The most effective campaign messages don’t start with what we want to say. They start with what our audience needs to hear.
Campaigners spend a lot of time crafting messages, developing content, and responding to fast-moving events. But before any of that happens, there is a more fundamental question to answer: Who are we trying to reach?
There’s no such thing as “the general public” in campaigning. One of the biggest mistakes campaigners make is trying to communicate with everyone at once. Different audiences respond to different messages. A story that energises people already committed to your cause may have little impact on someone encountering the issue for the first time.
That’s why successful campaigns often focus on three distinct groups:
1. Your base
These are the people that already agree with you. It’s your responsibility as the campaigner to galvanise and mobilise them to become more active and engaged.
2. The middle
These are the people on the fence. You’ll need to persuading the middle by helping people understand an issue differently and encouraging them towards action.
3. The opposition
These are the people who already vocally disagree with you. Don’t waste valuable energy trying to convince audiences who are unlikely to change their views.
Before developing campaign communications, it is worth asking for each audience:
- Who needs to act for change to happen?
- What do they already believe?
- What values motivate them?
- Where do they get information?
- What would inspire them to take action?
When we understand our audience deeply, we can create messages that connect lived experience to action, while remaining true to the values and voices of the communities most affected.
Want to create campaign communications that inspire action? SMK’s Storytelling for Change workshop explores how to identify key audiences, understand what motivates them, and develop stories that move people from awareness to action.
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