Balancing the Art, Sciences, and Data to Effectively Communicate in the Digital Age
Dan Conway, former Principal Consultant
Washington, D.C.
The other day I watched Google CEO Sundar Pichai give a speech in 60 seconds. While Mr. Pichai is known for creative and bold ideas, this kind of novel messaging caught my attention and has me rethinking the “what if” for my clients. Here is why: while Mr. Pichai’s speech focused on “work, family, health, friends, and soul,” it also demonstrated the importance of format, brevity, and focusing on singular topics or themes when delivering a message or driving a narrative.
Considering I am constantly tracking best practices and looking for novel ways to simplify storytelling, I immediately asked myself, could 60 seconds be the new normal for packaging 20 minutes of impactful communications? After doing a little research and looking back at recent projects on behalf of my government client, it is clear that a new art and science has emerged when communicating in limited timeframes and aiming to keep an audience’s attention. So how do you shrink 20 minutes into just 60+ seconds? This is where following the data comes into play when balancing the art and science of communications in the digital age.
This past year, Corner Alliance helped our clients implement a four-part virtual engagement series on how investments in science, research and development (R&D) are providing the tools to confront future threats. This effort included developing several kinds of on-demand content, including videos, blogs, and e-books. In coordination with multiple governmental partners at the federal, state, and local level, each video panel was scripted to run 18-20 minutes, already reduced from the traditional 40-50-minute panel discussion. However, after analyzing engagement metrics we found that even 18-20 minutes was too long as viewership dropped off after seven to eight minutes. While viewers still found immense value in the topics, data pointed to measurable trends in format and brevity.
It is difficult to pinpoint why these trends are reshaping the future of communications due to the number of variables involved. Perhaps the growth of apps, along with new demands for mobility and pressures of time management, is changing how customers select and digest content? Regardless, it calls for new levels of strategic creativity where the scientific and R&D findings of our clients must be simplified into concise, quick, and compelling stories that keep the viewer’s attention and build brand awareness. For our team, this included switching from 10-12 minute marketing videos to a series of 2-minute “shorts” that give stakeholders new options to connect with our government client.
While it’s too soon to know if brevity is a new long-term metric for effective communications, we are reminded once again how the communications field is constantly changing. Now more than ever it is important to:
Stay alert to changing environments and new opportunities, especially advances in technology which make it easier to connect with your customers and expand your toolkit;
Listen to your target stakeholder audiences and customers and encourage feedback loops;
Keep in touch often over different platforms and track and organize your data;
Identify opportunities to experiment and pilot to shake-out new ideas and concepts: this helps manage client expectations and identify the right scope, timing, and target outcomes;
Take ownership; learn, be curious, and listen to the data. If the metrics differ then the outcomes, ask questions and take corrective steps.
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Author
Dan Conway, former Principal Consultant at Corner Alliance supporting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), helps government clients build strategic partnerships and execute storytelling to promote the value of research, development and innovation for securing our complex future. Through novel engagement and marketing campaigns, Dan collaborates with public-private stakeholders to amplify and align timely messaging via events, web, and social platforms.