Framing and Messaging

When you target your audiences, you are deciding what segments of the public you want to reach, and sometimes those you will ignore. By properly framing messages, you build a communications strategy on widely held values that shape opinions. And within those frames, you can create targeted messages, assembling the specific concepts and language that will resonate with those who are persuadable and ready to move to action.

The challenge is to move people beyond their default mode if you are working to introduce a new frame or to reframe the words describing a set of ideas, themes, action steps, or policies. As you identify the groups that are most likely to share your goals, you think about the messages that will resonate most when talking to them, and develop winning frames that fit their existing beliefs and values.

CCMC's newly updated 2nd edition of Strategic Communications for Nonprofits was first published in 1999. The book explains the basic principles of a strategic communications strategy that will define the target audiences you need to reach and tells how to develop the messages and messengers you use to reach them. Click here to learn more or purchase the book.

CCMC's private Network Hub offers key tools and services that will give you more information on how to frame an issue and develop effective messages. Tour the links on the right to learn more.

If you work for a non-profit organization working on progressive social issues, you may be eligible to join our network. Click here to learn more.