Every successful digital communications channel (or any other type of communications for that matter) should be underpinned by a clear understanding of the audiences it services. It is not surprising that so many sites have failed, with site owners wondering why few of their target audiences could be encouraged to use the site.
By defining the characteristics of the target audiences in detail, the content, structure and design of the site can be shaped to match their needs. If the design matches their needs and expectations, each target audience will find the site easier to use, and more rewarding.
This may sound obvious, but thorough audience evaluation is rarely carried out, and site designs are therefore usually based on supposition and generalised assumptions. Often, those assumptions are wrong.
Building a clear picture of target audiences is not an option if you want your digital activities to be effective, and the process needs to be managed carefully. The scale and scope of the exercise varies according to the project, and it can be carried out in a meaningful way on every type and size of project.
For organisations or projects that are primarily focused on stakeholder audiences, 'audience mapping' can be carried out in a highly controlled way, and can deliver intelligence about the way these groups consume your services that benefits the whole organisation. In many cases, small insights (like a misunderstanding of a commonly-used internal expression) can lead to major improvements. Never assume that you know your audiences as well as you think. More importantly, never assume that they know and understand you and what you offer them.
Most stakeholders fall into a broad group we call 'information customers': most (but not all) of their requirements are centred around the need for information-based services; and the level of service they expect is as high as a customer would expect from a consumer-facing organisation.
In practice, audience mapping involves a range of activities that are all designed to first build understanding, articulate characteristics clearly, and define a series of strategic objectives and design considerations for each target group. The results feed directly into the strategic approach to each aspect of a project:
Top-level channel architecture should be constructed by understanding how different groups will need to access different types of content or service, ranging from the channel types (web, iTV, mobile, voice, etc.) to the channel structure ("…should we have a global home page and local sites? etc).
Site content should be informed by the requirements of the audiences. While an entirely 'pull' based model (i.e. only give the audience what they want or ask for) is unlikely to deliver any brand benefit, there needs to be a strong emphasis on the end-user to ensure that they feel that the content they require is obviously accessible to them.
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