If it’s response you’re after, your target audience isn’t actually your target.
Whatever channel you’re using, the media and data people will figure out that the audience for your project is, let's say to keep this mathematically simple, 100,000. That’s who they’re buying for you, and so with impeccable logic you’ll be writing to that audience.
Er, no…not if it’s response you want.
Even on a good day the response you’ll end up with is only a tiny percentage of that audience. Yes, research will tell you many more will have read/watched it. But we direct marketers live in a hard-nosed world where we count actual transactions, not good intentions. But why so few? Are we simply failing? No. At any given time, only a minority of that audience is ready, willing or able to respond. (You can prove this point by re-mailing exactly the same data set just a few weeks after the first shot; you'll get pretty much the same response as new people will by then have moved into the frame. Sometimes you get even more).
So if it’s numbers you want, focus your creative on those few people most likely to respond. That means the people most tuned to the issue. The ones who are already on the verge.
Of course, creatives love nothing more than the chance to dramatise the problem. That makes great award-winning creative. But if you follow my logic, then instead of talking about the problem, you talk about what they can actually do about it. You're going for the ‘most likely’, the ones who already want to help. Which means you’ll want to talk to them in detail. They're immensely interested. Don't sell them short. This is, of course, the immemorial long v short copy debate, and I'll launch off on that subject a little later.
So imagine someone who's eager to help/donate/buy. Don't get carried away by the drama of the issue, at least not to start with. Open your copy with telling them exactly what you want them to do, brutal though that can sound. Once you've made that clear, then of course you can do the rest of the story.
It's this little trick than can sometimes produce useful uplifts. Back to your target audience of 100,000. Let's say you've been getting a 1% response, or a 1000 people. (You'll see why I've simplified the math - I'm a copywriter not a mathematician!). Let's go on to say that with this approach you get an extra 200 responses. Not much to ask. But then, good heavens, you can now report a 20% increase in response. Now you're the hero of the marketing team.
Got to be worth a try.