An Action Strategy for OG&E: Creating a Salient Campaign

Remembering the Key Public

Developing a campaign can often feel abstract. You know your public is out there. You have done research into their needs and wants. But, do you really know your public?

Smith reminds us that action strategy and messaging go hand in hand, and the biggest piece when developing this part of the campaign is remembering your key public (Smith, 156).

One way to get to understand your public’s desires, wants, needs and pain points is through developing personas. Patrick Faller (2019) suggests, via an Adobe blog, that building personas can help you better emphasize with your key public. In the case of designers, this means getting into the head of your created person.

For example, Seed Sower Strategies spilt our public aged 18-25 into two personas who want and need different things from OG&E’s workforce development program. Let’s take a look at Future Thinker Frankie. Frankie is 18 and is about to graduate high school. They are curious and intelligent and want a career where they can network. Frankie is also interesting in working in an environment where DEI efforts are championed and respect and integrity are invaluable parts of the culture. The ability to emphasize with Frankie creates the opportunity to develop an action strategy with Frankie’s goals in mind.

To understand Seed Sower Strategies developed this persona, check out this clip explaining persona basics:

Posted October 2, 2018 from Circus Street

Adaptation

Adaptation in terms of strategy building is “the willingness and ability of the organization to make changes necessary to create harmony between itself and its key publics.” SMith, 158

For our client, adapting to the needs of Frankie are important to providing strategy. This means getting into the space where Frankie and their friends frequent. Our strategy then focuses on recruitment events in and around high schools and community centers. Consistent visibility helps to create brand awareness. For Frankie, this is vital to creating a relationship.

An additional space our campaign must occupy is an audio/visual space such as Tik Tok or Instagram stories. Adapting to these mediums means meeting Frankie on the platforms they already frequent, which can once again build recognition. The decision of media channels was developed through survey data research and message testing.

Salience

Salience is “the degree to which an audience perceives information as applicable or useful” Smith, 159

The final piece of the puzzle to match strategies to publics is creating an action strategy that holds salience to Frankie. “To win the hearts of Generation Z, companies and employers will need to highlight their efforts to be good global citizens” (Mawhinney & Betts, 2019). What unique selling points can OG&E provide to make pursuing a career at OG&E worth it to Frankie?

Let me give you a sneak peek into our campaign: Seed Sower Strategies has developed messaging about a debt-free career as the single most important thing. Understanding what Frankie and their peers want, helped us come to this conclusion. Ultimately, your actions strategy can be creative, fun and uniquely situated to your organization — as long as you don’t forget to consider your personas.

References

Circus Street. (2018, October 2). Creating customer personas. YouTube. Retrieved March 11, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av-1Htt7sOA

Faller, P., Mote, M., Babich, N., & Woodmass, R. C. (2019, December 17). What are user personas and why are they important?: Adobe XD ideas. Ideas. Retrieved March 11, 2022, from https://xd.adobe.com/ideas/process/user-research/putting-personas-to-work-in-ux-design/

Mawhinney, T. & Betts, Kimberly (2019, August 30). Understanding generation Z in the workplace. Deloitte United States. Retrieved March 6, 2022, from https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/consumer-business/articles/understanding-generation-z-in-the-workplace.html

Smith, R.D. (2021). Strategic planning for public relations (6th Ed.). Routledge.

#actionstrategy #adaptation #persona #salience