What are the best strategies for tailoring your message to different audiences when communicating change?

When we work with clients, we meet with the leadership team and insist on having someone from sales and someone from marketing present. Then we collectively identify the unique target audience(s) we need to reach. You don't tell a different story, but you tell your story differently to each audience to increase their engagement.

I have found that when you let go of the idea that audience as a "demographic" and focus on understanding mindset, it sets you up for better insights to draw from. Age groups no longer define behavior. So when you think about what your target markets motivation is or how they "feel" towards particular things it changes the perspective of how messages are crafted. You will notice yourself paying more attention to the tone of voice and developing the right call to action will become easier to craft. Insights drive creativity. And the creativity is in the nuances you draw on from innate behavior.

In my experience, it's best to define what is being changed, the new alternative, and why it's relevant to each unique audience. We like to determine if there is a call to action and then make sure that is crystal clear. Make the barrier to action as low as possible.

Purpose is one of those funny terms that is overused and often misunderstood. As a brand purpose helps define what you stand for, which will aid in the product you develop and the values you uphold. That being said, when crafting the right messaging strategy, the objective of what you want your audience to get out of it should be clear with a well crafted call to action. How that call to action is packaged, whether it be through storytelling, sharing information, humor, etc is part of the strategy. But the objective is what you want to get out of that one piece of communication. This is why I find it problematic when clients have multiple objectives for one piece of work. When you aim to check multiple boxes, you risk achieving nothing.

We find the Hero's Journey gives you the quickest framework to telling the story. The Hero (each unique audience), the Villain (the issue prompting the change), the Guide (how your decision makers are helping the hero overcome the villain via the new change), and the Outcome (what the hero's world looks like post-change).

One thing I found helpful when mapping out a storyline for a piece of creative communication is to start from the end. When the ending becomes clear, I find that it is easier to start building around it. The ending should give clarity to the key messages and call to action that needs to come across, but also be flexible enough to change or evolve throughout the exercise. It invites the opportunity to look at story development in a new light and often sparks debate from team members that join the brainstorm at a later stage of the crafting process.

We find it's best to be as crystal clear as possible on the change and how it will impact a given unique audience. If it's a difficult change, sugar coating it will only heighten the frustration of the audience. If the change leads to positive outcomes, LEAD WITH THAT! In journalism we are taught "don't bury the lead."

The level of feedback desired needs to be clear. If the change is happening regardless of their input, don't make the audience feel like they can change it. Instead, provide them a platform to express their concerns so that you can better implement and communicate aspects of the change.