In building impactful communication strategies, defining and understanding the target audience is key. In addition to building an understanding of the audience at hand in terms of identity, values, beliefs, etc with the audience profile, it can be really useful to use an ‘attitude and involvement’ chart. This chart will help you consider how engaged your audience is with the issue and/or conflict at hand, and their attitude towards it. The attitude and involvement chart can help you contextualize where your audience is relative to other audiences, help you define audience-specific goals, and think more critically about drivers and barriers to change. Watch Over Zero Founder and Executive Director Rachel Brown describe the theory behind the attitude and involvement chart and how it can be used to build more impactful strategies.
Below, you can use the attitude and involvement chart to think through your own communication goals by audience. The chart is accompanied by some guiding questions.
- Where is your audience in terms of support/ agreement/affinity with your issue?
- How active/ involved is your audience? This can be in terms of disseminating information or taking direct action.
- What are the drivers of their attitudes and/or behavior?
- What potential drivers of attitudes and/or behavior could get them to shift?
- What are potential barriers to them shifting their attitudes and/or behavior?