Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

Communicating to an audience - • evaluate the different forms of…

- - - - Understanding the target audiences
  - - - Understanding the target audiences
        
        The most important thing to be aware of as a professional when communicating to people outside your field of expertise is just that—they are outside your field of expertise. They will not have the same depth of knowledge and understanding of the technical aspects of the field that you have.
        
        Reaching your target audience
        
        When we become immersed in our own environment, it can be difficult to become aware of information or events that are outside our own context and experience. This is known as ‘inattentional blindness’, the phenomenon where ‘the more people focus on aspects of their visual world other than the detection of unexpected objects, the less likely they are to detect such objects’ (Simons 2007). In other words, we tend to only see things that we focus our attention on. When we are focusing on our normal day-to-day work, information communicated to us that does not relate directly to our work is difficult to take in.
        
        Thus, for accountants to communicate effectively to people outside their field of expertise, the information must be presented in a way that will attract their attention. To do this, it is necessary to understand what motivates people to work.
        
        One way to ensure that a potentially technical financial message will be understandable to a non-accountant audience is to have it reviewed by a pilot group of non-accountants before transmission. If it is possible to establish a regular editing team for this purpose, it will make the process of developing messages more efficient.
        
        Referring back to communication model in Figure 6.1, when addressing any target audience, we need to take into account how the audience will ‘observe, attribute and interpret’ the message we are sending, the language it is expressed in and the medium that is used to send it.
        
        The relationship between the message’s creator and consumers will also influence how the message will be received and interpreted.
      - Audience segmentation
        
        Once the relevant audience segments are determined, it is then important to be clear about exactly which key messages are relevant to each audience, and what order they should be delivered in.
        
        For each audience segment, the most appropriate language and medium should be selected, based on audience need. In some cases, such as the local media audience mentioned previously, broadcast media would be used. In others, such as board members or major customers, a face to-face briefing would be more appropriate.
      - SendingSome of the key media to consider for basic communication include the following:
        • Face-to-face presentations for a group in a single location, where timing is more critical.
        • Online conferencing using audio, video or web-conferencing technologies for a larger group across geographic locations.
        • Targeted email for general distribution in a short time frame.
        • Online newsletters and bulletins or web portals for larger audiences.
        • Voicemail, SMS or instant messaging for brief update messages.
        • Physical media, including bulletin boards, posters, printed newsletters or brochures— this will suit a larger audience where the communication is less time-critical.
        • Recorded media or podcasting in video or audio form for making material available over a longer time frame. These techniques are particularly useful for communication across time zones.
        • Blogs or other relevant forms of social media for increased engagement with the audience.
        the message
      - Assessing the results
        
        • Cost-effectiveness of the communication
        • Quantitative measurements of effectiveness: number of copies distributed, number of clicks on web site, number of people attending presentation
        • Qualitative measurements: perhaps using surveys, questionnaires, interviews, focus groups
        • Indirect assessment: Does the message appear to have had its intended effect?
        
        Quantitative
        
        Quantitative measures will yield numbers only. These figures can be easy to collect, but will not necessarily provide much information about effectiveness of the message.
        Some basic quantitative measurement techniques include:
        • numbers of copies of hard-copy communications distributed;
        • number of readers or clicks on a website; and
        • attendance at face-to-face presentations.
        
        Qualitative
        
        Qualitative measures will yield more information and reveal more detail about how the message is being received. However, these measures require more time and resources to collect, and more time and effort to analyse.
        Qualitative measurement techniques include surveys, questionnaires, interviews and focus groups. It is important to ensure careful design of the questions to ensure that the answers will be useful. Focus groups and related techniques have the benefit of allowing participants to discuss the issues with each other, allowing questions to be clarified and prompting a broader range of responses than a one-to-one technique.
        
        Indirect measurement
        
        In addition to these direct approaches is the important technique of indirect measurement— measuring business activities that a communication program is designed to affect.
        
        For instance, if an internal communication exercise is informing staff of a need to lower overhead costs, monitoring changes in expenditure as a result will indicate the effectiveness of the communication. In the case of external communication, the effectiveness of a marketing program may be assessed by looking for an increase in sales.
        
        ROI
        These measures can also provide the return on investment of a communications budget by assessing the result against the expenditure on the communications.
        
        Because these measures are indirect, care must be taken to isolate the effect of the communications from other initiatives that may also be affecting the measured result.
        
        1 more item...