We got it. Bad news zips along speedy-kwik. Now what? – SCN Encourager

I can’t hide behind my daughters forever.

But I deserve an A+.

Not for effort.

But for my keen round-a-about run-a-round.

Sometimes known as the ol’ bob and weave.

You might recall last week I wrote about our innate “fight or flight” reflex.

Learning a bit more about this helped me understand why “bad news” routinely gets so much more attention and travels so much faster than any of the good stuff we’d much prefer people see and hear.

Many of you (not you necessarily…) responded in agreement.

Thank you.

Like me, you never realized that our appetite for bad news is deeply rooted in humankind’s instinctual desire to stay alive – and that since Day One – we’ve all been prioritizing and dealing with all of the bad news in our midst before we can even take the time to think about addressing any of the good news waiting right there in front of us.

It’s one of our primo shared behaviors.

By not effectively responding to major bad news immediately, we can get ourselves or someone we care about hurt or killed.

Good news rarely results in these kind of consequences.

Many of you (not you necessarily…) then also asked me, “So, now what? Is there something we can do about this?”

This is a toughie.

(Why, oh why, couldn’t you have just left well enough alone?)

So, I needed some time to mull this over.

I resorted to my round-a-about run-a-round.

Luckily, I had Friday’s “Always#likeagirl” and yesterday’s “Shiseido’s Anyone Can Be Cute” videos in the que to bail me out.

Yeah, I know both videos were less than 3 minutes each, but 180 seconds is typically about all the heavy-duty brainpower I can muster, anyway.

So, it all worked out.

I came up with three quick ways we can stand tall in the face of our own inner pull toward bad news and win a critical messaging war or two.

WE CAN INTENTIONALLY STRIVE TO BE –

#1  More Empathetic

Some marketers will tell you “empathy” is the ONLY place to begin crafting your message. Bad news may have its universal and long-held appeal, but connecting with genuine emotion in a good way is frequently the only effective counter-balance. So dust off your “parent hat.” That’s the ticket. (And I’ll get going on trying to find mine.)

#2  More Clear.

You have to admire bad news in this respect; it sure cuts through the communications clutter like nothing else can. Along with creativity and good design, the absolute best feature for us to inject into our good news messages is CLARITY. (There’s no debate here, right? Somehow it now seems weird to write anymore on the topic of clarity. Not that I’m not tempted to, you know.)

#3  More Inviting

With a message that is empathetic and clear, we have a great chance that our intended audience will actually see or hear what we are asking them to do. And this is where the whole “call to action” becomes essential. I’m guessing that you’ve already got this one down pat, too. But sometimes I don’t. I’m working too hard to be clever. So, it helps me to remember that people (like us, for instance) crave community and a sense of belonging. You can never go wrong by packaging your “call to action” inside of a friendly and sincere invitation.

Now, not that I get all that many invitations – but you get the idea.

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