Communication Strategy (Persuasive Communication)

For your first paper you produced, you went through the process of defining the “problem” you are trying to solve (problem analysis) and getting to know your audience (audience analysis). This resulted in clear and specific strategic communication objectives for your project. These objectives identify the specific cognitions (beliefs, perceptions, feelings, etc.) that you aim to influence in order to engage your target audience and persuade them to change their attitudes and behavior. For this final assignment, you will put on the hat of the communication expert and devise a communication strategy that aims to achieve the strategic communication objectives of your plan. Formulating Your Communication Strategy The communication strategy plan is the active ingredient of your plan.

It outlines the specific communication activities that you will implement to accomplish your plan’s goals and objectives. These activities may be of different types – a public communication campaign, public event or a conference. An educational session, a social media site, etc. But they share in common the objective of reaching and engaging your target audience with a specific message. Each communication activity is essentially composed of three elements. The message (what you want to say and how you want to say it), the source (who will say it) and the channel (how you will reach your target audience). In all cases, your choice of communication activities and the basic elements of your communication model (message, source and channel) should be informed by two key considerations:

Further Description

1. Knowledge of your target audience – effective strategic communication is audience centered. That means that you should always consider the different elements of your planform the perspective of your audience. Their biases and predispositions, their needs and aspirations, their values and norms. Their communication preferences, etc. – and not from your own perspective. 2. Your persuasion rationale. Your communication plan ought to “respect” (or be consistent with) the logic of the persuasion theory or theories you previously chose to guide your plan. For example, if your goal is to induce cognitive dissonance in your target audience. You need to explain how your choice of a source, message, and channel can help you induce cognitive dissonance.

Researching Your Communication Strategy While innovation and creativity can make important contributions to the success of your communication strategy, research has consistently shown that evidence-based strategies are most effective. For this reason, you are strongly encouraged to develop your communication plan based on relevant insights from research. At a very basic level, you can find and use relevant evidence in the persuasion literature to support or justify specific decisions you make regarding the various components of your proposed strategic communication plan. For example, citing studies which found that members of your target audience respond favorably to humor can justify your plan to use humor appeals in your messaging strategy.

Additional Information

Organization of Your Paper I. Background and Strategic Communication Objectives – Briefly (a single short paragraph) restate the overall goals. Also objectives of your program and further list the communication objectives of your communication strategy (IMPORTANT: make sure that the objectives you list reflect revisions you made according to the feedback you received on your previous paper).II. Messaging Strategy. Core Message – What is the most persuasive or most important thing you can say to achieve your communication objectives?. This should be a simple, unambiguous Persuasive Communication Strategy

Brief Assignment04:192:359 (Yanovitzky) Page 3sentence. Also remember that a message has 3 parts: (a) the issue, (b) why should the audience care about the issue. Also  (c) what should the audience think, feel or do regarding this issue. Message Appeal – Will you communicate your core message using a rational or an emotional appeal? If emotional appeal, what emotion will you try to evoke or instigate.

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