Today’s flurry of innovation in the communications world most often revolves around how we’re going to reach key constituents with our stories. With an ever-expanding buffet line of digital solutions and mobile applications, organizations can be overwhelmed with the options.
But focusing on the how overlooks the more important element of an organization and its story: the who.
The who (not the epic band) are those constituents that you want to reach with your messages – you’ve identified and prioritized them, assessed and evaluated their importance to your organization. Or, at least you should. Developing a deep understanding of your targeted constituents will make everything else you do more impactful and meaningful. You know who they are based on age, gender, where they live, where they went to school – the standard demographics that you can develop for each of your constituents.
You may also have analyzed your core constituents’ psychographic characteristics – key behavioral traits that each of your constituents have expressed in their interactions with your organization. For instance, you can monitor the impact of certain fundraising appeals against certain demographics in your database based on the appeal of a message or type of image to a specific audience profile.
But here’s a third dimension that nonprofits must start to consider, a dimension that goes beyond demographic and psychographic data, a dimension that complements stories and messaging internally and externally. The third dimension is Genegraphics.
Genegraphics provide helpful insights about your constituents based on which generation they represent. Baby Boomers act and think differently than Millenials. There’s a great difference between Gen Xers and Gen Yers. There’s a great deal of information written and available about generational differences. Be sure to include this a part of your who strategy, and you’ll quickly understand how it will be beneficial in your organization’s what, why and how strategies, as well.