That Company Has Got Charisma: OG&E and Message Strategy

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The time has come to put together a well crafted message. A message can not only share vital campaign information from the organization to the key public, but it can serve as a way enhance brain credibility, ensure brand control, and persuade with brand charisma. These three C’s of communicating are the basis for any great message (Smith, 256).

Message strategy experts from Counterpart Communication Design explain, “simply put, message strategy is deciding what to say and how to say it — in order to achieve an ultimate business goal. It’s how you turn marketing into communications, and communications into results.”

Authority

Authority represents part of the control objective and is:

“an audience’s acceptance of a message source’s right to rule over or direct its actions” Smith, 262

OG&E’s workforce development program is a direct call to action for young people to being their careers as linemen or power plant operates working within the energy industry. It is in this case that authority is an important element to develop. If the audience rejects the authority of the message, they may also reject the action of applying for a job. For our campaign to work, young people have to be willing to learn more about craft careers, while giving OG&E the authority to be the subject matter experts on the energy industry.

In addition to authority, Hubspot suggests identifying audience needs, “when your message speaks to their needs, you’ll build trust with your audience and inspire customer retention” (Needle, n.d.). Retention in the workforce development campaign may mean you have a loyal base that will help to spread the word about craft careers and working for OG&E.

Charisma

“The magnetic appeal or personal charm of a message source.” Smith, 260

Encouraging an organization to have charisma works in all areas of developing message strategy. Along with authority, this element allows an organization to create a unique selling proposition to encourage the key public to engage with the messages. In the case of OG&E, having charisma may mean leaning into areas of familiarity. Basing messages in geographical locations that already have ties to trade or vocational schools can allow OG&E to be another voice in a narrative that exists within the community: trade programs lead to great careers. If OG&E sends messages with charisma in this market, key publics are more willing to the suggested actions of shadowing opportunities, attending career fairs and applying to craft careers.

Message strategy is deliberate and specific to the development of a great campaign, and messages should never just be thrown at key publics without an explanation. Consider The Police song, Message in a Bottle.

It took years for someone to find the note that washed up on the shore! Your campaign doesn’t have years to wait– nor the budget to sit idly by! More than that, I hope someone gets your message in a bottle or whatever medium you decide is most relevant for your audience.

Make sure to use authoritative messages with charisma to best meet key public needs.

References

Message strategy, content marketing and brand development. Counterpart. (2021, December 7). Retrieved April 1, 2022, from https://www.counterpartcd.com/message-strategy/#:~:text=Simply%20put%2C%20message%20strategy%20is,communications%2C%20and%20communications%20into%20results.

Needle, F. (2021, December 15). How to identify your core marketing message. HubSpot Blog. Retrieved April 1, 2022, from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/marketing-message

Smith, R.D. (2021). Strategic planning for public relations (6th Ed.). Routledge.

The police – message in a bottle – youtube. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbXWrmQW-OE

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