Right message, wrong audience?

Posted by Kate Betts on 11th May 2020

When Boris Johnson finished his address and said ‘we must Stay Alert, Control the Virus and Save Lives’, just who was he referring to?

Does ‘we’ mean us the public, or ‘we’ the Government? Is it a case of mixing up audiences; external versus internal?

Before creating any message you must consider who the audience is and how they will take that message. What do you want the audience to do?

This morning I am drinking coffee to stay alert and wondering how I am supposed to control the virus; with my remote control, a fly swatter, a sheep dog?

Seriously, could it be a case of the eternal problem of an organisation thinking an aspiration and internal target is also right to be an external message? I have often heard organisations mix up the two. The local council that wants to encourage businesses to relocate to its borough, so it tells them it has a target of 2,000 new jobs in the next five years; rather than telling them about the great transport links and brilliant business parks. The national charity that wants to tell the public that last year its helpline supported 100,000 people in trouble and this year it wants to help 200,000. Which starts to sound a bit like it wants people to be in trouble, when it should be telling the people in trouble about how it can help them. And then there is the social services department so worried that staff will feel demoralised by the critical Serious Case Review that it uses the media to tell the public how great its social workers are, when the public is seeing the smiling face of a dead child on TV. Those great social workers weren’t so great on this occasion, and actually they need to be saying sorry a child has died and not defending the staff.

It happens all the time – mixed messaging because of mixed up audiences. Start with the audience in mind and work backwards. If the audience is the Civil Service, the scientists, the NHS and all those on the frontline then ‘Stay Alert, Control the Virus’ makes some sort of sense. To the rest of us it is just confusing.

On top of that there is the handling of the messaging and the timing; should we be back at work today, just over 12 hours after we were told it was ok to do that ‘this week’, only to be told this morning Johnson really meant Wednesday? Add to that confusion over whether you can sit in the park with your friends, but not in your garden, and you can drive to exercise but not to see relatives, or can you?

Clarity of message is important in the best of times. At times of crisis it is vital to be clear. It literally is life or death right now. So start by being clear about who you are talking to. If you are talking to me, well I for one am staying home.