Setting Your Audience Expectations

agardina — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:24:17 +0000

I'd like to start this post off by saying that I'm constantly impressed by the people I meet. Everyone has different experiences, interests, perspectives - we all have our own passions, pursuits and dreams. That said, even the campaigns that strive for mass appeal can find common ground. They can challenge us to think, learn and explore, and not just strive to entertain or distract. Clutter has caused media outlets and advertisers to speak to us like we're 5 years old, and it's setting a poor example for how other organizations and corporations should communicate.

For example, a recent hour spent listening to NPR yielded these 2 examples:

829 billion
On October 7th, experts released an estimate saying that the Senate Health Care bill could cost $829 billion over the next decade. That's a lot of band aids and cough drops. Thankfully, NPR (audio, not online) breaks the cost down for us in this helpful manner: "That's $83 billion a year!" Why, thank you, NPR, for dividing by ten. Instead of breaking down the cost by taxpayer, family or person, you simply moved a decimal point and rounded.

Taken alone, this is just NPR trying to explain a story with short notice. Then came a story about the Nobel Prize:

Ribosomes
This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to 3 scientists for their work with ribosomes. NPR, possibly understanding that many of us haven't heard the word "ribosome" since high school biology, helpfully explains. With the tone of saying "R is for Ribosome", the story explains the role of these structures in cells.

I know I'm being picky, but there's a lesson in here about knowing your audience. Knowing who you're talking to influences not only what you say, but how you say it. If your audience is adults, using facts and tone that treat them as such may get you a better response. If you're an organization on social media, understanding the difference in audience between Facebook, MySpace and Twitter could play a role in whether your campaign succeeds or stagnates.

I'm a huge proponent of audience research, because it forms a foundation for so many of the things organizations do. Without fully understanding attendee motivations, donor wants and needs and the current state of their community, nonprofits may launch programs or communication strategies that are sending completely the wrong message. Doing the research can save a lot of heartache (and headaches) in the long run.

(and yes, I know I'm picking on NPR, they just happenedto be my station of choice yesterday. CN N, MSNBC or Fox would have been just as easy to use as examples)

alyssagardina.com - voice

Setting Your Audience Expectations