I recently received a delightful email from one of my readers. It concerned marketing communication and engagement. Engagement as in truly connecting with audiences that are important to what you hope to achieve. It was different for several reasons.

I was asked if I would consider doing two workshops on engagement and marketing for the Applied History Initiative’s Summer Series at the University of Colorado. My reader thought it was time to bring the concepts I discuss in my monthly column to the scholars who would be attending this year’s workshops at CU Boulder.

Having never done this before, I wasn’t sure about the connection at first. But it sounded interesting. Why? “At the core of Applied History is the mandate to pay equal attention to historical research and to the identity, concerns, and interests of an anticipated audience. Applied Historians adhere to the basic methods of historical inquiry in studying the past, but take an additional step in applying those methods to arrive at a grounded understanding of the present-day groups who will constitute their audience.” — Dr. Patricia Limerick, Faculty Director of the Applied History Initiative at the University of Colorado.

Why wouldn’t historians need to know more about engagement and marketing? Years of knowledge and experience — but how best to communicate it to others? How do we identify and include the audiences most critical to what we have to share? What are techniques for thinking out of the box in terms of key target audiences. What are the best delivery messages for different audiences? How best to engage?

Effective engagement is when a business, organization or a historian connects with their key target audiences. It’s a marketing strategy that directly engages the audience and invites and encourages them to participate in the evolution of a business or organization’s experience.

Experienced strategists know how to achieve desired results through engagement with key publics and communities. They utilize a tool box full of methods calculated to achieve the right results with the right people at the right time. They know that communication is a two-way street and is most powerful when accomplished through solid relationship building that is thoughtfully created over time. Strategists look ahead and are ever aware of changing conditions or trends that may impact the planning process.

One way to look at strategy development is to consider your business or organization as a work of art. Picture your blank canvas. Now, imagine the paint as the strategies you develop to effectively communicate with important publics. As you lay down one color and then the next, it impacts the overall appearance of the piece. Failure to consider colors already painted could lead to a less than pleasing view. The original colors may be lost, or changed. Without the original vision of how it is supposed to look, it unlikely that by the time it is finished it will resemble what you set out to create in the beginning. Your “work of art” will now create feelings in observers that either encourage them to learn more, or to look away in puzzlement or boredom. Therefore, how you develop your strategy sets the course for how your finished art will ultimately be received.

Obviously, not everyone thinks the same. About anything. That’s why it’s so important to truly understand your target audiences before you can effectively connect and engage with them.

And as for Applied History? “When I want to understand what is happening today, when I try to decide what will happen tomorrow; I look back, a page of history is worth a volume of logic.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Stacy Cornay is the owner of Communication Concepts Public Relations & Advertising. She may be reached at 303-638-7127; scornay@comm-concepts.com; www.comm-concepts.com; Facebook.com/Communication Concepts; X @CommConceptsPR; or Linked In.