Keynote, Location: FESTAAL – Vienna Marriot Hotel

Our industry often speaks idealistically about being audience-centric, but for some that can be too abstract to implement. Our Microsoft Comms Strategy & Insights and WE I&A team did not accept that reality and instead built two productized solutions. Those solutions provide an audience lens that enable our key stakeholders and partners generate greater impact in the fragmented media environment which includes expanding pitch lists with creators and influencers on different platforms and conducting exclusive executive interviews with influencers who historically have not access to senior execs. Overall, it maximized our efforts with the right voices and channels and provided insights into what worked and where we can still learn.

• Meeting the audience where they are is not enough. You must craft the content in a voice and tone that represents their needs.
• Don’t fall into the trap of believing that larger audiences are better. Smaller, concentrated audiences can be very engaged and may net greater impact if you meet them on the channels they trust and consume.
• There is not a magic button you can press; instead, you must blend qualitative expertise with the data findings. Balancing the art of communication with the science of audience data delivers the best outcomes.
• Establishing a shared language around the audience is hypercritical for universal understanding, setting expectations and behavior change.