Get to know your audience before you develop a communication strategy.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound? If we shout our message into an empty forest, does it still make an impact? Probably not. It doesn’t matter how memorable or well-thought-out an ad campaign is if it doesn’t reach the intended audience. Who are you talking to? Do you know them well enough? Traditional demographic data can point us in a very general direction, but questions about age range, location, income, and education level don’t give you enough of the correct information to communicate confidently with your customer base.
Who is that 34-year-old, college-educated, suburban dweller making $75K a year? Forget the stats; who are they? Take a giant leap forward and develop personas that can help you tighten your focus and get to know the person who is most likely to need or want whatever you're selling. What’s their name, and what do they do for a living? Describe the buyer’s family situation and speculate about hobbies, likely buying habits, and where they go for information?
Describing likely buyers gives you a 'real person to think about, instead of just a group of columns on a spreadsheet. Even if you don’t always get it exactly right, the exercise trains you to search for the right tone, words, and relevant imagery that is likely to connect with more of the right people. The most successful advertising campaigns start with realistic objectives, forecasted outcomes, and a clearly defined sense of how to reach the intended audience.
Herding Cats
Start every project with a creative brief, a written document designed to keep teams focused. Commit to an objective and set goals that are achievable, measurable, and easy to follow. Getting a group of left-brains and right-brains to stay on the same page is like herding cats, but it’s not as hard as it sounds when there’s a roadmap to follow.
Use a template to ensure that you have all the information you need to get started. There are numerous online sources for downloading creative brief templates. Here’s an example you can use to answer questions and build your own version:
Client
Who initiated the project?
Project Summary
Describe the project in detail. This isn’t always as easy as it seems since your team will likely include input from multiple departments.
Overall Objective
Why are we doing this? What's the consumer issue we are addressing, and what are the pain points we can identify and address?
Desired Results
Why are we advertising? To drive traffic, introduce a new or improved product, or boost brand recognition. List the metrics required for measurement. Remember that teams may define success in very different ways. Are we looking to increase revenue, grow a database, or build brand awareness?
Target audience
Who are we talking to? Build consumer profiles to help keep the focus on people instead of a bucket of numbers gathered from a survey of five or six questions.
Consumer Insights
What can we learn from other consumers, competitors, and the industry at large? Are consumers already familiar with our brand? If so, what do they think about us? What do we know about the number of touches it takes to get our consumer to open their wallet?
What do we want the consumer to feel/think/do?
Of course, we want to win their trust, so they’ll feel comfortable buying from us. Or maybe we want them to show up at an event or schedule a quick demo.
Core Message
What’s the one-sentence takeaway? This is an abbreviated version of the 60-second elevator pitch you can easily remember and communicate with confidence.
Why should they believe us?
Share related customer testimonials, reliable third-party research, and facts.
Positioning
What makes the brand stand apart? What is our USP (Unique Selling Proposition)? Is it the product itself, manufacturing details, or a generous warranty? Perhaps your customer service and tech support teams stand head and shoulders above the competition.
Tone and Manner
Should we keep it conversational and informal, or serious and heavy on the facts?
Distribution Strategy
What is the best place for us to reach our consumers? Through Google ads, social media, or through a series of targeted emails that deliver
Technical Considerations
List any technical considerations that may affect the performance of the project. Test everything over and over before relinquishing the final.
Graphic Elements
What will the deliverables look like? What are the mandatory elements? Logos, taglines, disclaimers, etc. Attach a link to a style guide if one exists. Building brands requires clarity, consistency, and perseverance.
If you've answered all these questions to the best of your ability and secured consensus from all the stakeholders, you're ready to start your project. Schedule a kickoff meeting to restate your shared goals, discuss desired outcomes, and share timelines and budgets. The key to keeping everything on track is communicating early and often. If it looks like you’ll be missing a milestone date, then make sure the whole team understands the reason for the delay.
Who needs to be kept in the loop? Good communication with your colleagues ensures your internal or external clients won't get blindsided. No one likes surprises. By inventing personas, you'll inspire your team to focus on the customer and not just the message. While you're getting to know your buyer better, you'll also be able to learn about how to talk more effectively with and get buy-in from all the teams you work with.
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