Communicating to Everybody is Like Communicating to Nobody

Very few organizations have infinite resources that would allow them to communicate frequently enough, with high enough quality to everybody and still accomplish their goals. (And if your organization does happen to have such infinite resources, please call us right now!) If you’re communicating with everybody, you might as well be communicating with nobody, because the chances are that, despite tremendous output on your part, you’re wasting resources and failing to communicate frequently enough and/or effectively enough with the audiences that really matter. Here are 3 Things you can do that will help:

1. Know why you’re communicating. What’s your goal?

We start with the basic assumption that your organization exists to do something, whether that’s elect a candidate, change a set of policies, fund a cause, change people’s behavior, or any number of possible reasons you go to work every day. Before you launch a new communications effort — or as you evaluate your existing efforts — take a step back and make sure you understand exactly why you’re communicating in the first place. What’s your goal? Ideally, you’re communicating for a purpose and not simply for the sake of communicating. Understanding why you’re communicating in the first place will help focus your efforts and avoid wasting time, money, and energy, all of which are scarce resources (especially for the “do gooder” clients and causes we tend to work with.)

2. Figure out which audience really matters (and when)

Not everybody matters all the time on every issue, so make your communications more efficient and effective by communicating with the people who matter, when they matter. Depending on your goal (see above) it could be that only one person matters at that given time. For example, if your goal is to persuade the governor to veto a bill (and if she’s persuadable on the issue) you should structure your communications around that audience of one. But if you know the governor can’t be persuaded and your real goal is to grow your list of committed activists, then your members are the ones who really matter at that time. As much as you want to everyone in the world to hear your message, you don’t have all the resources in the world, so use the resources you have to communicate with the audience that matters.

3. Communicate with that audience enough (and at the right time)

Research shows that most audiences need to hear a message many times over before it really sinks in. Focusing your communication efforts on the audiences that matter to what you’re trying to accomplish will make it more likely that you have have the resources — whether that means time, money, volunteer capacity, etc. — to communicate enough times with enough quality so your message actually sinks in. That makes it more likely that they will be persuaded, make a donation, take action, or whatever else your goal might be.

We admit that this isn’t rocket science, but we’ve worked with too many clients over the years who are so excited about what they have to communicate that they want to share it with everyone, everywhere, all the time, which leaves them with little to show for it. Putting some thought into why you’re communicating and ensuring you’re communicating enough with the people who matter will help you do more, better, with scarce resources. If we can help with that, give us a call at 202.683.8465.