How can we effectively communicate our initiatives to different audiences?
One of the most powerful realisations an activist or anyone working on change can have is that when it comes to communication, ‘one size does not fit all’, and that people are scattered along a spectrum of values, awareness, issue literacy and motivation.
Advertisers and marketers have long known and practiced 'market segmentation' but all too often, communications approaches treat their audience as a single, amorphous mass – ‘the public’ – without understanding that different values may be in play at different times within different societal groups. In particular, the environment, social change and sustainability movements have tended to frame their messages to appeal to people based on their own values, which may not be shared by the audiences they are trying to reach.
This complexity is why one size fits all is easier to do, even though it isn’t as effective.
Luckily, there are simple tools that can help address this.
Knowing your audience, knowing how to communicate when you don’t know your audience; thinking about the issue from their perspective and how what you are doing might align or clash; and bottling the essence of your message in a way that resonates for them in an engagement story, are all critical to whether or not your message gains traction.
The initial Audience Segmentation was done for Post Growth Institute, which I helped found, in 2011. It was based on the audience segmentation plan for marketing a documentary. I later adapted and simplified it, and created a workshop format which I delivered at the 2018 New Economy Network Australia Conference in Melbourne.
Original Post Growth Version
Simplified Template
AUDIENCE SEGMENTATION
Workshop Objective
To support change agents in better identifying, and communicating with, the audiences they are seeking to engage.
In this workshop, you will be introduced to a way of developing an Audience Segmentation Spreadsheet for your initiative, shown an example, and given the opportunity to test it for yourself with your own initiative or communication for change challenge.
Workshop Format
(30 mins + 10 mins questions)
- Introduction (2 mins)
- What is audience segmentation, and why do we need it? (5 mins)
- Post Growth example (10 mins)
- Try it yourself - using the template, how can you apply audience segmentation to an initiative you are working on? Solo/pairs/small group exercise (10 mins)
- identify and list your audiences
- consider your offering from their perspective and what their intentions are
- consider the benefits to your audience
- what would you want this audience to say to others about your initiative? - Summary + online resources (3 mins)
- Q + A (10 mins)
- identify and list your audiences
- consider your offering from their perspective and what their intentions are
- consider the benefits to your audience
- what would you want this audience to say to others about your initiative?
This process was also captured in a webinar hosted by Andrew Ward.