What is your goal? What are you trying to accomplish with a communications strategy?

Who are you trying to reach? Who can help you accomplish your goal?

Demographics
Who makes up your audience? What basic information do you know about your audience that may influence how they process information?

• Age range
• Gender
• Ethnic/cultural background
• Occupations
• Where they live and work
• Socioeconomic status
• Educational background
• Political background
• Community stage of readiness for change (see chart A)
• Pre-contemplation
• Contemplation
• Preparation
• Action
• Maintenance

Language
Match your vocabulary to that of your audience. How simple or technical does your message need to be? What will your audience understand and relate to? For the types of audiences listed below, what kind of vocabulary do you think you'll need to use?

• Health care professionals, mental health practitioners, and interventionists
• Parents
• Children and youth
• Policymakers
• Administrators
• Media
• The general population

Is English the primary language of your audience? What other languages do you need to include?

Motivation
What drives your audience's attitudes and behaviors? How can you appeal to their motivators to achieve your intended response? Examples:

• A better outcome for their child, family, or community
• Common sense
• Dollars and cents
• Cost-benefit analysis (in other words, what will it cost them to act, and what will be the resulting benefit?
• Evidence-based findings
• Emotional response
• Personal experience or history

Keep in mind that a combination of motivators may be in play.

History
What does your audience already know about your organization, the people you serve, the issue you wish to address, and your program? What are their prevailing attitudes and beliefs about all of the above? Remember: Positive impressions need to be reinforced, and negative images need to be understood in order to be dealt with. Don't ignore them-your audience certainly won't.

Stage of Readiness for Behavior Change (see Chart A in the Situational Analysis document)
The stages:

• Pre-contemplation
• Contemplation
• Preparation
• Action
• Maintenance