“Raising awareness” is some sort of holy grail to too many nonprofit and advocacy organizations.
It’s kind of like saying, “My goal is to brush my teeth.”
Sure, in the short-term. What you really want is to keep your teeth and gums healthy. Brushing your teeth twice a day is how you do it.
In the same vein, your goal probably isn’t really to raise awareness. It’s to attract, engage and motivate supporters to act; change people’s behavior; make your case to elected officials; influence laws and policies; etc.
This excellent article, Stop Raising Awareness Already, lays out the pitfalls of poorly conceived public awareness campaigns. These misbegotten initiatives
- don’t lead to action
- reach the wrong audience
- create harm
- cause a backlash
Instead, the authors advise using four principles to guide your planning:
- Target a narrow audience.
- Use compelling messages with clear calls to action.
- Know exactly what you want to change, how that change will happen and what will motivate people to act.
- Use the right messenger.
In another cool article, the same authors explain the science behind effective communications:
The corporate sector has long taken advantage of science to market products from tobacco to alcohol to dish detergent. For the most part, the social sector has not made the same shift. Social service organizations may conduct their own research through focus groups and surveys, but most lack the resources to root their communications strategies in published academic research. Scholarship that can help you understand attention, motivation, and emotion may be the most powerful and affordable tool you’re not using.
If you're not getting the results you want from your communications, it never hurts to have an outside pair of eyes (preferably mine ;) ) review your messaging, strategy and tactics. Let's get on it!
And don’t forget to brush your teeth.
Thanks for reading!
