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Module 02

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42 views32 pages

Module 02

Uploaded by

Mohammed Ibdah
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Adapting Your

Message
to Your
Audience

Module Two

©2014 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.  All rights reserved


McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2014 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Audiences

 Understanding your audience is fundamental to the success


of any message.

 You need to adapt your message to fit the audience's goals,


interests, and needs.

 customers have enough options to deal only with


companies that treat them respectfully.
Understanding What Your
Organization Wants

 Succeeding in an organization depends first


on understanding what “counts” at your
organization.
 Ask your boss, “What parts of my job are
most important? What’s the biggest thing I
could do to improve my work?”

2-3
Who is my audience?

 More people than you might think!


 In an organizational setting, a message may
have five separate audiences.
• The primary audience
• The secondary audience
• The initial audience
• A gatekeeper
• A watchdog audience
The Audiences for a Marketing Plan

2-5
PAIBOC

P What are your purposes in writing?


A Who is (are) your audiences?
I What information must your message
include?

2-6
PAIBOC

B What reasons or reader benefits can you


use to support your position?
O What objections can you expect your
reader(s) to have?
C How will the context affect reader
response?

2-7
A Model of Two-Person
Communication with Feedback
Figure 2.3

2-8
The Communication Process

 To communicate, a person must first


perceive a stimulus and then interpret
what has been perceived.
 The person then chooses the information
he or she wishes to send and puts it into a
form for the audience. That action is called
encoding.
The Communication Process

 The message is transmitted through a channel,


such as a memo, a phone call, or an e-mail
message.

 The audience receives the message and decodes,
or makes sense, of it.
The Communication Process

 At any stage of the process, noise may interfere


with communication. Noise can be physical, such
as illegible handwriting, or psychological, such as
the audience disliking the speaker.
The Communication Process

 Perception: a person perceive a stimulus.


 Interpretation: interpret what has been
perceived.
 Choice/Selection: the person chooses the
information he or she wishes to send.
The Communication Process

 Encoding: puts ideas into a form for the


audience.
 The message is transmitted through a channel, such as
a memo, a phone call, or an e-mail message.
 Decoding: extract meaning from the form.
The Communication Process

 Channel overload occurs when the channel cannot


handle all the messages that are being sent.

 A small business may have only two phone lines; no
one else can get through if both lines are in use.
Information overload occurs when more essagesare
transmitted than the human receiver can handle.
The Communication Process

 Successful communication depends on the common


ground between you and your audience.

 Choose information that your audience needs and will


find interesting.
The Communication Process

 Encode your message in words and other symbols the


audience will understand.

 Transmit the message along a channel that your


audience will attend to.
What do I need to know about my
audience(s)?

 Everything that's relevant to what you're writing or


talking about.

 In general, you need to use common sense and


empathy.
What do I need to know about
my audience(s)?
 Empathy
 the ability to put
yourself in someone
else’s shoes, to feel
with that person
 requires not being
self-centered

2-18
Audience Analysis Factors

 There is no “one size fits all” approach to analyzing


audiences, but key factors are important

 Knowledge: anticipate what audiences will need to


know.

 Demographic Factors: include such measurable


features as age, gender, race, income, educational
level, and so on.
Audience Analysis Factors

 Values and Beliefs: psychographics(the study of customers in


relation to their opinions, interests, and emotions: ) characteristics
include habits, hobbies, and lifestyles.

 Personality: when your primary audience is just one


person, his or her personality is relevant.

 Past Behavior: Studying how audiences have behaved
in the past may suggest how they will react in the
future.
Now that I have my analysis, what do I do
with it?

 Use it to
 plan strategy,
 organization,
 style,
 document design, and
 visuals
Now that I have my analysis, what do I do
with it?

 Use it to
 plan strategy,
• Make the action as easy as possible.
• Protect the reader's ego.
• Decide how to balance logic and emotion,
• Choose appeals and reader benefits that work for the
specific audience
Now that I have my analysis, what do I do
with it?

 Use it to
 organization,
• get to the point right away. The major exceptions are:
– When we must persuade a reluctant reader.
– When we have bad news and want to let the reader down
gradually.
Now that I have my analysis, what do I do
with it?

 Use it to
 style,
• For most audiences, use easy-to-understand words, a mixture of sentence
lengths, and paragraphs with topic .
• Avoid words that sound defensive or arrogant.
Now that I have my analysis, what do I do
with it?

 Use it to
 style,
• Avoid hot buttons or "red-flag" words to which some readers will have an
immediate negative reaction: criminal, un-American, crazy,
fundamentalist, liberal.
• Use the language(s) that your audience knows best.
• Use conversational, not "academic," language.
Now that I have my analysis, what do I do
with it?

 Use it to
 document design,
• Use lists, headings, and a mix of paragraph lengths to
create white space.
• Choices about format, footnotes, and visuals may be
determined by the organizational culture or the
discourse community.
Now that I have my analysis, what do I do
with it?

 Use it to
 Photographs and Visuals
• Use bias-free photographs.
• Photos and visuals can make a document look more
informal or more formal.
• Think of the difference between cartoons and photos of
"high art."
What if my audiences have different
needs?

 When it is not possible to meet everyone's


needs, meet the needs of
 gatekeepers and primary audiences first.
How do I reach my audience(s)?

 Use you-attitude and positive emphasis.


 Use visuals to clarify or emphasize material.
 Specify what the audience should do.

2-29
How do I reach my audiences?

 Important messages may require multiple channels


 Channels vary according to
 Speed.
 Accuracy of transmission.
 Cost.
 Number of messages carried.
 Number of people reached.
 Efficiency.
Written Messages

 Written messages make it easier to:


 Present many specific details.
 Present extensive or complex data.
 Minimize undesirable emotions.
 Messages on paper are more formal than e-mail messages.
Oral Messages

 Oral messages make it easier to


 Answer questions, resolve conflicts, and build consensus

 Use emotion to persuade.

 Get immediate action or response.

 Focus the audience’s attention.


 Scheduled meetings and oral presentations are more formal
than phone calls or stopping someone in the hall.

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