Sunday, August 2, 2009

     

 
 

 

REAL TIME EVALUATION BREEDS REAL RESEARCH SUCCESS

 

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OK.  So you have thoroughly researched your market and taken great care to gather equivalent data throughout the process.  You planned your communication program with your internal team and developed a killer strategy with your translation partner.  Now that your program is

in full effect, was all your planning and strategizing successful, or for naught?

 

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Evaluating your program before, during and after implementation will provide an answer.  Instead of tacking an evaluation onto the end of your program, an integrated evaluation process allows you to understand what is and is not working in real time.  This knowledge allows you to tailor your program to effective activities and ensure future efforts are productive. 

 

As always, advance planning and remaining flexible throughout the process will go a long way.  As you develop your strategy, establish appropriate, achievable and date specific objectives to measure your progress against.  This integrates an evaluation process into your program.

 

As your communication program kicks off, ensure your market research is on target.  Include a feedback page among your written communications in the native language of the target audience.  This is where the flexibility comes in:  if you receive negative feedback, investigate it immediately.  Maybe your research is wrong.  Kill what is not working, re-tool your message and turn it around.

 

Evaluating the program during implementation is not only important for keeping the project on track.  If you are beholden to the public, partners, or funding agencies, demonstrating the value of your program can only work in your favor.  Positive feedback is also an important motivator for staff working on the project.  Knowing you are making a difference in someone’s life is a powerful tool.

 

Of course, at the end, it is always good to look back and see how your program fared overall.  When you evaluate your communication program in hindsight, you make assumptions about what you set up and thus, what should have happened to whom and with what results.  If you have been evaluating your program in real time, as it occurred, there should be no surprises here – only success.

 

 

 ©aiaTranslations 2009

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