What are three main areas of study that should be considered about your audience define those areas?
Introduction
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Why Conduct an Audience Analysis?An audience analysis informs the design of materials, messages, media selection and activities of a SBCC strategy. It establishes a clear, detailed and realistic picture of the audience. As a result, messages and activities are more likely to resonate with the audience and lead to the desired change in behaviors. Who Should Conduct an Audience Analysis?A small, focused team should conduct the audience analysis. Members should include communication staff, health/social service staff and, when available, research staff. Stakeholders should also be involved throughout the process. Consider effective ways to engage stakeholders to gain feedback and input, including: in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, community dialogue, small group meetings, taskforce engagement and participatory stakeholder workshops. When Should Audience Analysis Be Conducted?An audience analysis should be conducted at the beginning of a program or project, in conjunction with a situation analysis and program analysis. The team should start thinking about the audience during the desk review and fill in any gaps during the stakeholder workshop. It is part of the Inquiry phase of the P Process. Estimated Time NeededCompleting an audience analysis can take up to three to four weeks. When estimating time, consider the existing audience-related data, what gaps need to be filled and whether additional stakeholder or audience input is needed. Allow for additional time if formative research is needed to fill in any gaps that may exist in the literature. Learning ObjectivesAfter completing the activities in the audience analysis guide, the team will:
Prerequisites
StepsStep 1: Identify Potential Audience(s)To address the problem statement and achieve the vision decided upon during the situation analysis, brainstorm and list all potential audiences that are affected by or have control over the health or social problem. For example, if the problem is high unmet need for family planning, potential audiences may be: Step 2: Select the Priority AudienceAn effective SBCC strategy must focus on the most important audience. The priority audience is not always the most affected audience, but is the group of people whose behavior must change in order to improve the health situation. The number of priority audiences depends mainly on the number of audiences whose practice of the behavior will significantly impact the problem. For example, priority audiences may be: To identify the priority audience(s), keep in mind the vision and health or social problem. Then consider:
Step 4: Identify Knowledge, Attitudes and PracticesUnderstand what the priority audience knows, thinks, feels and does about the problem in order to determine the audiences’ stage of behavior change. This allows the program to tailor messages and activities based on the audience’s knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. There are a number of ideational factors that commonly influence individual behavior and should be considered when examining the audience’s knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. The situation analysis, stakeholder workshop and any additional quantitative or qualitative research will indicate what the priority audience currently does in reference to the problem and what the audience knows, thinks and feels about the problem or desired behavior. Keeping in mind the ideational factors, examine that research to understand each priority audience. Ask questions such as:
Add this information to the table (see Audience Characteristics and Behavioral Factors Template under templates). Step 5: Identify Barriers and FacilitatorsIt is crucial to know what prevents or encourages the priority audience to practice the desired behavior. Identify barriers and facilitators of change in the literature and list them in the table (see Audience Characteristics and Behavioral Factors Template under templates).If the desk review does not adequately identify behavioral factors, conduct additional qualitative research (interviews, focus groups) with members of the priority audience. Some important barriers to consider include:
If the desired behavior requires adopting/utilizing products or services, considerissues ofavailability, accessibility, affordability and acceptability. Step 6: Consider Audience SegmentationAudience segmentation is the process of dividing the priority audience into sub groups according to at least one similar characteristic that will affect the success of the SBCC effort. Look at the selected priority audience and decide if it is similar enough that it can be effectively reached by the same set of channels, messages and interventions. Ask the following questions about the priority audience to decide if segmentation is necessary:
If yes, the audience may need to be segmented further. See the audience segmentation guide for more information on how to identify and prioritize audiences so that messages and interventions can be most effectively targeted. Some urban women of reproductive age may have different concerns or views about family planning. One group might be afraid of side effects while another group does not use family planning because they do not know where family planning services are available. These groups would require different messages and interventions and should be segmented if resources allow. Step 7: Identify Key InfluencersBased on the priority or segmented audience, identify the key influencers. Search the situation analysis, stakeholder workshop and any qualitative research findings for indications of who strongly influences the priority audience’s behavior (see Audience Focused Literature Review Chart Template under templates). Influencers can be individuals or groups. Their different roles – as friends, family, leaders, teachers, health providers and of course, the media – often determine their level of influence. Consider the following factors to help identify influencing audiences:
Step 8: Organize Influencing Audience InformationFor each influencing audience identified, search the literature to identify information about them and their relationship to the priority audience. Look for:
Organize information on influencing audiences in another table for later use in the SBCC strategy (see Influencing Audiences Template under templates): Step 9: Develop Audience ProfilesReview the notes about each audience and try to tell the story of that person. Audience profiles bring audience segments to life by telling the story of an imagined individual from the audience. The audience profile consists of a paragraph with details on current behaviors, motivation, emotions, values and attitudes, as well as information such as age, income level, religion, sex and where they live. The profile should reflect the primary barriers the audience faces in adopting the desired behavior. Include a name and photo to help the creative team visualize who the person is. Answers to the following questions can lead to insightful profiles that help the team understand and reach audiences more effectively: The audience profiles will feed directly into the creative brief process and will be an integral part of the SBCC strategy. See the Samples section for an example of an audience profile. TemplatesAudience Characteristics and Behavioral Factors Template Audience-Focused Literature Review Template Influencing Audience Template SamplesSample Audience Profile Tips & Recommendations
Lessons Learned
Glossary & Concepts
Resources and ReferencesResourcesA Field Guide to Designing a Health Communication Strategy Conducting a Social Marketing Campaign Leadership in Strategic Communication: Making a Difference in Infectious Disease and Reproductive Health Ideation The Transtheoretical Model Theories of Behavior Change References
Banner Photo: © 2013 Jennifer Applegate, Courtesy of Photoshare Table of ContentsWhat are the 3 types of audiences?3 categories of the audience are the lay audience, managerial audience, and expert audience.
What are the 3 types of questions for audience analysis?messages to a particular audience: What do you and your audience have in common? How are you and your audience different? What ideas or examples in your speech might your audience identify with?
What are the 3 ways of gathering information about your audience?Here are three ways that you can collect this knowledge.. First-Hand Observation. If you are able, you could directly observe the audience by attending one of their events. ... . Second-Hand Observation. ... . Inference. ... . Data Collection.. |