Almost every organization we work with includes one goal as part of what they are looking to accomplish: “We want to raise awareness.” This makes sense. We all believe that if more people knew about a certain issue, they would care, and if they cared, things would change.
But “raising awareness” is not really a communications goal on its own. It’s a step toward something else, so we need to follow the initial question with: “Once people are aware, what do you want people to know, feel or do?”
Awareness of what?
Get specific about what you want people to understand. Compare these goals:
- We want families in our community to know that our programs are available to them.
- We want elected officials to understand how this issue is impacting their constituents.
- We want potential donors to see why this need exists and how their support can help.
- We want journalists to recognize our organization as a credible source on a specific issue.
All of these involve awareness, but require very different audiences, messages and outreach tools. If your audience is “everyone,” your message won’t connect with anyone. Communications become much more effective when you know exactly who you are trying to reach and why reaching them matters. For example, instead of saying, “We want to raise awareness about affordable housing,” reframe it to “We want community members to better understand who needs affordable housing and why increasing housing options benefits the entire community.”
Match the method to the goal
One of the easiest mistakes to make is starting with the tactic instead of the goal.
“We need to post more on social media.”
“We should send a press release.”
“We need a video.”
Flip it. Start with the objective and let that determine the tool you use. Want to establish your organization as an expert on a specific issue? Earned media, op-eds, and thought leadership may be more effective than social media. Want existing supporters to make a year-end donation? Email marketing and a direct mail appeal may be more impactful than hosting an event. The communications tool should follow the objective, not the other way around.
Awareness
Understanding
Action
Awareness
Understanding
Action
Measure what matters
Specific goals give you something real to measure. If “awareness” is the goal, organizations often don’t know how to quantify the impact beyond metrics like impressions or website traffic. Those numbers are very important, but they don’t necessarily tell you whether your efforts moved the needle. Creating specific calls to action with measurable goals might include:
- Program applications
- Donations
- Volunteer or event registrations
- Email subscribers
- Downloads of a study or white paper
- Referrals from community partners
- Website conversions
- Featured media stories
When success is harder to quantify, like influencing public understanding over time, establish benchmarks and track changes in audience knowledge, message recognition, or sentiment. Note anecdotal feedback or consider a survey plan for more qualitative feedback.
Awareness still matters
None of this means you should stop trying to raise awareness. People cannot support an organization they don’t know exists, use a program or service they don’t know is available or address problems they don’t understand. But the next time “raise awareness” appears at the top of your strategic plan, we recommend diving a bit deeper and asking:
- Who needs to be more aware?
- What specifically do they need to understand?
- Why does it matter?
- What should happen as a result?
Answering these questions can turn a broad goal into a concrete strategy that actually moves your mission forward.
And now it’s time for us to put this into practice. We want to help you turn your awareness goals into action. You can do that by signing up for an exploratory meeting with us.
