Sometimes I am jealous of my colleagues working in and for businesses alone. Many of their marketing has clear-cut objectives and a singular target audience. Increase sales! Bring in more customers! Make the people laugh! No, the social change space is filled with nuance and the topics are heavy. Oh, and there are almost always multiple audiences. This is my eternal challenge. How do you talk to more than one person at once?
I don’t think you can. Let’s bring it to the personal level. Pretend I’m sitting in a hotel lobby with a nonprofit ED, a teenager and a mechanic. I’m posed the question “what do you do?” Well, it’s going to be a challenge to explain this in the same way to the whole group.
Now you might say we can’t draw a direct parallel with organizational communications, but I’m not so sure.
Consider the scenario of a lending institution addressed with closing the wealth gap by offering home loans to under-qualified buyers. This organization regularly speaks to the needs of distinct groups:
1) Potential homebuyers who directly benefit from their services.
2) Community partners who raise their profile and move the work forward in a myriad of ways.
3) Investors who contribute funds that allow them to increase lending.
When thinking about communications, I often use the rubric of know and feel. We must start with where they are, and then move to what we want them to know and to feel. This will help us know the best way to address them, and the right tone to take.
Let’s try it for these imaginary audiences.
1) A potential homebuyer. This person is the direct beneficiary of the organization’s work. We want this person to feel that they will be taken care of, and to know that they have options.
2) The community partner. This person works for another organization in an adjacent space. We want this person to trust that we have results-oriented solutions and to want to partner with us.
3) The investor. This person is the one who makes our work possible through their money. We want them to feel confident in our abilities and inspired by the stories of our clients.
Just like with the mechanic, teen and nonprofit executive director, there are different words I would use and different reference points I would make. The best solution is to create tailored communications for each group. However, this isn’t always possible, as in the case of an organization’s website.
If you must address all your audiences at once, it’s easy to default to communicating to those who are most like you. But, if I start explaining my job to the nonprofit executive director, she’ll nod knowingly while the mechanic’s and teenager’s eyes are going to glaze over. It’s important to counter against this bias.
In general, I’d recommend keeping the conversation to the level of the person who has the least understanding. You won’t lose anyone in the process, and you’re less likely to make assumptions about what people know. And please don’t forget about feelings! People are coming to your work with different problems to solve, and thus different feelings. The tone for an investor could be a real turn-off for a potential homebuyer, but vice versa is probably ok. Likewise, if I start to explain my job to the teenager, the nonprofit ED might be bored but then again she might get some insights along the way.
Do you struggle with the challenge of multiple audiences? How do you counter your inclination to talk to people who are like you?