Creating an effective awareness campaign begins with raising your own awareness. In Part I of this series, our focus was on the importance of being aware of the corporate culture in which your awareness campaign will be created. Once you’ve made key leadership aware of your plans – and even invited them to join you in developing them – it’s time to start thinking about the audience the campaign will target.
Know Your Audience
Oh, you may think you already know your audience. They’re the ones you’ve identified as a gaping void in need of filling with expanding knowledge and improved performance, aren’t they? But what we’re talking about here is getting to know them at a deeper level:
- What type of materials will resonate with them?
- How will information be delivered in such a way that they will understand it?
- What platform will keep them the most engaged?
- How often do they need to receive information?
- Will they require incentives to keep them interested?
- Will the content or tone need to be geared to specific groups within the company?
- Will you aim to reach everyone with a single message?
- Will the message need to be in a language other than English in certain regions in order to ensure every associate understands the same message?
Understanding the complexity of your intended audience will help build both credibility and engagement. Consider doing a simple 5-8 question survey and/or conducting a few focus groups, and your direction may soon become clearer.