McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved

2-2 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Chapter 2 Adapting Your Message to Your Audience   Identifying Audience   Audience Analysis   Organizational Culture   Discourse Communities   Group members   Channels   Adapting Message   Audience Benefits   Multiple Audiences

2-3 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved A person can be in two audiences Identify Your Audiences  Gatekeeper – may stop message or send it on  Primary - decides or acts on basis of message  Secondary –comments on message or implements ideas

2-4 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Identify Your Audiences, continued…  Auxiliary – encounters message but does not interact with it (read-only)  Watchdog – may exert economic, legal, political, or social power later

2-5 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Analyze Your Audiences  Individuals  Group members  Demographics  Psychographics  Organization members  Culture  Discourse community

2-6 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Analyze Individuals  People you work closely with  Myers-Briggs Type Indicator – preference test that shows 4 types  Introvert-Extrovert  Sensing-Intuitive  Thinking-Feeling  Perceiving-Judging Take Myers-Briggs at your campus career center!

2-7 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Myers-Briggs Personality Types  Introvert – gets energy from within  Extrovert – gets energy from inter- acting with others  Sensing – gets information from 5 senses  Intuitive – sees relationships Which type are you? ISTJISFJINFJINTJ ISTPISFPINFPINTP ESTPESFPENFPENTP ESTJESFJENFJENTJ

2-8 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Myers-Briggs Personality Types, continued…  Thinking – uses objective logic to make decisions  Feeling – makes decisions that feel right  Judging – likes closure, certainty  Perceptive – likes possibilities ISTJISFJINFJINTJ ISTPISFPINFPINTP ESTPESFPENFPENTP ESTJESFJENFJENTJ Which type are you?

2-9 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Analyze Group Members  Focus on common features  Map profile of group features  Demographic (quantity) features  Age – Education – Income – Race – Sex  Psychographic (quality) features  Values – Beliefs – Goals – Lifestyles  VALS (Values & Lifestyle) profile used

2-10 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Analyze Organization Members  Organizational culture – set of values, attitudes, and philosophies  Shows in myths, stories, heroes, & documents  Shows in use of space, money, and power

2-11 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved To Analyze Organization Culture, Ask  Is organization tall or flat?  How do people get ahead?  Is diversity or homogeneity valued?  Is sociability important?  How formal are behavior, language, and dress?  What does the work space look like?  What are the organization’s goals?

2-12 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Analyze Organization Members, continued…  Discourse community - people who share assumptions about:  What media, formats, and styles to use  What topics to discuss and how  What constitutes convincing evidence

2-13 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved 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?

2-14 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Channels  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  Choose channels based on the audience, purpose, and situation

2-15 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Channels Pick the best channel for each situation:  Instructor who wants to cancel class  Small non-profit organization who needs to reach contributors  Product recall notifications  Notice to all employees about new smoking policy outside corporate offices

2-16 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Six Questions to Analyze Audiences 1. How will audience react at first?  Will they see message as important?  What is their experience with you? 2. How much information do they need?  What do they already know?  Does their knowledge need to be updated?  What do they need to know to appreciate your points?

2-17 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Six Questions to Analyze Audiences, continued… 3. What obstacles must you overcome?  Is audience opposed to your message?  Will it be easy to do as you ask? 4. What positives can you emphasize?  What are benefits for audience?  What do you have in common with them?  Experiences – Interests – Goals – Values

2-18 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Six Questions to Analyze Audiences, continued… 5. What does audience expect?  What writing style do they prefer?  Are there red flag words?  How much detail does audience want?  Do they want direct or indirect structure?  Do they have expectations about length, visuals, or footnotes?

2-19 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Six Questions to Analyze Audiences, continued… 6. How will audience use document?  Under what physical conditions will they use it?  What purpose will document serve?  Reference  Guide  Basis of lawsuit

2-20 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Audience Benefits  Advantages audience gets from  Using your services  Buying your products  Following your policies  Adopting your ideas

2-21 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Audience Benefits, continued…  In informative messages  Benefits = reasons to comply with announced policies  In persuasive messages  Benefits = reasons to act  In negative messages  Benefits not used

2-22 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Four Criteria for Audience Benefits 1.Adapt benefits to audience 2.Stress intrinsic and extrinsic ones  Intrinsic– built in  Extrinsic – added on 3.Use clear logic to prove and vivid detail to explain 4.Phrase benefits in you-attitude

2-23 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Three Ways to Identify & Develop 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

2-24 McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Writing to Multiple Audiences  When not possible to meet everyone’s needs, analyze gatekeepers and primary audience to determine  Content and choice of details  Organization  Level of formality  Use of technical terms and theory