Yesterday I wrote about the candidate's websites' shifting communication styles in Me, Politics, Adam Zand's Really Big Shoe, How Obama's and McCain's sites have changed when we weren't looking. That post dealt with messaging -- the Vs, Ks, As and {C, B/e, M} stuff that tells you a lot about how people think and not everything about how they share their thoughts. A big predictor in the success or failure of any campaign -- marketing, political, ... -- has to do with how messages are shared.
You could consider the "how" part as in how old, how well educated, and how easily.
Think of telling a sophisticated joke (one that requires some life experience to appreciate) to a child. They're not old enough to understand it so the humor is lost on them. Now think of telling a joke that requires some knowledge of physics to the average person on the street. They don't have the education so the humor, again, is lost on them. Lastly, think of telling a very sophisticated, very knowledge specific joke to an average person. You need to explain it, maybe more than once. They might get it, they might not. You might get someone who's quick on the uptake and they guffaw or someone who just can't get it and they laugh politely.
Messaging also has these components;
- Is the audience old enough to understand?
- Is the audience educated enough to understand?
- Can the audience easily respond to the message?
