Why do we care?

There are causes we connect with.

You, me, people in the past and generations in the future.

We're a tribal bunch and the way we identify with what matters to us, says something about who we are.

Good fundraisers pay attention to this and are brilliant at looking for examples of support. By highlighting real life examples or case studies, we can tell stories so that others are inspired to identify in a similar way, and provoke more people to back a belief and take action.

Businesses go through the same process when a brand is built, or at least the successful ones do, look at KFC's most recent return to 'Finger licking good' tagline backed up by Barry White's 'You're the first. My last. My everything.' in 2021 UK advertisements.

Simple messages that connect (and I'm not even a big fan of fried chicken).

In order to connect effectively, there needs to be clarity, trust and away of making contact.

This is your call to action defined in a slightly different way.

Call with a clear message, try to be transparent so you build trust and allow a supporter to act without it being inconvenient.

You can substitute supporter for customer or consumer.

Keep your call to action as simple and as manageable as possible. Tell real stories and in the spirit of being genuine, don't be afraid to share fails as well as goals, because we can all identify with messing up before mopping up.

Remember to make your messages simple and retellable, and don't patronise.

Or use too many words and ideas at once.

We're living at a time with heightened noise, endless screens to scroll and we're just emerging from being more isolated and disconnected from face to face reality than ever.

To cope with the increased competition coming out of all that noise? Create authentic connections, by choose your messages and words, carefully.