratory presented 3 strong reasons for voters to support their measure: Train our workforce; Grow our economy; Accelerate drug discovery.

The Jackson Laboratory condensed their appeal down to these 3 points: Fight cancer; Create Maine jobs; Support research.

Encouraging your team to streamline its messaging in a similar way can strengthen your overall campaign and develop repetition, so your message will stick in people’s minds.

HOW TO DO IT:
Create a SIMPLE messaging platform for your campaign before you do anything else. Start with your lead benefit or appeal, and then support it with 3-4 bullet points or “Power Points.” To start, your bullet points should be no more than one sentence long, and they shouldn’t require lengthy explanations to understand. A good rule of thumb: If your audience can’t get it in fewer than 10 words, your Power Points are too broad (and there’s a good chance they won’t resonate in your actual PowerPoint presentations, emails, leave behinds or other communications).

Simple Messages Feel More Honest
It’s easier to be convincing when you can state your case briefly. If your team can’t quickly explain why your Bioresearch Institution’s work is worth supporting, you may not be clear enough on the reasons yourself. If you need lengthy copy to make your case, it may not be a strong one. Remember, the more you say, the more you open the door for questions and objections.

Of course, there are vehicles where you will want to expound on your main Power Points—brochures and other print pieces, for instance—but by and large your digital and in-person presentations will benefit from quick messaging hits. By keeping it simple, you make it easy for your audience to digest, believe and repeat your message.

Take a look at the online landing pages for these bond measure campaigns, and you will immediately see what I mean:

Notice how clear and immediate the messaging is. There is nothing to second-guess and no unnecessary information to complicate the issues.

HOW TO DO IT:
Once you’ve outlined your messaging platform, distill it down even further. What are the key takeaways, and how can you share them in just a few words?

Simplicity Supports Creativity
Your Institution will start to see the real payoff of streamlining your messaging when you begin to extend your campaign out across several marketing channels—especially social media. Clear messaging translates easily to different platforms and invites sharing.

MDI Biological Laboratory offers an example of how using quick-hit messaging actually opens up opportunities to have more fun on social platforms. On their website, they made a solid case for why they thought the public should support them. Then on social media, they invited supporters to give their own reasons. Because it was Bond Issue 5, they asked supporters to write their motivations for voting “Yes” on their hands, and then took pictures of them “giving a hand.” Here’s what it looked like:

In this case, simplifying the message made it feel more personal and homegrown.

HOW TO DO IT:
Once you have simplified your messaging, carry that spirit through with powerful visuals that will resonate with your social network and invite sharing.