INTRODUCTION
When municipalities launch campaigns for referendums and infrastructure projects, effective communication becomes even more important to gain community understanding and support. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a tool that municipalities can use to test and refine messages before beginning public outreach. This process involves creating stakeholder profiles, defining your voice, testing message variations and making sure there is accessibility across languages.
Here’s how municipalities can use AI to test messages for their projects.
SET UP YOUR STAKEHOLDER PROFILES
Start by identifying your key stakeholder groups (e.g., residents or business owners), then create detailed profiles for each audience segment, including their typical concerns, knowledge level and preferred way of communicating.
- Within your AI tool, start with this prompt, “Create a detailed stakeholder profile for a municipal infrastructure project. Include their demographics, primary concerns, communication preferences and likely objections for these groups: [homeowners renters, senior citizens, etc.]”
- Next, refine these profiles by asking follow-up questions: “For the senior citizen profile, what specific concerns might they have about construction disruption and accessibility?”
- Then create audience-specific scenarios: “Write three scenarios showing how different senior citizens might react to a six-month road construction project in their neighborhood.”
These profiles will guide your voice selection and message testing in later steps.
To save time in the future, you should use a prompt-saving extension. One free tool is the “ChatGPT Prompt Saver” extension, which can be installed through the Chrome Web Store. It is compatible with both the free and Plus versions of ChatGPT, and all the data is securely stored on your Chrome browser.
DEFINE YOUR VOICE
When writing AI prompts, make sure to clearly define the speaker’s voice, whether it’s the mayor, administrator or public works director. Also, make sure the prompt includes your target audience and communication channels. Be sure to include specific project details, desired tone and stakeholder profile.
- First prompt: “You are a city engineer. Write a technical description of a road construction project that will take six months and impact five neighborhoods for the [profile].”
- Second prompt: “Now rewrite that description for the [different profile], focusing on how it will affect their daily lives. Include specific benefits they’ll see after it’s done.”
- Third prompt: “Create three versions of this message: one for a neighborhood email newsletter, one for a direct marketing piece and one for social media posts, all targeted at the [profile]. Each should maintain consistent facts but adjust tone and length as appropriate.”
TEST MULTIPLE MESSAGE VARIATIONS
Municipalities should use AI to rapidly test different message variations for the same project. For a municipal building referendum, you could test variations emphasizing community benefits, financial implications or long-term cost savings. AI can help determine which messages may resonate best with different audience segments, and it can used as the first step in message testing before other methods like focus groups.
- Start with a broad message test: “Generate three different approaches to announcing a new municipal building project: one focused on community benefits, one on fiscal responsibility and one on sustainability.”
- Refine the best answer: “Take the fiscal responsibility message and create three variations that use different data and emotional appeals to make the case stronger.”
- Test the potential issues: “Review these messages from the perspective of the [profile] and identify potential objections.”
TEST MESSAGES IN OTHER LANGUAGES
Municipalities serving diverse populations can use AI to test messages in different languages. First, have the AI tool translate your core messages into necessary languages, then ask it to identify any cultural nuances or phrases that might not resonate.
For example, “Please translate this construction project announcement into Spanish and Hmong, then identify any cultural phrases that may need adjustment for each community.”