Your first answer to this question may have been “decision makers” or “influentials.” That’s a good start. You need to know more about them, though. And being able to learn more about them starts with defining them more narrowly.
So, these decision makers–are they elected officials? Which committees do they sit on? What resources do they control? Can you identify the elected officials who control the resources needed to address the problem? Maybe these decision makers are staff in a ministry of labour or commerce. Identifying them more narrowly will help you identify prototypes, and allow you to do some research on the challenges they’re facing that you may be able to address.
The most effective and persuasive communication is tailored to a narrow group of people who can act on what you’re communicating with them about. And your communication should provide value to those individuals. What decisions are they faced with each day? How can you provide data-driven insight that can help them make those choices, and feel confident in doing so? You can’t tailor your communication or provide value without defining and really knowing who you want to reach. Once you identify your goal, you need to identify who needs to do something different and even more specifically who among them is in fact moveable.
One of the most effective ways to answer this question is to name specific people whose decisions can make a difference. Doing so will allow you to deeply research their interests, values and choices.
Once you’ve answered this question as narrowly as possible, use the worksheet below to learn more about them. The insights you gather through this process will illuminate decisions you’ll make later in the process.
An additional benefit of narrowly identifying the people you hope to reach is that by identifying what you’re trying to change and who is positioned to make that change, identifying a call to action will be much easier. You’ll already know the call to action because you’re starting there, rather than trying to tack it on at the end.
