What is strategic messaging? Employing data and empathy to make an impact.

As a nutrition communicator, I gravitate towards continuing education opportunities that enhance my communication skills. The Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo this year did not disappoint.

The first session I attended during FNCE 2025, early Sunday morning, October 12, was titled “Strategic Nutrition Messaging: How Data and Analytics Can Amplify Your Impact,” presented by Stephanie Ferrari, MS, RDN, and Stefani Sassos, MS, RDN, CDN, NASM-CPT.

This session contained valuable content I intend to put into practice. Their message made an impact on the audience because the speakers demonstrated how to put it into practice. I plan to highlight two useful acronyms they shared in this post and the next.

In this week’s post, I will share the R.A.I.S.E. Framework and in next week’s post, I will share how to leverage EEAT to build your credibility.

What is the R.A.I.S.E. Framework?

If you Google that question, you will get no less than a dozen different options, including frameworks for responsible use of AI, for promoting equity and inclusion, and much more.

In the context of strategic messaging, R.A.I.S.E. stands for these 5 key components: Research, Analytics, Insights, Social Listening, and Engage. The presenters suggested that the purpose of this framework is “turning data into impact” because “evidence is greater than opinions.”

Research

Research stands for knowing your audience and determining how you can best serve them. It begins with asking questions such as “What does my audience care about?”

The presenters emphasized the importance of gathering solid evidence from credible sources rather than guessing or making assumptions.

Analytics

Analytics tell you whether your message strategies are working or not. They measure how many views messages receive and the level of interaction.

Tracking analytics on a regular basis helps determine future content based on hard data. The presenters stressed, “Without analytics it’s just guessing.”

Insights

Insights add the human element to analytics. They take a deeper dive into the questions an audience is asking, and they seek to know why an audience acts on a message or not.

Insights lead to providing the audience with targeted messages through carefully selected channels. The presenters state, “Insights turn guesswork into impact.”

Social Listening

Social listening involves tracking real conversations on social media to hear what the audience is saying.

Ethical listening captures quotes anonymously and searches for trends. It informs future messaging that addresses the audience’s barriers, emotions, values, and more.

Engage

To engage is to show up authentically on social media and participate in a conversation with the audience. It includes asking questions, responding, live Q&As, polls, and more.

The presenters suggest that “engagement is evidence” and “the best communicators maintain an ongoing dialogue with their audience.”

Which of these components of R.A.I.S.E. do you need to practice more consistently?

Check out these previous posts about effective messaging:

• How to know if your message will succeed before you send it.        

• Are your messages negative or positive? Reframe hard truths to empower audiences.           

• Wordiness weighs down your message. Cut ruthlessly and be concise.         

• Make your messages remarkable: Achieve the 3 M's of Impact.          

• Want strong messages that make a difference? Build them on solid evidence.          

• What makes a message compelling?          

• What makes a message memorable?          

Stephanie and Stefani closed with a compelling call to action:

“Your voice matters. Use it!” ~ Stephanie Ferrari, MS, RDN, and Stefani Sassos, MS, RDN, CDN, NASM-CPT

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