As you develop messages, it's vital to have a deep understanding of who you're talking to. Identifying your audience — and its relationship to the university — is a vital part of honing your message and making it effective.
Universities speak to a diverse group of audiences. Some of our key audiences include: academic influencers, alumni, community stakeholders, current students, donors, faculty, media, parents and families, prospective students, and university staff.
While each of these audiences are important — and we develop messages for each of them — there are four primary audiences for brand-level communications. They are:
Transformation, growth and discovery are at the heart of our storytelling for every audience. For each audience, though, transformation is different — a prospective student is exploring where they might find their ideal college experience, a current student is in the midst of their journey, and an alum might be using our vast alumni network to explore further growth.
In addition, each audience has its own set of specific needs. For each message we develop, we need to understand who the audience is, what they need from us, and what we hope they will do on behalf of the university. As we move between different audiences, it is imperative to develop messages that will resonate not only in substance, but also in terms of the tone and brand personality traits we express.
Below are some of the key needs that our core audiences are looking to fulfill.
If you have identified your audience in the traditional audience segmentation (alumni, students, faculty, etc.), take it a step deeper to get to their mindset. Ask yourself about your audience's level of engagement with the university, what that engagement is based on (athletics? academics? other?) and how it might be taken further.