Cut Through with Your C.O.M.M.U.N.I.C.A.T.I.O.N.

It’s a busy, noisy world out there. To give your communication the best chance of cutting through all the other voices, we’ve spelled out the important things to consider as you develop your activity or campaign.  

C is for clarity – whether it’s your aim, target audience, key messages or measures of success, the important thing is to be CLEAR! 

O is for objectives – they should be specific and measurable. Objectives are vital for outlining exactly what you want to achieve, how and when. 

M is for metrics and measures – a key element of planning the evaluation of your activity is to think about the different metrics and measures that will allow you to show how you have met your set objectives. 

M is also for messages – and by this we mean a few key messages. You might feel like you have a lot you want to tell people, but it’s important to prioritise. What are the 2 or 3 most important points that you want your target audience to understand or take away? 

U is for underpinned by insight or evidence – a strong, compelling campaign or argument needs good quality insight or evidence to back it up. It will increase the chances of your message cutting through and being understood. 

N is for numbers – think carefully about how to present them in a way people will understand or to make them relatable to maximise the impact of data. 

I is for informed – don’t just assume that your key messages are clear, will be understood and have the desired effect. Test them with a sample of your target audience and refine them as needed to make sure they have the best chance of cutting through. 

C is for being creative – there are a lot of people out there communicating science to the public, so be creative in your ideas for how you can get your messages across. Likewise, if you’re aim is public engagement - you need to drive people’s interest to involvement and make participation appealing. 

A is for action – if you want people to do something as a result of your communication you need a clear call to action. But remember to be sparing and just stick to one, as multiple actions might just confuse your audience and result in no action being taken at all.   

T is for targeted – who, what, how, where, when…to maximise the chances of successfully reaching the right people at the right time, every element needs to be targeted in the right way. 

I is for impact – think about what difference you want your communication or engagement activity to make and how you’ll measure any impact as a result. 

O is for outcomes – these will help you measure the impact we just mentioned! Outputs will demonstrate what you did, but tangible outcomes will really show whether you raised awareness or changed anything. 

N is for narrative – if you want your target audience to take notice of what you have to say, especially if you want them to act on it, you need to explain why it matters and why it’s relevant to them. You need to take people on a journey, if you want to really engage them. 

If you want more practical know-how, and to learn how to increase the impact of your communications, check out our course ‘The Basics of Science Communication’. 

© Tangelo House ​