My colleague Rebecca Leet has written a book that brings together many decades of her work in helping nonprofits and companies craft strategic messages that (in her words) "use crisp, clear, compelling language to connect with target audiences whose action is needed to achieve the client's goal."

She suggests a 5-step action connection framework:

1. Identify your organization's desired action


2. Identify the people who must be activated to make that action happen (target audiences)


3. Identify the desires of those target audiences


4. Identify the overlap between what your organization and target audiences desire


5. Within the area of overlap, create a message that makes your audience hear their desires will be met by taking the action you want.

The book Message Matters: Succeeding at the Crossroads of Mission and Market, of course, explains the framework in more detail and gives lots of examples. But when I learned that she helped the American Lung Association create the message "When you can't breathe, nothing else matters," I realized what an expert resource she is!