Know your Audience
There is a strong, evidence-based principle of knowledge transfer and diffusion of innovations that it is essential to know your audience and their context well and to tailor your efforts to that audience`s needs.

Each audience has different information needs and ways that it is comfortable receiving communication.

You need to know your audience in order to determine if the attributes that determine an innovation’s adoptability -- relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, observability -- are relevant to them. This is equally true when it comes to the design of targeted diffusion strategies across different adopter categories -- innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.

Thirdly, the rate at which adoption decisions will be made, will also be determined by the context – including such issues as the potential for change, support and advocacy, informal inter-organizational networks, formal networks, and the larger environment including the economy and policy directions.