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No More Mission Statements

Posted by: Tom Suddes January 20, 2006

vs. CLEAR, CONCISE, COMPELLING MESSAGES!!!

THAT GRAB YOUR ATTENTION!!!

(Everyone gets 3,000 marketing ‘messages’ a day; 1,000,000 a year!)
“STAY ON MESSAGE!!!”

(One, and only? Lesson from world of politics!)

A customer can say “NO” because the offer doesn’t apply to them;

but NEVER because they didn’t UNDERSTAND IT!!!

Doug Hall, Jumpstart Your Brain

In our world, that means someone can say, “not now” or “not a priority” for legitimate reasons, but never because they didn’t UNDERSTAND the VISION/MISSION/ MESSAGE!!!

SIMPLICITY

BREVITY

CLARITY

“WE CAN’T POSSIBLY DO WHAT YOU’RE SUGGESTING, TOM. WE ARE JUST ‘TOO BIG’, ‘TOO IMPORTANT, TOO COMPLEX’.”
“OH, YEAH?”

GETTYSBURG ADDRESS (One Nation . Indivisible . with Liberty & Justice for All; 9 Words)	276 WORDS!!!
WASHINGTON’S INAUGURAL SPEECH: (Our 1st President!)	134 WORDS!!!
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE LIFE, LIBERTY & the Pursuit of HAPPINESS	3 BIG WORDS!!!
EINSTEIN’S THEORY OF RELATIVITY Energy = MC²	3 PAGES!!! 3 LETTERS
Note on Einstein: 3 PAGES!!! 3 LETTERS!!!

*It takes us 3 pages just to “introduce” our organization as a preface to a 30-page proposal or grant request!!! (for $10,000!!!)
TAGLINES . BATTLE CRIES . AHA!!!
“We’ll put a man on the moon before THE end of decade.”
“I have a dream.”
“Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
“He’s not heavy, he’s my brother.”
“1,000 Points of Light.”
“Just Do It.”
“Like a Rock.”
“Live to Ride. Ride to Live.”
Bottom line: WHAT’S your MESSAGE???
P.S. There are 130 words since Simplicity, Brevity, Clarity.
Note: Please send me more messages, taglines, battle cries that MOVE you or your organization.