AWWA ACE58103

Audience-centered communication planning is a growing trend in the communication field. Instead of starting with the overall goal, message or strategy, the plan starts with the audience. Each audience, once identified, has an entire communication plan built around it. Audiences can be defined as any individual or organization with the power to significantly affect a utility's success or failure. According to the audience-centered approach, each audience deserves its own set of goals, messages, strategies and tactics. The paper discusses examples of potential audiences to consider when using this audience-centered approach that include: ratepayers; special interest groups; policymakers and regulators; internal audiences; and industry representatives. For each audience there needs to be a goal, objectives, messages, strategies, tactics, a timeline and evaluation criteria. Depending on the goals and objectives, the paper discusses several strategies and tactics that can be applied to each utility audience.