Abstract
Communication theories help public relation professionals to understand the way people respond to different marketing efforts so that they can effectively create a campaign that reaches the appropriate audiences. This paper analyzes the Diffusion of Innovations theory by summarizing its history and evaluating its implications in public relations. The Diffusion Theory uses five categories of innovation adopters and a five-step process to explain the way consumers perceive innovation.
Keywords: Diffusion of Innovations, public relations, communication, theory, campaigns
Introduction
The Diffusion Theory, also known as the Diffusion of Innovations, is used to explain how an idea or object is spread and adopted by a population of people. It evaluates basic characteristics of people in a population and places them in one of the five adopter categories to determine the most effective way to appeal to that specific audience. Each category explains how a group of people views a new idea, behavior or product and provides a five step process that each individual goes through when adopting something new: awareness, interest, evaluation, trial and adoption. By providing a basic history and analysis of the theory, this paper will examine the Diffusion Theory model and how it can be used effectively by public relation professionals to reach a desired group of people in a campaign.
Diffusion of Innovations
In 1943, the first research that looked at diffusion was done by Ryan and Gross at Iowa State University. In order to gain an understanding of how people adopt a concept or object, they chose to interview a group of individuals who were identified as “adopters” of an innovation at that given time. (Surry, 1997). Nineteen years later Everett Rogers published his book, Diffusion of Innovation, that built off the research conducted by Ryan and Gross and presented his analysis on how members of society make the decision to adopt new innovations. His research defines a five step process and the five adopter categories and is known as the only “unified theory of diffusion”(Surry, 1997).
Before diving into the five-step adoption process, diffusion is defined by Rogers as the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system (Rogers, 1960). There are a couple keywords in this definition that are the four elements essential in understanding this theory: innovation, communication channel, social system, and time. These elements influence one another in the decision making process and impact how something is adopted.
The steps involved in the adoption process are: awareness, interest, evaluation, trial and adoption (Rogers, 1960). Diffusion begins with awareness, this just means that an individual becomes aware of the existence of an innovation, and begins the process of deciding whether or not they are interested and want to learn more. The second step is interest, this is where an individual develops an opinion on an innovation and where they decide if they want to pursue the next step, evaluation. Evaluation is when someone decides that they want to adopt an innovation, usually during this step in the process an individual will go through a trial period where they try a product or way of thinking. If the trial period is intriguing, the individual will move on to step four, which is a more implemented version of evaluation and the product or idea is used more regularly to learn more. Finally, if a consumer is satisfied, they move onto the final step: adoption. During the adoption process an individual may look for reassurance from others in their social circle but also continues to build a better understanding of the innovation.
The model above gives a visual representation of the process described above, while the steps use different words, they have the same meaning.
From here, the Diffusion of Innovations theory divides people into five separate categories that define the way people are persuaded and driven to adopt a new innovation. These five categories are: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. While the majority of people fall in the middle of the bell curve, it’s important to understand the variety of people that are in different audiences and groups of people.
According to Boston University’s Wayne W. LaMorte, innovators are the individuals who want to be the first to try something new. They are the ones who are willing to take a risk and it often requires little persuasion to reach this audience (LaMorte, 2019). The next group is early adopters. While these two groups are relatively similar, they represent the leaders who are aware of the need for change but may require more information on an innovation to move on to the next step of the adoption model. The third group, early majority, require evidence that something works before they are willing to adopt. For example, to reach this audience a positive customer review would help influence them. The fourth group, which represents the other group of the majority of consumers, is the late majority. These are the individuals skeptical of change and will only adopt after many others have done so. Finally are the laggards. This is the group that is hardest to persuade because they value tradition and like to stick to what they know (LaMorte, 2019). Think of a grandparent that refuses to buy a phone or computer because their whole life they have communicated by writing letters. If an organization can effectively reach this audience, their marketing efforts most likely proved to be successful.
Application of the Diffusion Theory in Public Relations
In a campaign, public relations professionals spend hours upon hours researching a particular population in order to understand how to most effectively communicate and share information. Different groups of people respond to advertising and marketing efforts based on numerous factors, so the diffusion theory presents an opportunity for PR professionals to learn about the way that decisions are made.
For example, McDonalds recently introduced a new menu item, the Travis Scott burger. This burger is very similar to others on the menu, but was marketed as a limited-time experience to eat like one of your favorite celebrities. So far it has been overwhelmingly successful and even caused a shortage in quarter pounders. Mcdonald’s public relations professionals were able to successfully execute their vision by understanding younger generations and how they typically make their decisions- which is often by being influenced by people popular in the media. The diffusion theory provided a basic guide of five categories of consumers and professionals and therefore were able to walk through the five-step adoption process and present a relevant and effective campaign.
This is why it is important to understand the Diffusion of Innovations theory. Without understanding your target audience, one may design a campaign completely irrelevant to the way the population is influenced to try a product or adopt an idea.
A broad example of how this theory is used in a campaign is in politics. Politics are tricky because your audience is so broad but the goal is to gain the vote of the majority of the people. The first step, awareness or knowledge, is done by making the public aware of the person running for a position. To reach younger generations, this may be primarily through social media platforms such as Facebook, but to inform older generations, this may be done by creating commercials. Different forms of media influence decision making in different groups of people. The second step, interest, is done by telling the public about how they will benefit from choosing to elect him/her into office, someone voting is more likely to adopt the idea of the particular person running if they believe they will gain something from it. The third and fourth step, evaluation and trial, could be done by tracking the number of people attending rallies and interacting with other ads and polls. Finally, if the person chooses to adopt the individual running for election, they will vote them into office.
In conclusion, the diffusion of innovations theory is vital to understand in order to be successful in public relations. Understanding how consumers process information and make decisions leads to a successful campaign because one is able to effectively reach all audiences and groups of people. As public relation tactics continue to change and advance, this theory will remain relevant and helpful for professionals in the field.
Work Cited
Rogers, E. M. (1962). Diffusion of Innovations. New York: Free Press.
Surry, D. W. (1997). Diffusion Theory and Instructional Technology. Diffusion Theory and
Instructional Technolgy, 1-14.
LaMorte, W. W. (2019, September 9). Diffusion of Innovation Theory. Retrieved from
https://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/SB/BehavioralChangeTheories/Behavior
alChangeTheories4.html