4 steps to creating ‘first-mover’ messaging

In times of change, the words communicators use to convey their messages matter.

This can be seen in how political comms teams, bank executives and large corporations frame their messages, often taking the negative and turning it into something more positive and digestible for their audience.

This is not done on accident, said Michael Ricci, former speechwriter and director of communications for John Boehner and Paul Ryan, at the PR Daily Conference.

“There’s something I like to call the ‘first mover-metabolism,’” he said. “In business, ‘first mover’ means first on the market,” he said. “For our purposes, I don’t mean being the first to say something.” On the contrary, he said. This is an opportunity to be more prepared and more ready to tackle conflict with the right words.