I was driving along minding my own business when the announcement came on the radio for “The National Bereavement Conference 2023!”

“Egad!” I thought.

Were they talking about an amazing get together of caring people that come alongside those whose lives are forever changed due to the loss of a loving spouse? You’d never know it by what sounded like the label to a file folder.

There is no promotion so brilliant that it can’t be made utterly ineffective through the presentation of data, such as a list of dates and times.

Andy Stanley’s recent leadership podcast with Jeff Henderson explored that information isn’t transformational.

No one goes into a meeting wanting to hear more information. No, people need to be inspired.

Don’t inform me, inspire me.

The right side of the brain is where emotion, feelings, and creativity are interpreted. Too often, stations talk about their attributes and benefits as though they are doing inventory. (“We have 12 of the red ones and 40 of the blue ones”). (See Frost Advisory #605 – What Does Your Station Sound Like?)

Left brain thinking is how we end up with dry-as-sandpaper promotions like Clergy Appreciation Month, Local Music Project, and my all-time least favorite the Bereavement Conference. If you’ve ever talked on the air about a Family 4-Pack of tickets, a gift card, or told listeners to “enroll/register/download,” you haven’t inspired anyone.

The goal is to make people care.

“Feelings inspire people to act. For people to take action, they have to care.”

Chip and Dan Heath, “Made to Stick”

Don’t inform me, inspire me.