How can you identify the most important stakeholders for a mapping exercise?

1 Define your purpose

Before you start mapping your stakeholders, you need to have a clear and specific purpose for your communication. What are you trying to achieve? What are the key messages you want to convey? What are the desired outcomes or actions you want from your stakeholders? Having a well-defined purpose will help you narrow down your stakeholder list and focus on those who are relevant and influential for your communication goals.

2 Identify your stakeholder categories

Next, you need to identify the broad categories of stakeholders that are related to your purpose. For example, if you are launching a new product, you might have categories such as customers, suppliers, competitors, media, regulators, and employees. You can use different criteria to group your stakeholders, such as their level of interest, power, impact, or relationship with your project, initiative, or organization. You can also use existing frameworks or models to help you categorize your stakeholders, such as the power-interest grid, the salience model, or the influence-interest matrix.

3 Select your stakeholder representatives

Once you have your stakeholder categories, you need to select the specific individuals or organizations that represent each category. You can use different sources of information to identify your stakeholder representatives, such as research, surveys, interviews, feedback, referrals, or social media. You should aim to have a diverse and representative sample of your stakeholder groups, taking into account their demographics, preferences, opinions, and behaviors. You should also consider the quality and quantity of your communication channels with your stakeholder representatives, and how accessible and responsive they are.

4 Assess your stakeholder importance

After you have your stakeholder representatives, you need to assess their importance for your communication purpose. You can use different criteria to evaluate your stakeholder importance, such as their level of interest, power, impact, or relationship with your project, initiative, or organization. You can also use different methods to measure your stakeholder importance, such as rating scales, ranking orders, scoring systems, or matrices. You should aim to have a clear and objective way to compare and prioritize your stakeholder representatives, based on their relevance and influence for your communication goals.