How do you design and test messaging for different audiences?

There's no 1 size fits all template when it comes to communication. Yes, you need to know whom you're addressing before you craft your communication. If you're targeting the masses, don't use jargons and 'bombastic' words. Keep it simple and straight to the point.

It is like you visit different places on Earth, yet no one is the same. It can be similar or identical but not the same. There are 8.1 billion people, and so are the number of distinguished personalities with different preferences. And the fact that we as a human are different has created this marketplace or opportunity for every seller to sell their offerings. So we must know them before communicating. Knowing your audience is like collecting bricks to build a bridge between your purpose and their existing need-want-desire or creating one. The more bricks you collect, the better bridge you can make.

Agree with Azri. I would like to add: Before crafting your message, take time to understand how your target audience communicates on different social media platforms and at different stages of the sales life cycle. For instance, if you're targeting Gen Z, you'll notice their love for emojis and memes, while professionals on LinkedIn may prefer a more formal tone. Let's say your digital engineering company is promoting a new software solution. Your Facebook post could read: "Our software is the byte of all trades! ?? Check it out! #TechSavvy"

Crafting effective messaging requires a deep understanding of your audience's demographics, behaviors, and psychographics. For example, engaging Gen Z vs. Gen X demands different content and delivery approaches, with available communication channels tailored to each group. Messages should reflect audience pain points, beliefs, and, when needed, cultural nuances. The tone and language must resonate with the audience while adhering to project goals and brand guidelines, which can be challenging. In my experience, A/B testing, anonymous surveys, and direct feedback are invaluable. While analytics are crucial, combining them with these methods leads to a more comprehensive communication strategy.

To know your audience, be the "customer" of your business yourself. Understand who you are and what you want to hear from the business about the product/brand/pricing, etc. Learn about your customer's and influencers' behaviours and their interaction with competitive or complementing brands/businesses. Identify their product-related behaviours, like when they will buy or use the product and how they will use it. What can alter their user experience? Knowing the audience regarding generic demographics can help build an interactive communication strategy, but knowing the user behaviour can make the communication impactful.

User demographics and user behaviour analysis shall guide the communication channels to be used by the business. If your customer or user does not use LinkedIn to collect information about your product, you'll not be using LinkedIn for that communication.

To truly connect with your audience, you need to identify their interests and passions. If you're reaching out to environmentally conscious individuals, you might use language that reflects sustainability and responsibility. You could write: "Go green and embrace the future of cleantech!Together, we can engineer a sustainable tomorrow! Also, don’t fluff. While professionalism is crucial, sounding overly formal might turn off certain audiences. On the other hand, being too casual can come across as unprofessional. Strive for an authentic and approachable tone.

You should also consider adding a story element, perhaps at the beginning to drive interest. Stories are simple to understand and easy to remember. Even better, the use of a personal story to highlight an important message will also bring an authenticity that marks it out from the usual corporate approach and will help to connect with the reader.

Ensuring writing consistency over time is a journey of refinement and adaptation. It involves actively seeking feedback, whether informally from peers or formally through surveys, to gauge how well the content aligns with the audience's expectations and needs. Regularly revisiting and reassessing the effectiveness of my writing style allows me to stay attuned to any shifts in audience preferences or industry standards. It's not just about crafting a message once; it's an ongoing process of refining and testing to ensure that my communication remains relevant, impactful, and consistently resonant with the evolving dynamics of my audience and the broader context in which I operate.

In the data-centric world, audiences are bombarded with communications from all directions through all possible media and means. A communication piece getting lost is very easy in the digital age, and it is okay. But if we don't measure results or their impact, we will never know why? In success, no one will cross-question whatever reasons you credit for it, but failures and progress are crucial. We would need data points to find and implement correctives. At the same time, it also helps to measure and reflect productivity or ROI.

Effective messaging is an art and one gets skilled in this craft after multiple trials! Thus, before releasing your message to a broader audience, testing becomes a vital next step.