Science Communication Course: Part II | Who Do I Want to Address: Target Audiences

The Target Audience - Who Do I Want to Address?
If you begin a communication project such as a talk, a blog, a RUclips channel, or the like, you should begin by putting a lot of thought into which audience it is that you want to reach. Your goal as well as your content will both determine the factors that will define your target audience. The following aspects are almost always important:
Prior Knowledge about the Topic
Age
Level of Education
Use of Mass Media and or Social Media
Interests
The following is a list of other possible factors that might define a target audience: gender, marital status, religion, values, illnesses, (political) opinions, motivation, needs, nationality, fears, hopes, traffic behavior, hobbies, and more.
I urge you to think carefully about which factors of your planned communication content are significant for your target audience.
The Persona Method
The so-called persona method can be particularly helpful for the development of a communication strategy that is appropriate for large heterogeneous target audiences. It entails creating fictitious people that can be a member of your target audience. It is important that these personas do not embody ideals, but that they present at least minor challenges for your communication.
Reaching your target audience
Specific strategies of how to approach your target audience often depend on your content and the media you are using. There are, however, a few basic tips that you can use in almost any case:
TIPS:
1. Present yourself as a person and not as an expert or teacher!
2. Figure out what you have in common with your target audience and build on that!
3. You should give the opportunity to ask questions if you have a live or virtual audience and ask the audience questions that they should answer for you.
4. Figure out what your target audience’s relationship is to your topic and elaborate on that aspect.
5. Meet your audience where they are. If there are common prejudices, opinions or (outdated) general knowledge about your topic, you should talk about this from the outset.
6. Think about ways you could surprise or provoke your target audience: that will for sure get their attention.
7. The human brain is hardwired for stories, so anecdotes are an easy way to get the attention of your target audience.
TASKS:
1. Define your target audience: Which factors are important for your topic?
2. Create a persona that could be a member of your target audience: Choose a name, draw them, or create an image by using an AI.
3. How would you like approach your persona? Imagine you are about to give a talk about your topic and your persona is in the audience. Use the tips and write an introduction for this talk.
Links and background material:
• Science with Society - Interacting with Lay People: You can learn a lot about the attitude
• How to approach and interact with a lay audience from this video.
• Science with Society (...
• Science with Society - Opening the black box of science:
• Science with Society (...
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Design and Implementation; Kristin Raabe. This initiative falls under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme, grant agreement No. 101035801. Please contact UNIC if you're interested in further usage or implementation of this programme.