Are You “Fluent” in Your Target Audience’s Language?
“We will keep working on undercuts and putting intermediate layers on some streets, on others just the base lift.” What?
This information was part of a text exchange I had with the project manager handling the reconstruction of my neighborhood’s streets. As the person managing the email list for my northside Indy neighborhood, I am keeping neighbors abreast of the action that impacts if they can even get a car out of their driveway.
As a communicator by training – not a construction engineer – I knew I needed to ask some questions to understand what this sentence meant for my neighbors. Can people get their kids to school on time? Out the door to that business meeting? It took a few exchanges to translate “paving” talk to something that people could understand and use to plan accordingly.
What would have happened if I would have just passed along his information “as is?” Great confusion, more questions and frustrated residents who didn’t know what was happening at the end of their driveways. This example reinforces for me the importance of being fluent in one’s target audience. I don’t know how to build streets, but I do know having angry homeowners stopping the crew to ask questions nonstop would have been a problem.
Every industry has its own jargon, and we each must realize the need to translate when speaking to the general public. Note that I don’t say “dumb it down” because people are not dumb; they just don’t speak your language. I encourage all my clients to think through their target audience first and foremost, identifying their language. Taking the time to be fluent enables effective communication to flow.
So I encourage you, dear reader, to focus on fluency!
Curious what the translation was for the construction sentence above? “Your streets are going to be really torn up and will be gravel for a few weeks, so drive carefully and watch out for ruts. We’ll let you know when we are paving your street so you can plan accordingly to park elsewhere.” Got it.