Lecture Business and administrative communication: Chapter 2 - Kitty O. Locker, Donna S. Kienzler

Chapter 2 - Adapting your message to your audience. In this chapter, we will address the following questions: How to identify your audience, ways to analyze different kinds of audiences, how to choose channels to reach audiences, how to adapt your message to the audience, how to characterize good audience benefits, how to create audience benefits, how to communicate with multiple audiences.

Chapter 2

Adapting Your Message

to Your Audience

 LO 2-1 How to identify your audience

 LO 2-2 Ways to analyze different kinds of audiences

 LO 2-3 How to choose channels to reach audiences

 LO 2-4 How to adapt your message to the audience

 LO 2-5 How to characterize good audience benefits

 LO 2-6 How to create audience benefits

 LO 2-7 How to communicate with multiple audiences

A person can be

in two audiences

Identify Your Audiences

 Gatekeeper

 Primary

 Secondary

 Auxiliary

 Watchdog

 Individuals

 Group members

 Demographics

 Psychographics

 Organizations

 Culture

 Discourse community

 People you work closely with

 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator – preference

test that shows 4 types

 Extrovert-Introvert

 Sensing-Intuitive

 Thinking-Feeling

 Judging-Perceiving

Which type are you?

ISTJ ISFJ INFJ INTJ ISTP ISFP INFP INTP ESTP ESFP ENFP ENTP ESTJ ESFJ ENFJ ENTJ

 Focus on common features

 Map profile of group features

 Demographic (quantity) features

 Age – Sex – Education – Income – Race

 Psychographic (quality) features

 Values – Beliefs – Goals – Lifestyles

 VALS (Values & Lifestyle) profile used

 Organizational culture – set of values,

attitudes, and philosophies

 Shows in myths, stories, heroes, &

documents

 Shows in use of space, money, and power

Ask

dress?

To Analyze Discourse Community,  Ask

 What channels, formats and styles are

preferred for communication?

 What do people talk about?

 What topics are not discussed?

 What kind of evidence and how much is

needed to be convincing?

 Communication channels – means by

which you convey your message

 Channels vary by

 Speed, accuracy, and cost

 Number of messages carried

 Number of people reached

 Efficiency and goodwill

Message for Your Audience

1. How will audience react at first?

2. How much information do they need?

3. What obstacles must you overcome?

4. What positives can you emphasize?

5. What does the audience expect?

6. How will audience use the document?

 Advantages audience gets from

 Using your services

 Buying your products

 Following your policies

 Adopting your ideas

Four Criteria for Audience Benefits  

1. Adapt benefits to audience

2. Stress intrinsic and extrinsic ones

3. Prove with clear logic and explain with

vivid detail

4. Phrase benefits in you-attitude

Identifying & Developing Audience  Benefits

1. Identify feelings, fears, and needs of

audience

2. Identify objective features of your product

or policy that could meet needs

3. Show how audience’s needs can be met with those features

 When not possible to meet everyone’s

needs, analyze gatekeeper and primary audience to determine

 Content and choice of details

 Organization

 Level of formality

 Technical level