There’s nothing worse than sitting through a terrible speech. We’ve all been there. The point is unclear, the tone is muddled and you walk away wondering: What was I supposed to take away from that? How was that supposed to make me feel? What do I do next?

A great speech, on the other hand, has a clear tone, meaningful takeaways and inspires you to take action. As writers, designer, marketers and communicators, we are challenged with exactly the same goal – create clear, concise and impactful messaging. That’s why I often revisit a tool I learned in my college speechwriting course. It is a great way to ensure your messages and copy stay focused and clear. It’s called the Know, Think, Feel, Do method. Here’s how it works. Divide up a piece of paper or white board into four sections labeled know, think, feel and do.

Start with “do”

This will almost always be your call to action. And, while extremely important, it is usually the easiest to figure out. Ex. Click, Call, Share, Buy Now, Use Coupon Code, etc.

Tackle the “know”

These are going to be your key takeaways. Feel free to write down any and all ideas. This is especially useful in a group brainstorming session. We’re not writing content or editing yet. But once you have developed a pretty solid list, you can begin to determine your biggest take away which will likely be incorporated into your headline. Other items may become subhead, bullets, copy or determined not important enough to include in the messaging.

Move on to “think”

Think is sometimes the toughest, because think and know are very similar. In fact, I found a few updated versions of the model that combined think and know and that’s fine too. I separate them because I find that sometimes “think” helps influence the attitude or overtone of the message without interfering with the key takeaway. For example, in a group brainstorming session, there will likely be someone who wants to include the company’s boilerplate slogan or a line from the mission statement. While that may be important for your branding it may interfere with your message’s key takeaways.   

Finalize the “feel”

Feel is perhaps the most important, because this is where you decide what emotional connection you are going to make with your target audience. This is generally a one-word emotion. Ex. Energized, relaxed, tender, grateful, frustrated, cautious, etc. Your feel helps direct the tone and voice of the messaging. In most cases, you will want to stick with a single emotion to guide your message creation.

I hope you’ll find this to be a useful tool no matter what type of message you are creating. Whether you’re writing articles, ads, subject lines or creative briefs, this model can help keep your messages focused, clear and impactful.

P.S. I did a little research to find the origin of this technique without any luck. So, if anyone knows the founder of this technique please email me or leave a comment on LinkedIn and I will give him/her due credit.