The research

An introduction to framing and messaging principles

A message is like a baton - it gets passed on by people.

Most people are either with us, or persuadable - meaning they don’t have strongly held beliefs about us.

When we share compelling and inspiring messages with our base, they repeat them. This is how we reach and persuade the vast majority of the public.

 
 

Our messages need to …

  • Energise our base

    Our base are people who strongly support self-determination and justice. The most important part of the base is us, and also includes and millions of allies. Together - we make up 26% of the population. If we craft messages that resonate with our base, they’re more likely to be shared and heard by persuadables.

  • Persuade the middle

    Persuadables are the majority of people in the middle, making up 59% of the population. They’re persuadable because they don’t have firm views. They toggle between conflicting ideas - what we say, and what our opponents say. The ideas they hear the most, or most recently, are the ones they believe more. We can win big change by focusing our attention on these people.

  • Alienate the opposition

    Opponents make up a small percentage of the population - just 15%. They’ll never support us and we don’t need them to. Messages that alienate our opponents are powerful, because they distance them from the majority. When our opponents actively oppose our messaging it can help move persuadables to us.

 

framing 101

A frame is like a picture frame, it helps our audience focus on what we want them to think about, and excludes and obscures ideas outside it.

The choices we make about how we frame our issues completely shape people’s understanding of an idea.

There are five main principles to follow when crafting a frame.

Lead with shared values

Universal values like equity, taking care of one another and freedom resonate with everyone. Start messages with a value that hooks your audience, then show how the problem you’re talking about violates this shared value.

Bring people in

This is a simple rule: people do things. When describing the problem, we need to also say who is causing it. If we use passive voice, or describe problems without naming who causes them, people assume we’re the problem. Embrace active language and name who causes the unfair barriers we face, alongside their motive.

Say what we want

People are motivated to support us when they can see that change is possible, and how it will make things better. Describe your vision for a better future, be clear in your demands and say what needs to change. 

No hedging langauge

Hedging language is cautious and vague. It waters down our messages, and undermines confidence in what we are saying. It makes us seem untrustworthy at worst, or wishy-washy at best. Hedging is the adding of unnecessary words like ‘we seek to’, ‘we believe’, and ‘we aim to’ throughout our messages. It’s easy to remove, and makes our messages shorter.

Never negate

​​Negation is when we say what we’re ‘not’, rather than what we ‘are’. We do this especially when we’re forced to rebut or myth bust the opposition’s frame. By associating our communities with something we’re ‘not’, we’re doing the opposite of what we intend - we’re reinforcing the opponent's story for them. We can avoid negation by reframing and speaking from our power.

 

 
 

A great message doesn’t say what’s already popular -

a great message makes popular what needs to be said.

Anat Shenker-Osorio
Global messaging expert and advisor to Passing The Message Stick

 

the research process

The two-year project followed a six part process.

 
 

1.

To begin, 19 First Nations communicators, journalists, advocates and policymakers took part in a five month

Message Research and Communications Fellowship

to research and analyse the language used on diverse issues, including health, land rights, gender, identity, systemic racism, January 26, water, LGBTQI people, remote communities, housing, the Community Development Program (CDP), law reform and community control.

 

2.

Together, fellows collected and analysed 3,400 messages

to understand how our issues are framed by us and opponents.

 

3.

Then we did a survey and interviews

with First Nations advocates, to collect examples of how we describe self-determination and justice in our own words.

 

4.

The research team then went on a (virtual!) road trip to do

9 focus groups with First Nations advocates, the base, persuadables and opponents

This helped us to understand where these audiences are at, and how they respond to our messages and narratives.

 

5.

We backed this up with

quantitative research, including a 15 minute survey and ‘dial test’

This showed us how audiences responded word by word to the messages we developed. This research gave us rich insights into the messages needed to build widespread support for self-determination and justice.

 

6.

Before we shared them widely, we did

ground truthing conversations

with First Nations advocates to make sure they resonate and are useful.

 
 
 

And here’s what we found

 
 

the good news is…

  • People are with us and support our leadership

  • People want to be better (even opponents)

  • Self-determination is a catchy idea

  • Persuadables support our demands

  • People accept historic injustice

  • Equity is a strong frame

  • People recognise our connection to country

  • Our values and knowledge are a strength

 

that’s Deadly!

It’s taken incredible leadership to get us this far

Click the photo to read more, including a case-study of strength based messaging at Seed Mob.

 

 But – there’s also some bad news.

  • Deficit is everywhere and people believe it

  • People don't know much about us

  • People feel guilty and defensive

  • Too many messages about us, exclude us

  • Self-determination is seen as segregation

  • The opponent's story is strong

  • People don’t understand self-determination

  • Our solutions are framed as 'special rights'

 

This is because the opposition’s deficit narrative has been told over, and over, and over… by governments, media, and even us.

 

There’s plenty to be hopeful about.

The research shows that when we reclaim our strength and capability, we can build support for self-determination and justice.

 

So, what can we do with these findings?

We’ve taken two-years of analysis, surveys, interviews, focus groups and dial tests, and turned them into a set of practical recommendations to help you develop your own strength-based messaging.