The problem being faced is really not so different from the age old advertising problem of reaching the right audience with the right message, at the right time. Having developed security awareness programs based upon advertising and marketing models in the past, I suggest the following:
Define the target audience
Not all messages will resonate with, or be accepted by, all audiences equally. That means that the user population should be segmented into distinct groups, each getting targeted with messages that are tailored to their “demographic”. For even the largest of organizations, it is rarely necessary to segment beyond 3-5 target groups (for example: Executives, Middle Management, Employees).
Tailor the message
Since each group has their own worldviews (not just on security issues, but also on corporate culture, their standing in the organization, the requirements for their job, etc.) it is important to use language and messages that take these needs into consideration. A good place to start in crafting your message is to consider how you would approach conveying the topic to the target audience member in a conversation. Composite personas work well for creating “use cases” for the conversations. You can then work within the communications group to establish appropriate wording and the level of formality that is appropriate for each persona or group of personas if more than one is created for each demographic slice. You will also want to consider who the sending party is in each message. If you can “borrow” authority from the executives on an important topic, that might give the message higher receptiveness than one coming from Corporate Communications or Security.
Plan the campaign
According to some estimates the average person gets bombarded with 3000+ advertising messages per day. Since you are within the confines of your company, this number is lower since I am assuming you don’t allow major brands to put up billboards in your offices. The reason we are inundated with marketing messages is that it has been shown that it takes multiple attempts to reach us in order for the message to sink in. It has also been shown that utilizing multiple mediums increases this effectiveness. By taking a campaign based approach, you can target key messages across posters, brochures, e-mail messages, presentations, etc. to increase the retention of the material being offered.
Test the campaign
This is a luxury that allows you to craft a series of messages on a given topical area and deliver them over time. The benefit to this is that you hit each person with multiple instances of the same message, but each one should be crafted and communicated slightly differently. Each message then reinforces the previous, or hits where that one missed. With a defined messaging campaign, you can then test each message for its effectiveness against a target population. You can use tools you probably already have to search on the number of your messages that are sitting unopened, or in people’s trash folders on the mail server. This will help you better adjust your subject line to ensure they at least open the message, for example.
These techniques are just a start, but hopefully will offer you insight into a new and interesting way to view your awareness campaign and will give you an idea of how to define for the communication’s team how best to address the issue of getting the word out to the masses.
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