Having a solution to someone’s problem isn’t enough to make a difference.
For that to happen, you need that someone to engage. That takes winning their confidence about two things: your solution’s viability in general – and your solution’s viability for them.
When I worked with John Muir Charter Schools (JMCS), a free alternative charter school in California, this was the challenge I used messaging to address.
I spoke with JMCS’ staff, partners, students, and alumni during stakeholder interviews and focus groups to better understand what language might earn the ideal JMCS student’s trust.
That research revealed that the students JMCS recruits have been failed by traditional education and social conventions. For these learners, JMCS’ and any institution’s promise to help sounded too good to be true.
Learners wanted to know early into the discovery process that they wouldn’t be forced to fit in a box at school or undermined because of their backgrounds and previous school experiences.
While JMCS is a student-serving organization, they also prioritized their partner audience. In collaboration with designers and digital strategists, I developed audience-specific web messaging that clarified who and how folks could get involved with the charter school.
This messaging laid the foundation for an audience-driven web architecture that led key audiences to the right actions.
Project responsibilities
- Managed project from start to finish, facilitating research, team meetings, and the project timeline
- Conducted research and collected data through stakeholder interviews, focus groups, and surveys
- Led creation of foundational brand messaging, including vision, mission, value proposition, and approach language
- Implemented messaging across JMCS’ new website
- Developed concepts for recruitment campaigns
See their website here.
Dianna K Benjamin 