the trick to herding cats

Mission Critical: Crafting Your Communications Strategy

#CommsStrategy

30 May 2012

The trick to herding cats -the process and principles of audience focus

CharityComms May 2012#CommsStrategy

Our task for today ...

Understand the basic process of audience mapping and prioritising

Share techniques we use to help clients develop audience focused messages

Share ideas and tips

Audience QIAudience QI

There are prizes ......

Explorer Families – active, educated, enthusiastic

NT key points

Started from existing visitor base

Invested and made it evidence-based

Embedded it throughout the organisation– internal comms, training, degree of self-determination

Used insight to reach more of the same and to improve their offer

Audience focus - basic process

Core to activity

Enablers

DiffusePeers/partners

Trustees

Volunteers

Staff

Opinion leaders

Who else matters?

Who do you need to carry out your work?

Who provides the framework for your work?

Department for Intl Dev’t (DfID)Overseas ministries

Who is in a similar position to you/shares your goals?

Potential volunteers

Potential donors

Media

Volunteering agencies

Dev’t charities

Prioritising

? Willing/Able

? Influence/interest

? Motivation/ability

Knowledge/characterisation

What is most useful to know about your priority audiences?

Message development – workshop process

You will need ....

• Small group – influencers/creatives (trusted external colleague?)

• To be pragmatic/manage expectations around output• Get under the skin of the audience & create a positive

atmosphere• Intended output = clear message areas• Redraft and refine• Keep everyone on board – circulate draft?• Test

Getting under the skin of an audience – workshop outline

• Package and present everything that you know – existing data, new or old research, anecdotal evidence, secondary sources

• Circulate with some questions to ensure it’s read and digested

• Discuss and dissect • Exercise – Meet ‘Dorothy Donor’• Pub pitch – two minutes, everyone notes what

resonates

= message areas

Warning - you are too close to this ...

TEST YOUR MESSAGES

Putting order into the creative process ...

You will need:

• Good internal communications – spread understanding• Training – spread the knowledge• A way of ordering info on audiences and messages• Milestones: evaluation and refinement

Audience focus - review

It’s a journey ...

The trick to herding cats

Randallfox.co.uk