When you want to communicate something, the content of what you’re saying is vitally important. If what you’re conveying isn’t realistic, inspiring, appropriate, innovative, or somehow valuable, then there isn’t a lot of incentive for anyone to pay attention.
Perhaps just as important, however, is how you communicate your message.
Even with the greatest idea in the world, maybe you’ve cured every disease and are making the pill you’ve developed available for free, if you present that information in such a way that no one will listen to you, the world is no better off than if you hadn’t developed the cure in the first place.
Keep this in mind, and try to put yourself in the shoes of the person you want to communicate with. What would they need to hear from you to believe your story? To want to listen to you? To understand what you’re telling them?
Act accordingly.
Update: February 8, 2017
The age old medium vs. the message conflict.
Both are worth our attention, though I do see a shocking amount of great writing, reporting, and the like, which is badly packaged and as a result not widely shared.