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Communication That Counts.

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PART 3 - The MARKET (Target Audience)

If you’ve been following along up to this point, you will recall that in my last installment I  proclaimed the virtues of, among other things, balancing our Messages with equal parts information & inspiration.  Before we get into this installment’s topic of the Market (target audience), I want to take a moment to illustrate a point from last time by using a “real world” example, as I promised I would in this article’s introductory installment.

For the past two weeks, much of my time has been spent preparing for and shooting a number of video interviews to be featured in a couple of high-profile presentations for two different clients of my company.  Our clients’ representatives have arrived for their “fifteen minutes of fame”, often with script in hand, to give sharing, explaining and exhorting their very best shot.  In the process of preparing for their video presentations, a number of these folks had prepared detailed scripts; however, when the camera began to roll, they found their scripts to be somewhat inadequate.  They had all of the right information, often the right language.  Some even had moving illustrations.  But their communications were missing the truly inspiring sincerity of person-to-person communication (one of video’s great strengths as a communication tool).

They had fact and feeling on paper, but only the facts are fit to live in black & white.  The feelings didn’t amount to true inspiration because, while it came from the heart when they wrote it, it came from the page when they read it.  First hand, inspirational communication must ALWAYS come from the heart, in real time.  Audiences can pick up on a less-than-authentic delivery in exactly two seconds, and it’s guaranteed to handicap your Message’s effectiveness significantly.   Seasoned pros can make scripted delivery seem easy, but the rest of us are better off speaking candidly and from the heart.  This is why I often ask even well prepared presenters to tell me what excites them about their topic once we have finished recording their scripted remarks.  These un-rehearsed remarks are often the very best comments we get… because they come from the heart.

Now to be clear, “from the heart” doesn’t always mean “from the hip”.  I’m not advocating no preparation, as the proper kind of prep work can make all the difference in the world.  The best general advice I can offer here is the same advice I gave a presenter just today:  It’s better to say less and really say it from the heart than to get all the details in and leave the heart out.  At the end of the day, you’ll find that an inspiring message will drive people to seek out details that may have been omitted. 

When we prep clients for presentations, we generally encourage them to prepare in an outline format and then speak from the heart on those topical bullet-points.  There are, of course, exceptions, like an annual budget review, where the facts ARE the Message and that’s all anyone needs to hear.  But these are the exceptions to the rule.  Now… on to this weeks topic!

The term “Market” gets a lot of use and can be defined in a variety of ways.  Merriam-Webster lists no less than twelve different definitions for the term, so a point of clarification is warranted here.  At my company, we use the term Market to mean our “target audience”, and you can readily exchange these terms at will, if you find it helpful.  Sometimes the Market is a specific group of people, sometimes it’s an entire industry.  But every time, the Market is the “target audience” for our Message.

Careful attention to our Market can yield very helpful information and save us a lot of time and money.  While this is often an overlooked component of church communication, it is every bit as vital to the success of your communication efforts as the factual content of your Message!  Now, we won’t be delving too deeply into the science of Market research or profiling here, but suffice it to say there is an entire industry built around understanding your audience.  The largest and most successful corporations in the world have sold you, yes you,  their products through a surprisingly detailed understanding of how you make decisions.  I should also point out that the most notable preacher in history, the Lord Jesus Christ, was an expert at adjusting his Messages to be particularly relevant to his varying audiences.   Let’s begin with a cursory look at some critical criteria for analyzing our Market.

Demographics and Psychographics
Most of us have heard these terms used.  Simply put, a demographic is a segment of our Market that shares certain characteristics.  These characteristics can include:  age, gender, income, ethnicity, marital status, and even things such as your denomination and the speed of your internet connection can be used to define you.  Psychographics are essentially the correlation of demographic data with life-style choices. So what do these nerdy things have to do with your youth camp… or your homeless ministry… or your women’s bible study?  A lot!  Let’s look at some real-world examples:

Let’s say we want to promote an old-time gospel sing-a-long for the more senior segment (or demographic) of our congregation.  Having already refined our Message, we will next want to take a close look at our target audience (or Market).  What kind of language do they use in normal conversation?  Would they be comfortable wearing special attire to the event?  Are they all upwardly mobile such that you could hold the event on a ranch, or should your venue be more easily accessible?  These are the type of questions you should be asking yourself before you begin to promote your event.  Once answered, these questions can help you communicate your event to them in a way that informs AND inspires them to attend!  

Your Market's every-day language is important.  If you use the term “religious” instead of “gospel”, you won’t be painting as clear a picture as you could.  Many of them probably have fond memories of “gospel” sing-a-longs, not “religious” sing-a-longs.  The word has meaning with this demographic- meaning it does not have with others.  We won't want to use newer, more trendy terms with our older demographic either, as many of them are likely unfamiliar with the meanings of these terms. I remember a day when "sick" wasn't a good thing; now it's just about as good as a thing can get!

There are few more effective ways of communicating with someone than to use their own language.  If you’re trying to reach the lost, for instance, don’t fill your gospel presentation with  even the most eloquent uses of religious terminology.  Terms such as sanctified, atonement and anointing can literally mean nothing to someone who hasn’t spent time in the church.  Terminology like this only creates obstacles in the process of relating a truly relevant Message in a relevant way.  Jesus frequently used parables to relate the “Kingdom of Heaven” to the un-religious.  Imagery from weddings, families and farming made his message both understandable and applicable to every-day life.  He understood to whom he was communicating and altered his delivery accordingly.

(I should note one exception to the language rule:  communicating with teenagers.  By default, teenagers usually deem anyone outside their age group to be a “poser” [imposter] if they appear to be using trendy speech –which they feel they “own”- as a means of communicating with them.  This does not apply, interestingly enough, to advertising, which teenagers- apparently - believe to be written by other teenagers!  Your best bet with young people: be authentic and modern, but not trendy, and refrain from using words they don’t understand [like “demographic”], while otherwise speaking to them as though they were adults.  They’ll respect this more than anything else, and unless you take the time to learn the nuances of relating to young people, this will take you about as far as you will get.  Boy could this be it’s own article!).

Back to our sing-a-long… It is also likely that not only would our seniors feel comfortable wearing simple, special attire to the event (like bandanas or straw hats), this particular age group would likely welcome the chance to coordinate their appearances and dress for each other- actually encouraging them to attend as a group to see the others!  If they’re fairly mobile, a fun setting for your event could create an interesting variation from the routines that fill the daily lives of many of those in your Market, giving them another reason to want to attend.

Finally, when you stand up to announce this event, you would surely want to don your best bandana or straw hat and hand out a flyer with LARGE TYPE (another demographic commonality) which has the essential facts in a form that’s easy to read on the refrigerator and that shows pictures that illustrate just how fun and exciting this new location will be.  This is effective communication.  It’s multi-sensory and lends itself to on-going communication, even in your absence!  It’s also pushing us full speed ahead into the last of our “3-Ms”, the Method… where we pick up next time.