7 Accessing audiences
Research and data can also help us understand more about our audiences’ media habits, commercial interests (e.g. where they shop) and other information that can be useful to know for crafting messages, selecting messengers and partners, and in accessing your audiences through the media as well as more offline methods (e.g. in supermarkets). In communication, this is often called ‘targeting’ or ‘reaching’ our audiences, or how we think about ‘placement’ of our messages. Approaches for accessing audiences can be as important as the messages and messengers themselves: crafting a perfect piece of creative content doesn’t mean much unless people get to see it.
Activity 6
Next to each of your audiences, write down some things you expect to be true for your audiences.
Younger audiences are most likely to be active on social media apps, so accessing them there is probably a good idea. Older audiences might be more likely to watch traditional news on television, so are they ways we can access them there? Perhaps we can develop partnerships with local TV or radio stations, or put notices in local newspapers.
What are some of the ways we can reach other audiences?
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Example 6
If access via traditional news media seems too difficult or expensive, can we think of other, creative ways we can access older audiences in their daily lives? Perhaps through leaflets in their homes, or adverts in local shops they might visit, or greater emphasis on physical presence and word-of-mouth. This is a time to be creative with your message placement.
