USDA’s MyPlate puts its money where your mouth is
One of my brilliant clients at Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield once wrote in a healthy-eating column:
“Instead of our steak being the size of a deck of cards (a standard, four ounce serving), it’s often the size of small laptop computer.”
I’m not a steak woman, but I do like my brie-on-brioche sandwiches to be at least as big as my iPad.
Visualizations help us ‘see’ size.
Whatever your personal dietary demons, we can agree on this: Visualizations help people make better decisions. Telling people that a serving of salmon should be the size of the palm of their hand makes it easier to control portions than to say it should be about four ounces.
That’s one reason I love the USDA’s new MyPlate graphic. It helps you see what you should eat.
The plate’s the trigger.
But there’s another reason I love MyPlate: It uses environmental triggers to help audience members implement the new dietary guidelines.
I, for one, have never eaten off a pyramid. But tell me to fill half of my plate with fruits and vegetables — and show me what that looks like — and every time I look at my plate, I remember what I’m supposed to do.
Think Like a Reader
Move people to act
It’s counterintuitive, but true: The product is never the topic. The program is never the topic. The plan is never the topic. The topic is never the topic. The reader is always the topic.
Indeed, the secret to reaching readers is to position your messages in your audience’s best interests. (Most communicators position their messages in their organization’s best interests. Which is fine, as long as you’re talking to yourself.)
Move readers to act with a four-step process for giving people what they really want.
At Catch Your Readers — our two-day hands-on corporate-writing master class on April 10-11, 2019 in Charleston — you’ll learn a four-step process for moving readers to act by giving them what they really want. Specifically, you’ll learn how to:
- Take advantage of the formula readers use to determine which messages to pay attention to (and which to toss).
- Tap two rewards of reading you can use to boost audience interest in your message.
- Answer the No. 1 question your reader is asking, regardless of your topic, medium or channel.
- Make a two-minute perspective shift to focus your message on the value to readers — not on “us and our stuff.”
- Use a three-letter word that magically makes your message more relevant to your readers.
Learn more about our
Charleston master class.
Leave a Reply