PHASE III: GO is where we move from strategy to launch—and then continually monitor the effectiveness of our campaign so that we can adapt as necessary.

At this stage, the key is remembering that what can seem like the culmination of the campaign—taking your campaign to market—is in fact just its beginning. Gathering feedback is essential, and ignoring it would be a mistake. This feedback is the basis for evolving the campaign over its life, following an approach founded on versatility.

In CHAPTER 6: BE VERSATILE, the focus turns to the dual aspects of launching and measuring a campaign. Whether you’re part of a government agency, corporate organisation, or community initiative, this stage demands agility. You need to be ready to deploy across various channels and prepared to measure outcomes in real time. We’ll explore how to select the right media mix, allocate resources efficiently, and establish meaningful key performance indicators (KPIs) that go beyond vanity metrics.

CHAPTER 7: BE EVOLVING builds on this by shifting the focus from short-term metrics to long-term impact. It looks at how to measure, interpret, and refine your campaign once it’s out in the world. This stage recognises that success is never static—it’s influenced by social, cultural, and environmental changes. Being evolving means staying alert, responsive, and ready to adapt your strategy as your audiences and the broader landscape shift around you.

‘My strength is in my ability to be versatile.’
^{—WENDY STARLAND, Singer, Songwriter, and Producer}

IT WAS A 19TH-CENTURY German general who came up with the well-known observation that in military planning, no plan survives the first contact with the enemy. It’s the same in any marketing or communication campaign, and Native Experience (NX) is no different. Even the most well-researched campaign will face unexpected challenges once it meets the public. That’s why every communicator, brand, government department, and non-profit must learn to stay alert, agile and, above all, versatile.

After investing so much effort into drafting your strategy and co-creating with communities, it can be tempting to think that reaching implementation—the GO phase—means you’ve achieved your goal. But as any experienced communicator will tell you, launching is not the finish line; it’s the start of a new race. It takes you into a dynamic, ever-changing landscape that requires versatility and the willingness to be nimble.

In this chapter, we’ll explore the art of being Versatile, learning how to pivot when circumstances demand it, and how to optimise opportunities that might present themselves. When used well, versatility is key to effective communication in dynamic markets where communities grow, sentiments shift, social issues can reframe priorities, and cultural nuances are as fluid as they are intricate.

In this landscape, a rigid, one-size-fits-all approach will almost always fail. Australian communicators—especially those in public-facing roles—must work with grassroots organisations, multicultural media, and local leaders who can offer real-time insights into emerging community trends.

Being versatile is crucial in responding to changes as they occur. It means understanding the drivers of community behaviour, preparing contingency plans, and maintaining open feedback loops so you can act before small shifts become major challenges.

By now, these relationships should be well established and naturally integrated into your NX efforts. As you enter the GO stage, they become even more critical. They offer real-time insights into evolving cultural norms and sentiments that allow you to fine-tune your strategies and messaging.

It is important to keep in mind the previous stages that form the basis of your approach: being notable to the efforts as a whole, authentic in your messaging, trusted by the audiences, and inclusive in your approach. Now is the time to be versatile in your execution and evolve with the changing dynamics of the campaign and its audiences.

The two stages of GO—Versatile and Evolving—are the most interconnected of all the stages of the NX experience, so it’s helpful to keep a few things in mind:

Prepare to Launch: Integrating Strategy and Creativity

An NX launch is not quite like a traditional campaign launch. It requires a plan that transcends traditional marketing boundaries—one that weaves together creative vision, cultural foresight, and an intimate understanding of Australia’s diverse audience landscape.

Strategic Refinement

Before the grand reveal, revisit your strategy. Does it still reflect current cultural nuances, policy contexts or community priorities? If not, it’s time to be Versatile. The process developed in the Trusted stage was intentionally designed to be flexible—to adapt in real time based on insights from grassroots networks.

From Awareness to Action: Crafting Compelling Messages

The transition from capturing attention to spurring action is delicate. Your messaging at this stage isn’t just about informing, it’s about motivating:

Prepare Campaign and Media Kits

Your campaign and media kits need to reflect the inclusivity and shared ownership of the co-creation process.

Campaign Kit: A comprehensive package containing campaign guidelines, individual in-language style guides, and creative outputs for client areas, community organisations and other stakeholders. Include plain-language summaries and visual templates so materials can be easily adapted for localised use.

Media Kit: A ready-to-use package containing press releases, media contacts, and other essential information to support effective media relations. Consider including a short Q&A sheet or briefing notes for spokespeople.

Integrating Cultural Insights

Your strategy should respect and reflect the cultural nuances of your audience. Involve your NX teams, ambassadors, community representatives, multicultural liaison officers, and local partners in strategy development and finalisation. Aligning creative with local cultural calendars—such as Lunar New Year, Diwali, Ramadan, NAIDOC Week, or Harmony Week—can significantly strengthen connection and visibility.

Framework Agility: Adaptive Objectives

Your go-to-market plan should be as versatile as the market itself. Avoid setting rigid goals. Instead, create objectives that can evolve with market trends and community sentiments. Adaptability is crucial, allowing you to react promptly while keeping long-term goals, such as inclusion, in sight.

Prepare for Versatility

Versatility isn’t just about being prepared to implement changes but being prepared to implement them at speed.

Continuous Feedback Loop

Create a feedback loop to refine your strategy continually. Regularly adjust your approach based on performance data and stakeholder feedback.

Case Study: Strengthening Community Immunity for the Department of Health and Aged Care

The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care partnered with LEXIGO to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake in traditionally hard-to-reach communities. The campaign demonstrated co-creation in practice, with input from more than 300 people online and 120 community members from 14 different cultural and language groups (Albanian, Arabic-speaking, Assyrian, Chaldean, Hazaragi, Hmong, Pashto, Serbian, Somali, Turkmen, Uyghur, and Uzbek) across 10 in-person consultation locations.

Participants contributed their unique views and sentiments on COVID-19 to shape the campaign messages. A total of 1,274 assets were created across the 14 communities, including posters, social media stories and tiles, and video stories.

The campaign focused on tailored, community-centred approaches rather than above-the-line advertising. Platforms central to each community’s daily interactions were used—including WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram, Facebook, and SMS—alongside direct community engagement.

To date, over 180,000 people have been reached in-language. The campaign established new benchmarks for multicultural public health communication, demonstrating how culturally informed strategies can drive genuine community engagement.

Soft Launch: Test, Learn and Implement

If you have time and want more reassurance about your launch, consider a ‘test and learn’ approach in which you assess the effectiveness of pilot campaigns before a full-scale launch. This gives you a chance to tailor your messaging for different regions, platforms or subsets of audiences and evaluate the impact.

Launch

It’s here! Time to launch. The thoughtful execution of your NX campaign takes you back to the work you did scoping out your strategy in the Trusted stage and stress-testing it with real community insights.

As part of launch readiness, start integrating short-term performance metrics that track awareness, engagement and reach across your target communities. These early insights will guide your versatility throughout the campaign’s lifecycle.

Launching With Your Channels

Strategic Launch on Selected Channels

Digital Platforms: Use platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and WeChat, which can connect local community members and extend your reach globally.

Traditional Media: Don’t overlook the power of traditional media—community radio stations, regional newspapers, or TV broadcasts.

Tailored Approach: Tailor your launch strategy to the preferences of your audience segments. Younger demographics may engage more with short-form digital storytelling, while older groups may prefer trusted local media or in-person engagement.

Practical Steps for Launching

Channel Coordination: Ensure messaging is consistent across all selected channels yet tailored to the unique tone, format, and audience of each.

Timing: Plan your launch to coincide with times when your audience is most active and receptive. Align with special community events or festivals where possible.

Monitoring and Adjustment: Closely monitor performance across different channels and be prepared to make real-time adjustments based on engagement and feedback.

Launching With Community

In NX marketing, grassroots implementation and community partnership become core strategies for achieving genuine engagement by working within local networks, cultural spaces, and communication ecosystems that already exist and are trusted.

Grassroots Distribution

Grassroots distribution is the epitome of versatility in action. Whether it’s partnering with neighbourhood houses or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations, co-designing materials with multicultural associations, or collaborating with local radio presenters and faith leaders, grassroots efforts take your message to where people naturally gather.

The benefits are manifold:

Immediate Feedback: Real-time interaction with your target audiences, providing invaluable insights to adjust messages, timing or delivery methods.

Cultural Sensitivity: Direct community engagement positions you to understand the cultural and linguistic nuances that can make or break your campaign.

Enhanced Credibility: Communities are more likely to trust information that comes from within their own circles.

Cost-Effectiveness: Grassroots initiatives often have the potential to be more cost-effective than large-scale media buys.

Community Empowerment: Grassroots distribution empowers the community by involving them in the campaign, turning passive recipients into active participants.

Provide Tools for User Generated Content

Another vital tool in this phase is User Generated Content (UGC). If you empower a community with campaign materials, guidelines for how to use them, and direct contact with your NX Ambassador Team, they can generate content that truly reflects their communities. Your materials might include:

Adapting to Community Feedback

Feedback Loops: Establish mechanisms for continuous feedback collection, such as recurring community surveys or regular focus group discussions.

Community Ambassadors: Utilise community leaders or influencers as ambassadors who can provide ongoing insights into community sentiments.

Long-Term Benefits

Community Trust: Consistent and adaptive grassroots engagement builds trust, turning your target audience from recipients to active participants.

Sustainable Impact: Grassroots initiatives that evolve based on community feedback are more likely to have a sustainable impact.

Resource Optimisation: Long-term engagement allows for more effective resource allocation as you gain a deeper understanding of what truly resonates.

Short-Term Metrics: Components of Impactful Reporting

As you go to market, the need for a robust monitoring and metrics system becomes paramount. Short-term metrics are crucial in telling you how to adapt and pivot, providing immediate insights into the effectiveness of your strategies.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) for ensuring campaign versatility include:

Real-Time Analytics: Track key performance indicators as the campaign unfolds.

Community Feedback: Gather and analyse qualitative feedback from community interactions.

Audience Size: Confirm the campaign is reaching the intended audience shortly after launch.

Impressions: Monitor impressions generated, ensuring they align with the target demographic.

Click-through Rates (CTR): Assess how effectively your content prompts action.

Engagement Rates: Monitor interaction with campaign materials and tailor calls-to-action accordingly.

Time Spent on Content: Measure the time users spend consuming content, adjusting formats based on performance.

Social Shares and Mentions: Count social shares and mentions to measure virality.

Lead Generation Metrics: Monitor leads captured, form submissions, or downloads.

Email Open Rate: Assess how many recipients engage with your email content.

User-generated Content (UGC): Measure the volume of user-generated content related to your campaign.

Monitoring Performance

Use real-time analytics tools alongside sentiment analysis and social listening to adapt your approach. Scenario planning—preparing for changes such as climate events, policy updates or new social priorities—helps maintain responsiveness.

Your strategy will be informed by metrics from two main sources:

Real-Time Analytics: Track real-time KPIs to monitor campaign performance and responsiveness.

Community Feedback: Collect and analyse qualitative feedback from community interactions to provide context to your quantitative data.

Best Practices for Reporting

Frequency: Determine the frequency of reports based on the campaign’s needs—weekly, monthly, or quarterly.

Customisation: Tailor reports to meet the specific needs of different stakeholder groups.

Accessibility: Ensure reports are easily accessible through digital dashboards, PDFs, or physical copies.

Review and Feedback: Create opportunities for stakeholders to review reports and provide feedback.

Helpful reporting formats include:

Executive Summary: A high-level overview capturing key achievements, challenges, and next steps.

KPI Analysis: A deep dive into KPIs, measured against benchmarks.

Community Feedback: A summary of qualitative feedback collected from the community.

Financial Metrics: An analysis of the campaign’s ROI and customer acquisition costs.

Recommendations and Future Steps: Based on data and insights, outlining recommended adjustments and future strategies.

Versatility in NX means being agile enough to pivot when necessary and proactive enough to anticipate shifts in cultural norms, policy priorities, and community sentiment. As the campaign progresses, the focus shifts from immediate outcomes to long-term community impact—which we call Evolving.

In the next chapter, we’ll see how to measure your campaign’s ongoing impact—from awareness and participation to policy influence or behavioural change—and how these insights can shape future, more inclusive campaigns.

Recap

• Be versatile and responsive throughout execution, ready to pivot as audience needs and preferences evolve.

• Adapt your strategy in real time based on feedback and shifting market dynamics.

• Maintain open and ongoing dialogue with your audiences to ensure continuous learning and relevance.

• Use feedback and data to adjust messaging, channels, and engagement tactics in line with your campaign objectives.