Marketing to Underserved Audiences
Developing Civic Engagement

Susan Clark ’76

“Forty percent of people in the United States read at an eighth-grade level or less. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed literacy tests for voter registration, but if the only source of nonpartisan information about California ballot measures is a state-issued ballot pamphlet written at a twelfth grade level, that functions as a de facto literacy test.”

Susan Clark’s communications and social change organization, Common Knowledge, has an unusual track record and unique niche. Common Knowledge offers its clients traditional marketing expertise—strategic planning, campaign development, qualitative and quantitative research, training and technical assistance. What’s different is their emphasis on developing community and civic engagement, especially the participation of lesser-heard voices. Combining these elements yields the practice they call “community marketing.”

Susan transitioned to her current work from a successful career in corporate marketing. She served as vice president of planning and new products at Del Monte Foods, director of marketing at the California State Lottery and as a brand manager at Procter & Gamble. In her heart, however, her real interest was in the needs and concerns of underserved audiences, and throughout these years she felt a pull toward working for a cause.

Susan points to one achievement, California’s “Easy Voter Guide,” as an example of the projects she finds most gratifying. “The Easy Voter Guide,” supported by state agency and foundation funding, has a circulation of three to four million for each statewide election in California. Available in five languages, the guide is distributed by over 2,000 organizations and more than 40 newspapers. The print guide and its companion Web site, easyvoter.org, help “new and busy voters make sense of California elections and government.”

The project began when Susan was an adult literacy volunteer, as well as a member of the League of Women Voters. She was frustrated that people with limited education are shut out of most civic discourse. The League, historically a provider of nonpartisan information about the how, what and why of voting, did not have the capacity to reach out beyond the savvy readers who are their typical clients.

The ability to negotiate a ballot is particularly important in California, where routinely, voters are asked to make “30 to 40 decisions about elected offices and ballot measures, many of a highly technical nature,” reports www.easyvoter.org. “Despite (or because of?) record levels of partisan advertising, many voters report feeling overwhelmed by the long ballots they face. In a recent survey by the Public Policy Institute of California, 77 percent said that the language of the propositions was too complicated and confusing.”

“We institutionalized non-participation,” Susan says. “We say we believe that everyone in a democracy has to participate, but what if they don’t have access?” To explore how to open up access to the process, she secured funding from the California state library to work with adult literacy students and other community members to co-create a voting engagement program.

“To really understand what will work for the community, we create working groups of target audience members. Every project we do is audience-designed,” Susan says. “The users describe the need, define the scope of the communications and help with the actual implementation. As a result, what we come up with together is more effective than having used just a focus group at the front or end of the project.”

“One quarter of California residents are from another country; another one quarter are from another state,” Susan explains. “We found out that the image many new voters had in their mind was that voting would be like a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles: long lines, taking a test, and no one to ask for help. Many people assume that non-voters are turned off by politics, but we found that ‘performance anxiety,’ fear of being embarrassed, is a bigger barrier.” Susan’s team of community members created a three-part engagement model that was shown to double voter turnout. “The Easy Voter Guide” is the most visible element of the program and has become popular with mainstream audiences as well.

Susan says Common Knowledge is fortunate to work with organizations that are willing to fund projects at a level that allows her to do research and involve the community they’re serving. “We have a broad range of clients,” says Susan. “They come to us; and an essential part of our work is the network of ‘distribution partners,’ such as the California State Library, community colleges, and a variety of community organizations. We have ongoing relationships with people who serve other people.”

Susan is now working on projects about making climate change and energy reduction relevant for more of the general public. Some of her other projects include ProjectMoney.org—co-designed by adult learners—a free service that helps people who might have been intimidated learn about using a bank, saving money, using credit cards, filing tax forms, and finding other financial resources. For Merrill Lynch, Common Knowledge managed training and message and materials development for reaching new 401(k) investors, especially in lower-income and less-educated audiences. Common Knowledge spearheaded a successful multiyear Civic Engagement Project for Children and Families and assisted the Common Ground Project in framing and facilitating community dialogues on welfare reform and affirmative action, in partnership with the San Jose Mercury News.

Susan’s organization is flexible: It can staff up or use interns if necessary. She describes herself as a generalist. “I loved economics and art history equally at the University of Michigan,” she says.

She feels that her work with Common Knowledge is far from finished. She loves learning about new fields and working with organizations that are committed to helping people improve their quality of life.


Cathleen Everett

 

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