Hammering Away with the Wrong Communications Tool? That's as Effective as Banging Your Head Against the Wall.

Maslow's hammer states that when all you have is a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail. It's a concept we often see in communications, but at some point -- if the job's not getting done -- it may be time to diversify one's tool box.

I was reminded of this last week when a student asked me what the "best" social network was. Today, I received another, more glaring example, of someone trying to hammer through a communications tool -- and completely missing the mark.

I have a few communications truths I've developed over the years. One of them is my belief that our role is all about delivering the right message to the right person in the way that best meets their needs. This is complemented by my belief that communications should focus on "What's in it for me?" messaging -- with the "me" being the customer.

Unfortunately, too often in communications the only "me" that's served is the communicator or marketer. And the message suffers as a result.

I received a mass e-mail from my daughter's school today lamenting the lack of parental participation in the school's new communications portal. After a campaign that saw the school send out personalized e-mails to each and every parent (understand, as she goes to a French-first-language high school, there are not that many students -- 200, tops), inscription to the program is still around 50 per cent.

First off, the message misses its mark because it focuses on the negative and the vague. Statements to the effect of:

• If you don't sign up, you won't get permission forms about upcoming field trips/class participation;
• Trust us, you'll love this new method;
• I haven't received anything but positive feedback from parents.

Unfortunately, what's missing is proof that there is a need or desire for the audience to receive messages this way.

I previously registered. But it makes sense for me. I spend a lot of time on the Internet, I'm check my e-mail regularly, and my daughter's not the greatest at remembering to bring home notes. So this works for me (much better than the frantic, morning-of requests for signatures/money).

But obviously this doesn't meet the needs of a significant portion of the parent group. Or, at least, they haven't seen the value. And part of that comes from the fact that this solution is clearly geared to meet the needs of the content deliverers as opposed to the recipients. It's clear that this move is motivated by the school's desire to have a central point of communications, cut back on the need to print letters, and reduce administrative time and effort. Those are the content provider's needs. But what about the target audience?

Do we even know who the target audience is?

Despite the small number of students, the group is very diverse. Being French-first-language, the school attracts students with origins from Canada, Arabic nations, and various French-speaking African countries. Some parents speak fluent French; others don't speak a word. Some are more affluent; others are struggling to get by.

So there are a number of factors at play here:

• Linguistic barriers
• Financial barriers (does everyone have regular access to a computer?)
• Cultural barriers

And that doesn't even factor in personal preference. For some things, people prefer a paper trail. I'm pretty digital for most things, but I'm not going to lie and say I don't print out a few documents when I'm editing (or for hard-copy reference). It's safe to say I'm not alone.

Expanding this to business, without understanding the motivations, needs, and desires of your customers (or even who your customers are), don't be surprised if you don't get the adoption rates you'd like. It's one thing to create a process that meets your internal needs (whether it be communications based or organizationally), but if that doesn't align with your customers' needs and desires, there's going to be a disconnect. And that leads to customer dissatisfaction.

This isn't a criticism of the school -- we understand it is doing the best with the resources it has. But we go to school to learn and this is a valuable lesson in understanding your audience.

After all, if you keep hammering away with the wrong tool, it's akin to banging your head against the wall -- and with the same result.