All our comms no matter what the channel - all lead to one place. We need the audience to do something different after experiencing our comms, in other words we need to change behaviours.
This could be a multitude of outcomes, from consumers to buy more products and salespeople selling more to the creation of brand advocates or simply turning off the office lights when they leave. Everything we do is measurable, trackable and should have a clear vision and outcome. So where do we start, Let’s break it into six stages.
1) Vision
We start with the vision aka what does good look like? Is our comms part of a larger vision? Where does it fit in? What would be the desired outcome for this element? Are we communicating to an internal audience (employees) or external (customers and stakeholders) or both? Cost can be a barrier to effective comms, so let’s change the language, we should be talking in terms of investment. If our comms is seen as a cost, why are we doing it?
2) Action
Next, we need to understand what we want our audience to do. Without a clear call to action, what’s the point? This point of action will form the basis for measurement.
3) Influence
This is where we start to develop the comms strategy by using some or all of the six sources of Influence. These are split into two categories; motivation and ability. Then, we consider the personal impact on our audience. For example, would the consumer be excited by our new product, or do our colleagues have the ability to do what we are asking? We then look at social impacts such as encouragement and enablement and finally, around structure, how are our audience recognised or rewarded and does the environment we’ve created allow the change to happen? The answers to these questions form the basis of the comms and the content.
4) Benchmarks
What are the benchmarks we can put in place to measure success? Unfortunately, many people create these after the solution is created, and that simply won't work. Our measurement structure must be put in place first as also the impact on the organisation. For example, if our vision were to improve employee retention by 1%, what impact would that have, maybe reduce recruitment, training and onboarding costs, but by how much? Are we measuring return on investment (ROI) which is about cash! Or return on experience. So, are we measuring what the audience does or feels?
5) Solution
Now we can look at the most effective comms solution. It could be a combination of different channels, it could be phased as part of a campaign with milestones along the way. Or, it could be one huge launch which captures the imagination of our target audience.
6) Result
Now we can measure the shift using our benchmarks to calculate the return. Many comms professionals look to an audience engagement survey. While they have their place, they will not give you an ROI measurement. In fact, in many cases, who cares what the audience thinks? I’m only interested in what they do. Without this, our comms have no value and are a cost, not an investment. In some cases, we may need the audience to have a negative view of the comms to persuade them to take the positive action we need.
By following these simple stages your comms will be more relevant, targeted and effective, plus you will have evidence as to its success and justify the investment made.
One other pitfall I see time and time again is following a successful comms campaign we then stop; we wrongly think that’s it and there’s no need for anymore. It’s a bit like if you stop taking your medication, the problem will probably return. So, the six stages are a cycle, we go back to the beginning and revisit the vision to look for the next set of outcomes and actions we need our audience to do and what behaviours we would need them to change.
Ready to create communications that drive real behavioural change? At DRPG, we craft strategies that inspire action and deliver measurable results. Let’s start building something incredible together—contact us today!
