Finding An Audience's Comfort Zone

Perhaps like you, every so often I like to flip through channels to see what movies are on. Almost inevitably I will come to one I have already seen but enjoyed and end up watching at least part of it all over again. Why is that? I may like the stars of the movie. And the story-line may be enjoyable as well. But I believe a more underlying reason is this old movie taps into my comfort level in a very fundamental way. Consequently, I easily let it in once again much like I might let in a friend who unexpectedly comes knocking on my door inside.

Getting "inside" is the first goal of any effort to communicate; having the audience or receiver of a message open their internal door so that the communique itself can come in and be heard. From the perspective of the sender or communicator, the challenge is in how to do that. What ingredients go into designing a message that will be heard or accepted? I believe an important clue can be found in an old movie that many of us do not mind watching again and again every so often. That old movie is not offensive or off-putting. It resonates with us in a way in which we prefer to be approached.

The communicator needs to design a message that comes as close as possible to melding with the audience's comfort level. Doing this will most likely result in the person or persons to whom you are speaking being receptive to what is being said. This is important because as it was with the encyclopedia salesmen of long ago, if you can not get your foot in the door, then it does not matter how good the product or message itself is. How best to do this lies in those three magic words in the field of communication: know your audience. How do they best like to be approached or talked with? What are they most interested in? What are their chief concerns or dreams? The more one can do to find answers to these and similar questions, the better the chances are the message one seeks to impart will be heard. Of course, while this does not necessarily result in agreement, it is a vital first step toward making a connection. A successful first step is where all good communication efforts begin.