Late adopters can be reached by outreach. These are adopters of innovations that only come around to adoption after resisting the innovation. It is precisely these late adopters that Chaffee (1986) states may rely more on interpersonally transmitted information.

Beyond direct outreach, opinion leaders can facilitate interpersonal communication. To reach illiterate publics, practitioners must become practised at identifying opinion leaders of target groups and communicating to a larger group through them. If an opinion leader is seen to endorse something, a member of a target group who looks to that leader for guidance is more easily persuaded of the merit of a message. All of this communication can take place non-verbally.

Recommendations for further research

The author believes that the study of communicating to illiterate audiences as a communications issue generally needs to be examined much more thoroughly than it has been examined. As revealed by the statistics presented earlier in this dissertation, the problem of illiteracy is significant. We do not know the impact on illiterate people of communications campaigns that do not consider these statistics and undertake measures to ensure that illiterate people receive the same information as literate people.

Another recommendation is that research into tools to communicate to illiterate populations should be conducted. A number have been identified in this dissertation, but studying the topic independent of a framework such as this dissertation's topic might reveal new tools to help meet this challenge.

Additionally, more research should be conducted on the perception of public relations by non-public relations staff within organisations such as government departments. The presence of the public relations function at the planning stages of communications campaigns is critical in designing a successful campaign. If that presence is not practice, studying the reasons for this and what steps can be taken to ensure this occurs would make a helpful contribution to the field.

The final area that should be examined is the adoption of the two-way symmetrical model of communication. Theory should lead practice, but practice needs to be checked to see if theory is leaving it behind. The practice must inform the theory and studies should be done to see what the gap is, testing the theory. Both of these last two recommendations have direct bearing on the communications challenge of communicating to illiterate populations. As described earlier, the adoption of the two-way asymmetrical model and the correct understanding of it guides a process that should ultimately consider illiteracy in communications planning.