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You want to make an impact with your project but where do you start? How do you work out your core message? In our first ever episode, we're talking about strategic communication planning, the essential first step to ensure the successful impact of any communication. We explore a handful of key, often-overlooked insights that can make our break the strategic communications that define your business, organisation or project.
We discuss SMART objectives, decision-makers, defining your position in the social conversation, audience worldview, core concerns and readiness. Apply all of this and you too could move humanity forward.
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How do you take your big idea and get to the end goal?
How do you get everyone on the same page to achieve your goal?
How do you figure out who your audience is?
Who is the decision maker that can make your goal a reality?
How will you get your message out to your audience?
The Call- To- Action
Why this method works.
SPEAKER_01
Hello and welcome to the Moonshine Moonshot podcast. This is where we're going to be discussing the seemingly impossible and how to make it possible. We're going to be talking about impact and unpacking what that means and also just how to move humanity forward. I'm Sue Collins and this is my co-host Mike Hill.
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, so Moonshot, what's Moonshot all about? It goes right back to when JFK said we must go to the moon within a decade in the 60s and made it happen. So it's about taking those big impossible dreams and unpacking them and figuring out how you can actually make them happen. So what we're going to be talking about today is messaging and making an impact, and that's something that you and I have about a decade's worth of experience in.
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, that's right. And so through our conversation today, hopefully everyone listening will be able to take home some great ideas about how to actually get their people on board with their big mission and how to move their dreams forward.
SPEAKER_00
That's right, and I guess that takes us back to how we get started on our projects. So for background, we run a film production company that specialises specifically in making films that make an impact. So making an impact and figuring out how to make an impact through communications is our day-to-day. So maybe we should start with what sets that process going in most instances.
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, that's right. So I mean projects can come about, as you know, in all different ways, shapes, forms. Somebody has a big idea and then uh it's communicated. Sometimes it's our big idea, and sometimes somebody's come to us with a big idea, which is also exciting. Um, and then we have a look at what that idea actually means and who might want to be involved in it, and then we need to figure out why you would explore that idea and what ultimately what the outcome you're looking for is. So the moonshot for that project, and then once you know what you're shooting for, then unfolds all the process and strategy around how do you do
that? How do you actually take that idea and get to that end goal?
SPEAKER_00
Well, maybe we should start with that idea of a moonshot because it is actually the first step in most strategic communications planning. There's a lot of literature out there about this stuff. Uh, but mostly it does start with that. Sometimes it's called the broad goal. We're calling it the moonshot. Some people call it the BHAG, the big hairy, ambitious goal. So that is the long-term goal, the thing that you want to do that changes the world. So having a really clear broad goal is or moonshot is absolutely critical. And it's often the starting point for people thinking about their strategic comms.
Yeah, that's right. And so I think once you've got a bit of a consensus around what you're trying to achieve, um, then you need to kind of get everyone in the room and talking about some really key areas to really get everyone focused. So perhaps we could break down what those core sort of topics that you need to nut out as a group to get everyone on the same page.
SPEAKER_00
Look, some are pretty obvious, and almost everyone's gonna get to them. Uh, things like
audience, who's your audience, who's the demographic, uh, are they gender skewed? What age range are we communicating to? Uh, what do they look like, you know, in terms of um socioeconomically, really importantly, how do they consume media? The other thing that most people come to really quickly is the call to action. What are we asking people to do? What's the action that they can take to get towards that moonshot goal? However, there are some elements of strategic communications planning that are often overlooked, and I think that they are equally important. One, for example, would be who is the decision maker?
Because that is not always exactly the same as your audience.
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, that's a really interesting point, and um I guess we should also clarify when we're talking about these really big goals and projects, the goals and projects that we generally work on are visual communications projects, so meaning documentary films, factual content, um, short films for online, but also wrapped around that is a whole lot of other activities and communications. So we're talking about visual communications projects. But I think the principles around audience and messaging and the strategies we're going to unpack here are pretty true to any kind of project that you need to sort of figure out who you're talking to and why you're talking to them. And that does bring us back to the decision maker. If you have a project that has an ultimate goal of changing government policy, or is the ultimate goal that you want to get every house in your neighborhood to have solar power, it doesn't really matter what the goal is. You've got to figure out who's got to do what for that goal to become a reality.
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, so let's take those examples. If you want to get policy change, your decision makers are going to be politicians and policy makers and bureaucrats who work in the public service. Um, and often they're not the easiest people to get your message through to. So you can start unpacking that strategically and thinking about well, I know we've got to get after ex-minister. How could we communicate so that it's going to be in the radar of his uh partner, spouse, daughter, or son so that they're going to be talking about around the household table. It's be it's socializing the idea with the decision maker. If it's solar panels on houses in your neighbourhood, you've probably got decision makers like your local government. Um, and that's gonna be really important to think about how are we gonna get them to see it? Because you might have a broad uh publicity or social media strategy, doesn't necessarily mean those decision makers are gonna see it unless you take that extra step. Host a screening, for example.
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right. So um, yeah, who are they and how do you get to them? Yeah, absolutely. And that's what you unpack in in um in your defining your audience and defining who the decision makers are.
SPEAKER_00
I mean, how many times have we hosted screenings of our films in seats of power, like Parliament House in Australia?
SPEAKER_01
Oh yeah, uh I think uh three to four times now actually. Um they they can be hosted by at at you know Canberra, Parliament House Canberra, but also in local parliament as well in um Victorian State Parliament.
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that's right. I mean, uh we've hosted screenings in you know the federal government, in state governments, and all around the world. Our films have been screened in these types of places. Why? Because you know that the decision makers are gonna see it. So tip one, decision makers, think about them, break it down and uh think about creative ways that you can get in front of them.
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, yeah, and it doesn't have to be as big and um audacious as you know the the Australian government. You're it could be your your local minister or it could be local council. It really depends on what the project is as to who ultimately can make that decision. It could be the principal of your kids' primary school. You know, you've just got to figure out who ultimately needs to make the decision.
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, we did something I thought that was pretty successful recently where we hosted a screening in Federation Square in Melbourne. And for anyone who's been to Melbourne, they're gonna know this place. It's like the Times Square of our city. And we hosted uh a screening on you know the big screen in the middle of the town square, uh, and we invited the decision makers that we were trying to engage with to come and speak. And of course, it's in a big public venue, uh, so a lot of them showed up, and it made a really big difference in the end.
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, that's right, and then you can do all kinds of other things like uh getting the media engaged, particularly if it's at a um high-profile venue like Fed Square, the media are interested in it, what's going on, it gets quite a buzz. So um that sort of moves into other areas of the strategy.
You know, how are you going to get the message out there? How are you gonna promote it? Um, but we might be getting a little bit ahead of ourselves.
SPEAKER_00
I think you know, it you can go any which way. It can be a non-linear process, strategic communications planning. It doesn't need to be by the numbers, I think you just need to give thought to a lot of these different topics. So we might dive in and out of a few different ones. Another one that I think is really important but is so often overlooked, is the worldview of the person that you are reaching out to and trying to communicate with. And that's linked really closely with what we sometimes call their core concern. What is it about what we're communicating that resonates with them as an individual, as a human?
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, that that's a really good point. And worldview is sometimes a little bit tricky to figure out because it really does come back to what you were talking about before with demographic, socioeconomic groups, um, where people live, what schools their kids go to, all of these things really inform what's important to them and what they're looking for, the age as well, you know. People in their 20s are not going to have the same worldview as somebody in their 50s necessarily. Um, so you really have to explore all of those elements to be able to figure out a worldview.
SPEAKER_00
Sometimes that worldview is quite diverse, and it's okay to have diversity within your audience groups, a worldview, and this is why the core concern is really important, because that's a more universal idea or theme that's going to resonate more broadly through different people with different worldviews. So it might be about uh protecting your children, might be the core concern, or uh making sure that you know we're doing the best for our future or safeguarding against a potential threat or creating opportunity that doesn't currently exist. So there's gonna be there's gonna be those types of threads that are running through your communications.
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, absolutely. So if you look at a really, really big topic that's impacting us all at the moment, it's the debate about climate change and the worldview of all the people who are you know on board with Greta and and really gunning for governments to really take action. Chill out band. It doesn't matter, yeah, chill out band. It doesn't matter what age though they are in that demographic because they all share this vision, this mission to make the world uh a healthier, safer environment so that our kids and what's the core concern?
SPEAKER_00
Survival, yeah, uh not destroying our planet, um, safeguarding our future for our future generations. So those things can cut through through a whole bunch of different worldviews, in my opinion. And that's what you're really going for, that big theme at the heart of your communication that perfectly aligns with your moonshot broad goal,
uh, but also relates to your call to action and what you're actually asking people to do after they receive your communication. Because, of course, you know, we the days of passively consuming content are largely gone. Most of the time now, particularly when we're consuming content uh online or through social media, we just don't want to just sit there, you know, in a coma and kind of have it wash over us. We want to be moved, we want it to improve us or um help us to understand the world better and how we can contribute.
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, that's right. I mean it depends if you're binging on Netflix or you're actually wanting to turn your brain on instead of off as to what you try to achieve out of consuming content. But both both of those examples, you know, um will have a call to action for the audience, whether it's watch the next episode or pick up, you know, pick up your phone and subscribe to a mailing list. Like there's always some kind of way to motivate the audience to take a next step.
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, and for me that's almost a daytime, nighttime scenario, and everyone's individual biorhythms are gonna be different. I want to binge on Netflix, you know, and video on demand uh like Amazon Prime, and at night, you know, I just want to switch off and escape. But during the day I want to be engaged, and uh, you know, I'm trying to improve myself during those daytime hours. So that's gonna also inform the type of communication you're doing. Is it passive or is it active? And if it's active, it becomes a call and response with your audience, really.
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, absolutely. So now we've sort of touched on um a few different areas around the strategic planning. So we've talked about defining your audience, we've talked about picking your ultimate end goal, we've talked about who the decision makers are to get to that end goal. We've also now touched on the call to action. Sometimes the call to action I find doesn't necessarily come straight away. It there might be a whole range of calls to action, and it's a little tricky to know which one you want your audience to do. And there might actually be a few different calls to action because in the initial launch phase, you might be just trying to build an email list, just trying to get your audience to connect so that you can actually communicate more back to them, or further into it, you might be wanting them to do a lot more sharing and commenting and liking, or you might be wanting them to host a screening if it's a film, or you might be wanting them to uh write letters to local ministers. So the calls to action can actually shift and transition depending on what the project is and what you're trying to do.
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, one of the biggest mistakes can be looking for that silver bullet communication, the one thing that cuts through and does everything. And that's why we've got this guy on the table, you know, because that's what you end up doing.
SPEAKER_01
Can you tell me about that? Because I don't know what a Goomba statue is.
SPEAKER_00
You know, a Goomba's an unhappy dude. And you're gonna be an unhappy dude if you're trying to find a silver bullet way to communicate everything in one hit. You know, versioning. We are in the business of versioning, and I think everyone needs to be, right? You need to have different versions of your message because we're consuming content really differently in different places. Yeah, you need different durations. You also need different calls to actions depending on where you're putting them. Uh, we're also living in a very multicultural world, so we need language versions often, yeah, you know, and accessibility versions, so that we can reach the broadest audience. So you're not going to end up with just one thing, and that's okay. It's about understanding why each asset that you're producing, each piece of communication makes sense within a broader strategy and moves you that one step closer to your moonshot.
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, that's yeah, absolutely. So coming back to the moonshot, uh when we're talking strategic planning, have we covered the core elements or I feel like we might be missing one?
Oh, look, there's a lot in there. You know, you're often talking about messages, obviously. So that's one that's easy to overlook, but it's such a critical one. Breaking down what the key messages are in your communication. What are we trying to mean apart? Often people can come to that pretty quickly. I love starting with the messages in this process because they often uh sort of, you know, uh close at hand. Uh, but what I find really interesting is when you overlay that with messengers, because often people don't think about who is the best person to carry this message to get my point across. And that's where it's really great to have done the profiling on your decision maker and your audience because you often want your messenger to relate to their experience.
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, this is a really, really good point because yeah, who who I would respond to giving me a message is going to be totally different to who would respond, who you would respond to. So yeah, it is really important to think about that in relation to your audience and and who they want to get their information from.
SPEAKER_00
There's one big exception. Normally we like hearing messages from people like us, except with politicians, because no one wants to hear a message from a politician, especially another politician, you know. So you've got to think about who are they gonna listen to, you know, it's gonna be about Twitter, apparently. Yeah, and it's gonna be about the voters, isn't it? And it's gonna be about demographically who they're really trying to attract at that given point in time.
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, that's um that's right. And so, yeah, I I think that's um there's a lot we've covered here in uh this short period of time, and probably we need to go quite a lot deeper for a lot of people to really um be able to extract what they need from this conversation. So absolutely encourage everyone to send in their questions so that we can uh know what you want to hear more about in future episodes.
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, you know, reach out, get in touch. Uh we're here, we're on social media, we're on LinkedIn, we're accessible, we're out there in the world. Our website, Moonshine Agency, has a lot of great useful knowledge base and material around this stuff. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01
So um I think the key things that I would say today, if you're planning your big moonshot project, I would absolutely recommend you get the key people in your team in a room together and you spend at least an hour or two right up front. Spending that time's going to be absolutely set your roadmap to actually achieve that dream that you've got. And you want to be talking about who's the audience, who's the messenger, are the audience ready to receive that message? Uh the that's all forming part of the strategy. So, talking about um the call to action, um, who you need to get to do what, and then how are you going to actually tell that story to them? How are the audience gonna actually consume that story? And that's when you can get into the more creative process around actually creating a story to tell.
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, good luck. I hope this has helped you out with your strategic communications planning, and we'll see you next time.
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, and we'd love if you could help us out. So if you'd like to write a review or um subscribe to this podcast or um our YouTube channel, please do. And uh, we look forward to seeing you next time.
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