The Delta Media P.R. Clinic

Engaging an Overloaded Audience

By Bernard Gauthier, MA

A new study by the Bensimon Byrne agency (available at www.consumerology.ca) confirms what most association executives already know: getting and holding the attention of audiences is getting harder. New channels (blogs, Facebook, Twitter) and new technology on old channels (on-line TV and PVRs) are encouraging audiences to scan, zap, multitask and sample, rather than settling down and consuming media messages slowly and completely. This is especially true of younger audiences – your future members.

There are many solutions to this modern challenge and one of the most useful was developed by a pioneering advertiser and communication theorist called Tony Schwartz back in 1973. In his book The Responsive Chord, Schwartz explained that the best way to communicate with busy audiences is to create messages that “resonate” with what they already know and feel. Simply put, when we see a message that reflects and expresses our own needs, priorities and sentiments, we pay attention. The message resonates with what we already feel, it strikes a “responsive chord,” and it engages us.

There are three principal ways to resonate with your audience. You can reflect the audience’s codes, by using the words and images they use, understand and prefer (always tricky with younger audiences, of course). You can resonate with the audience’s biases, showing that you share their values, priorities and preferences (which is why an organization might “go green” or support a cause that its audiences find important). Finally, you can resonate with the audience’s needs by demonstrating how the products and services you offer can give the audience more of what they want in life, and less of what they don’t want (which is why new parents pay closer attention to advertisements for life insurance or RESPs).

To be most successful, however, you need to resonate with codes, biases and needs that your audiences feel deeply. After all, most of us know English or French, we all prefer “good” or “bad,” and we all could use a few extra dollars. Deep down, though, there is language that connects with us and moves us. There are values and priorities we feel are fundamental to who we are. There are needs that motivate us in profound ways. The deeper the sentiment is, the more powerful the resonance will be.

Deep sentiments, alas, are hard to identify. A membership survey might begin to reveal some but the real insight will come from the conversations you have with your members and other audiences. Whether part of a formal focus group study or over coffee at the annual conference, be sure to ask important questions, listen attentively, and learn how to create messages your audiences will want to engage, no matter how busy they are.

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