President Lee Carter and CEO Michael Maslansky are joined by Partner Keith Yazmir to talk about how maslansky + partners invented language strategy, why certain messages resonate (and don’t), and share some of their favorite Language Strategy wins: from Starbucks VIA® Instant Coffee to variable annuities.
Language strategy is the ability to find precisely the right words to change behavior and craft them into a plan, so that you can drive customers into action. More than just messaging, language strategy is how we connect what we want to achieve with the most effective tactic to achieve it: our language.
People often want to focus on communicating their intent. These messages feel good. They often don’t work. If you want the right words to drive behavior change, leave your motives behind and make the message about the audience.
We recently spoke with Senior Vice President Maria Boos about her passion for issue readiness. She explains why every company should be prepared with libraries of language that allow them to respond quickly, credibly, and consistently when “chatter” happens.
When using the term “LatinX” in your business communications, here are three important considerations to keep in mind.
Your sustainability efforts are having a big impact on the planet — but they haven’t made as big of impact on your reputation. Now what?
Health is so personal, and talking about illness with a group of strangers isn’t an easy thing for everyone to do. But often, we at m+p get the opportunity to listen to these very personal stories and pass them directly onto the companies creating life-saving medicines. It’s incredibly meaningful in and of itself. And sometimes we get the honor of sharing that work even more broadly than with just our immediate client.
Through our research, we’ve identified a few key areas to focus on when assessing your sustainability story. Here are several ways you can ensure you’re lining up your company’s ongoing actions with your company’s actions for the future
In 2020, Mark’s employees did over 10,000 hours of combined community service. In that same time, Timmy’s employees donated over $500,000 (US) to support local food banks. Who had a more positive impact on their community, Mark or Timmy?
Since the emergence of COVID-19, maslansky + partners has tracked corporate communications via social media, press releases, and emails to understand communication trends and what we can learn from them. One area of focus that has emerged is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. With so much new language — one word in particular stood out to us: “community.” It is being used in many cases to replace American. For example, the Black community instead of Black Americans, or the Asian community instead of Asian Americans, or the Hispanic community instead of Hispanic Americans.
