What does impactful communication actually look like and how do you know if it’s working?
Most organisations want their communications to be inclusive. But wanting it and actually doing it are two very different things.
Lena Etuk has spent nearly two decades helping bridge that gap, and showing what genuinely inclusive communications looks like in practice.
As Director of Research and Evaluation at CIRCA (Culturally Inclusive Research Centre Australia), Lena helps government, health and social impact organisations understand who they’re actually talking to, and what it really takes for communications to land.
In this conversation, we got into the following:
- Why ‘inclusion’ and tokenism can look identical on the surface (and how to tell the difference)
- The real reason campaigns fail to reach diverse communities (hint: it’s not budget)
- What co-design actually means, and why most organisations using the word aren’t doing it
- The paralysis trap: “We can’t reach everyone, so we’ll just do nothing”
- Why the same message can’t work for a first-generation migrant and their third generation grandkid
- What behaviour change measurement really looks like when you do it properly
Watch the full video or read a summary below.
What Does Impactful Communication Actually Look Like?
“Impactful communications have to be communications that resonate with the target audience. They really have to see themselves in it and see that it’s relevant to them, so that they should actually pay attention to it and that it will matter to their lives.”
For Lena Etuk, Director of Research and Evaluation at the Culturally Inclusive Research Centre Australia (CIRCA), this is the foundation of everything. With nearly two decades bridging research, policy and community engagement, Lena has built a career around a deceptively simple idea: people need to see themselves in the messages being made for them.
But impactful communication goes beyond representation alone. “Another way to measure that impact is through behaviour change. What are the actual behaviours that you see come out of the communications after people are exposed to it? And that is always what we want, right? That is the reason we are communicating with people, because we want them to do something.”
There is also a broader dimension at play. “Communications can progress society in a positive direction. What are the subtle ways that communications can contribute to a more inclusive, more diverse, and more accepting society?”
The Personal Story Behind the Professional Purpose
Representation is not just an abstract principle for Lena. It is deeply personal. Growing up mixed-race (Black and white, with a Nigerian father and German-heritage mother) in a predominantly white Connecticut community in the 1980s, the absence of people who looked like her had a real and lasting effect.
“When there was diversity represented, it was a very stereotypical, one version of Black people. And that had a hugely negative effect on me. I thought I was weird because I wasn’t white and I wasn’t expressing my Blackness in the way I saw on TV. It really degraded my own sense of self.”
Only when Lena moved to a more diverse environment and saw fuller, more authentic representations did that begin to shift. “I started seeing myself as like, wow, I’m okay. As who I am.”
That journey has shaped everything that followed. “Now I am in the world of culturally inclusive research and evaluation, where our job is to make sure that people who are culturally and linguistically diverse, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander folks, people with disability, are represented and heard. For me, that is huge.”
The Biggest Opportunity: Recognising Australia’s Diversity
Australia is far more diverse than many communication campaigns acknowledge, and the data is there to prove it.
“Almost half of us were born overseas. Almost a quarter of Australians speak a language other than English at home. We have got a lot of diversity here. So let us recognise and embrace that diversity, and then craft communications that really do work for everyone.”
For organisations wondering where to start, Lena’s advice is straightforward: use what is already available. “Use census data. Use the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It is a wonderful resource. We have a beautiful census that we are able to get good data from to understand what the diversity of a particular postcode is, or a state, or an LGA.”
The opportunity, she says, is for everyone at the table to take ownership. “I think it is everyone’s responsibility. That is when it works best, when everyone at the table recognises that inclusivity is actually important.”
What Organisations Get Wrong About Inclusive Comms
Even well-intentioned organisations frequently miss the mark in predictable ways. Lena identifies two critical gaps.
The first is relationality. “Relationships are actually really important when working with non-Anglo communities. With Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, relationships are critical. With different culturally and linguistically diverse communities, relationships are really important as well.” This shows up in the communications themselves, but also in how the research and community engagement underpinning a campaign is conducted.
The second is treating diverse communities as a monolith. “Culturally and linguistically diverse communities are often treated like we have spoken to a couple of Aboriginal folks in Redfern and they are going to represent all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander folks across the country. Tick that box.”
“There is diversity within diversity. What I need to be communicating to the African diaspora in Australia is different from the Indian diaspora. And a first generation migrant who has just arrived is going to be very different from a third generation Australian.”
How CIRCA Does Research Differently
At CIRCA, cultural inclusion is not a layer applied at the end. It is embedded from the very first decision. “We think about culture from the beginning of a research project all the way to the end. What is the right method? Is it interviews or focus groups? What is the sensitivity of the topic? All of that is shaped by the community we are working with.”
The most distinctive feature of CIRCA’s approach is that data collection happens in language and in culture. Focus groups with Arabic-speaking communities are facilitated by native Arabic speakers. Groups with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants are led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander facilitators.
“What we want is for people, when they come into that focus group, to realise: oh hey, cool, I am just going to hang with someone who is part of my community. We can get beyond the identity piece and just have a chat about whatever we are meant to be chatting about.”
This extends to analysis as well. “What are the cultural nuances that can help explain why a participant said a certain thing? Our role is also to educate and expand people’s understanding of the diversity of these cultural communities. Culture is woven throughout the whole research endeavour.”
The Problem with Co-Design as a Buzzword
Co-design has become something of a trend in government and sector communications, but Lena urges caution about what the term actually means.
“True co-design means you have got multiple stakeholders at the table who all have equal power to design something. But any time anyone has done true co-design before, it is messy. It is hard.”
Her advice: be honest about which approach you are actually using. “What is really important is recognising what should be done in a co-design way, what can be done in a consultative way, and what just needs to be done. Not everything has to be co-design, and there is nothing wrong with consultation. Just be clear that is what it is.”
A useful test: if the agenda, research question, and parameters have already been set before the community is invited in, it is not co-design. “You needed to involve community members at the beginning. If you did not, that cannot be called co-design.”
Practical Tips for Communicators and Fundraisers
For fundraisers, marketers and communicators working within larger organisations, Lena offers a clear starting point.
- Do your homework: If you are trying to reach a diverse audience, do the research. Find out what those diverse communities want to see and how they want to be reached.
- Start with what is available: Look at census data. Look at other communications in that field to see what the take-up has been.
- Share what you learn: Communicating the impact of campaigns and sharing that information is really important so that people can learn from it.
- Do not let perfect be the enemy of progress: You might not be able to reach every single language group. But just start. Give it a go. It is worse to not try at all.
The Long Game: A Vision for Inclusive Comms
Despite six and a half years at CIRCA, Lena is candid that the dial has not moved as quickly as she had hoped. “There are some organisations that have done really good jobs with being inclusive. And then there are some who see inclusion as a tick-box exercise. That spectrum has continued.”
But she remains committed to the long view. “We are minute specks in a continuum of history. We have got to keep up the fight for inclusion, because I think everyone benefits from inclusion.”
“The dream for inclusive communications would be that communications are built and designed with diversity in mind, like it is not even a thought. It is just built into the way that we design communications. It is automatic, not seen as a tick-box exercise.”
And beneath that vision lies something deeply personal. “The more inclusive the communications are, the more people like us feel like we are cool, good, just how we are.”
Final Thoughts
Inclusive communications is not a niche concern or an add-on. It is what good communication actually looks like: research-grounded, relationship-led, and honest about the diversity of the audiences being reached.
“Everyone has finite resources. But invest them just like you would for any other group. Do your research to figure out where to target those resources. And then give it a go.”
The organisations that commit to this, not as a trend, not as a tick-box, but as a genuine standard, will be the ones whose communications truly land.
