Animal Welfare Communications Message Brief Template
Use this animal welfare communications template to clarify your purpose, audience, main message, desired action, and measures of success before you start writing.
It can help you plan a campaign, fundraising appeal, social media post, webpage, media statement, public education resource, or other communication.
How to use this template
Complete the questions before you begin writing.
You do not need to answer every question in detail, but try to identify:
- One primary audience
- One main message
- One desired action
If you are communicating with several audiences, consider creating a separate brief for each one.
A useful communication brief should help you answer:
- Why are we communicating?
- Who are we trying to reach?
- What do we want them to remember?
- What do we want them to do?
- How will this contribute to animal welfare?
Once you have drafted your communication, use the Animal Welfare Communications Checklist to review it.
Message brief
Use the prompts below to develop the foundation for your communication.
1. What are we communicating?
Describe the topic, issue, announcement, campaign, or activity in one or two sentences.
Your response:
2. Why does it matter now?
What makes this communication timely or important?
What has happened, changed, or created an opportunity?
Your response:
3. What organizational goal does it support?
Identify the relevant organizational priority, program, campaign, service, policy objective, fundraising goal, or animal welfare outcome.
Your response:
4. Who is the primary audience?
Be as specific as possible. Consider the people you most need to reach—not simply everyone who might be interested.
You might define the audience by their role, relationship to the issue, level of knowledge, location, needs, or ability to take action.
Your response:
5. What does this audience already know or believe?
What might the audience already understand about the issue?
What questions, concerns, assumptions, motivations, or barriers might they have?
Your response:
6. What is the one main message?
Write the most important thing this audience should understand or remember.
Try to express it in one clear sentence. Avoid combining several unrelated messages.
Your response:
7. What do we want the audience to understand, feel, or do?
Identify the primary outcome you want from this communication.
You may want people to learn something, reconsider an assumption, feel motivated or reassured, start a conversation, donate, sign up, change a behavior, contact a decision-maker, or take another specific action.
Your response:
8. What evidence or examples support the message?
List the facts, statistics, research, expert perspectives, lived experience, case studies, stories, images, or other examples that may support your message.
Note any sources that need to be checked before publication.
Your response:
9. What must we avoid?
Identify any potential problems or sensitivities before drafting.
Consider whether you need to avoid:
- Jargon or unexplained technical language
- Unverified claims or outdated information
- Overly graphic or distressing material
- Shame, blame, guilt, or unnecessary fear
- Stereotypes or assumptions about people or communities
- Overgeneralizations about animal welfare issues
- Language that presents complex issues as simple
- Stories, images, or personal information that have not been appropriately approved
Your response:
10. What is the call to action?
State the specific next step you want the audience to take.
Make the action realistic, clear, and appropriate for this audience.
If possible, explain how taking this action contributes to animal welfare.
Your response:
11. Where and when will this be communicated?
Identify the communication channel, format, publication date, campaign period, and any relevant deadline.
Consider whether the message needs to be adapted for different platforms or audiences.
Your response:
12. How will we know whether it worked?
Choose one or two indicators of success.
Depending on the purpose of the communication, these might include:
- Relevant people seeing or engaging with it
- Increased understanding or awareness
- Sign-ups, donations, downloads, or registrations
- Attendance at an event
- Policy or organizational change
- A specific behavior or action
- Positive or constructive audience feedback
- Coverage by relevant media
- Progress toward a broader animal welfare goal
Your response:
One-sentence message formula
If you need more help developing your wording, see these animal welfare messaging formulas and examples before completing the sentence below.
Use this formula to bring your brief together:
For example:
People who are considering adopting an animal need to understand the long-term responsibilities involved because preparation can support better outcomes for both animals and adopters, and should learn about the care, time, and resources required before adopting.
Your sentence does not need to appear word-for-word in the final communication. It is a tool to help clarify your thinking.
Final test
Before you begin drafting, complete this sentence:
After seeing this communication, we want this audience to:
Your response:
Then ask:
- Is the audience clear?
- Is there one main message?
- Is the desired action realistic?
- Does the communication support a meaningful animal welfare outcome?
- Is the tone respectful, accurate, and appropriate?
- Do we know how we will assess whether it worked?
If the answers are unclear, revise the brief before drafting.
Frequently asked questions
What is an animal welfare communications template?
An animal welfare communications template is a planning tool that helps organizations clarify their purpose, audience, main message, desired action, supporting evidence, and measures of success before drafting a communication.
Who can use this communications template?
This template can be used by animal charities, shelters, advocacy organizations, campaigners, fundraisers, communications teams, researchers, and anyone creating public-facing animal welfare communications.
When should I use the template?
Use it before drafting a campaign, fundraising appeal, social media post, webpage, media statement, public education resource, or organizational announcement.
Ready to draft?
Use your completed brief to guide the first draft.
Keep the final communication focused on the audience, main message, and desired action.
After drafting, review the communication using the Animal Welfare Communications Checklist .