Chapter 2

Adapting Your Message to Your

Audience

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 Learning Objectives

2-1 How to identify your audience.

2-2 How to analyze different kinds of audiences.
2-3 How to choose channels to reach audience.
2-4 How to adapt your message to your audience.
2-5 How to characterize good audience benefits.
2-6 How to create audience benefits.
2-7 How to communicate with multiple audiences.
Topics for Today

Adapting Your Messages to Your Audiences

• Audience Identification
• Audience Analysis
• Organizational Culture
• Discourse Communities
• Channels
• Audience Benefits
• Multiple Audiences

MGT 3907 Business Communication

AudiencesAudiences

Internal Audiences External

ü People inside organization ü People outside organization

Ex: subordinates, superiors, peers Ex: customers, suppliers, distributors

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Example of External Audiences
Unions
Subsidiaries Professional services
Customers
Suppliers
Clients
Stockholders
Investors Distributors
Lenders Wholesalers
Franchisees
Employment Retailers
agencies Organization Agents
General public Legislators
Potential Gov.
employees,
stockholders, Courts
customers
Special
Foreign
interest Competitors
Media governments
groups Trade assns. and offices

MGT 3907 Business Communication

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
• Auxiliary – encounters message but does not interact with it
(read-only)
• Watchdog – may exert economic, legal, political, or social
power later

A person can be
in two audience
s

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Exercise 1: Identifying Audiences

Kent, Carol, and Jose are planning to start a website design business.
However, before they can get started, they need money. They have
developed a business plan and are getting ready to seek funds from
financial institutions for starting their small business.

Primary audience : Financial institutions

Secondary audience : Employees who will manage the website ,
Employees of the financial institutions who will
process the paper work.
Auxiliary : Other people interested in opening a
small business website
Watchdog : Lawyers, State/city agencies

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Exercise 2: Identifying Audiences
Barbara’s boss asked her to write a direct mail letter to potential
customers about the advantages of becoming a preferred number of their
agency’s travel club. The letter will go to all customers of the agency who
are over 65 years old.

Gatekeeper : Barbara’s boss

Primary audience : Potential customers over 65 years old
Secondary audience : Workers of the travel agency
Auxiliary : People under 65 years old who may come in contact
with the letter
Watchdog : Travel review websites, Senior advocate groups

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Exercise 3: Identifying Audiences
Many customers have written complaint letters to Paws Food
Inc. about their pets becoming ill after eating the company’s
pet foods.

The CEO asked Rebecca, who is in charge of public relations, to

draft a press release for newspapers notifying customers about
the tainted food.

The release should also encourage pet owners to avoid feeding

their animals canned food until the issue is resolved.

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Exercise 3: Identifying Audiences

• Primary audience
• Customers who use Paw Foods Inc. products
• Gatekeeper
• CEO of Paw Foods Inc.
• Secondary audiences
• Officers of Paws Foods Inc., Lawyers
• Auxiliary
• Public who read the article in the newspaper
• Watchdog
• Animal advocates group, Government regulations agencies

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Which of the following is not a
gatekeeper?

A. An account executive who approves a marketing plan before it is submitted to

the client
B. A program director at the National Science Foundation who screens all grant
applications to ensure conformity to the application criteria before forwarding
them to the review board
C. The HR director of a large university who screens all internal applicants for
eligibility before sending applications to the interviewers for a specific position
D. A receptionist for a small business who opens the mail and then date-time
stamps each piece before passing it on to its owner

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Analyze Your Audiences

• Use common sense

• Use empathy—ability to put yourself in someone else’s
shoes, to feel with that person

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Analyze Your Audiences as…

• Individuals
• Group members
– Demographics
– Psychographics
• Organization members
– Culture
– Discourse community

MGT 3907 Business Communication

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

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Myers-Briggs Personality Types

• Introvert – gets energy

from within Which type are you?
• Extrovert – gets energy
from inter-acting with ISTJ ISFJ INFJ INTJ
others
ISTP ISFP INFP INTP
• Sensing – gets information
from 5 senses ESTP ESFP ENFP ENTP
• Intuitive – sees
relationships ESTJ ESFJ ENFJ ENTJ

MGT 3907 Business Communication

 Myers-Briggs Personality Types
(continued)

• Thinking – uses objective logic

to make decisions Which type are you?
• Feeling – makes decisions that
feel right ISTJ ISFJ INFJ INTJ

• Judging – likes closure, ISTP ISFP INFP INTP

certainty, live in planned, orderly
way ESTP ESFP ENFP ENTP
• Perceptive – likes possibilities, ESTJ ESFJ ENFJ ENTJ
live in a flexible, spontaneous
way

MGT 3907 Business Communication

 Example
• Favorite world: Do you prefer to focus on the outer world or on your own inner
world? This is called Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I).
• Information: Do you prefer to focus on the basic information you take in or do
you prefer to interpret and add meaning? This is called Sensing (S) or Intuition
(N).
• Decisions: When making decisions, do you prefer to first look at logic and
consistency or first look at the people and special circumstances? This is called
Thinking (T) or Feeling (F).
• Structure: In dealing with the outside world, do you prefer things structured
and organized, or flexible and spontaneous? This is called Judging (J) or
Perceiving (P).
Your Personality Type: When you decide on your preference in each
category, you have your own personality type, which can be expressed as a code with four
letters.
Myers-Briggs Personality Types

MGT 3907 Business Communication

 Exercise

Suzanne Anthony tends to act on the spur of the moment and is

comfortable adapting to changing situations. She also likes to consider
all of her options and not rush in making a decision. According to the
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, she qualifies as which type?

A. perceiving
B. judging
C. Thinking
D. intuitive

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Analyze Group Members

• Focus on common features

• Map profile of group features
• Demographic (quantity) features
• Age – Sex – Education – Income – Race
• Psychographic (quality) features
• Values – Beliefs – Goals – Lifestyles

MGT 3907 Business Communication

 Some Generational Differences in Office

Baby Boomers Generation X and Millenials

Birth Date Between 1946 and 1964 1964 and on

Work Ethic Long hours in office Productivity counts, not hours in office

Value Hard work; consistency; hierarchy; clearly Work-life balance; flexibility; autonomy;
defined roles; serious about work informality; variety of challenges; the
workplace can be fun

Preferred Face-to-face, e-mail Texting, social networks

Channels
Motivators Duty to company Why a task is important; what’s in it for them

Commu’ Through channels and hierarchy; accept Freely offer opinions, both laterally and
Style annual evaluation upward; want great amount of attention and
praise; want faster feedback

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Analyze Organizations

• Organizational culture – set of values, attitudes, and

philosophies
– Shows in myths, stories, heroes, and documents
– Shows in use of space, money, and power
– Company’s website, employee manual, etc

MGT 3907 Business Communication

To Analyze Organizational Culture…

• Is organization tall or flat?

• How do people get ahead? (reward
based on seniority or?)

?
• Is diversity or homogeneity valued?
• Is friendship and sociability
important?
• How formal are behavior, language,
and dress?
• What does the work space look like?
• What are the organization’s goals?

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Analyze Organizations (Continue)

• Discourse community – people

who share assumptions about:
– What media, formats, and styles
to use
– What topics to discuss and how
– What constitutes convincing
evidence

MGT 3907 Business Communication

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

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Choosing Channels to Reach Your
Audiences

Written Messages Oral Messages

ü Present extensive or ü Use emotion to help
complex data persuade audiences
ü Present many specific ü Focus the audiences'
details attention on specific
ü Minimize undesirable points
emotions ü Resolve conflicts and
ü Track details and build consensus
agreements ü Modify plans
ü Get immediate action or
response

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Channels

Pick the best channel for each situation:

• Instructor who wants to cancel class

A. Phone call
B. LMS website
C. Thailand Post
D. Mass media (Television, Newspaper)

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Channels

Pick the best channel for each situation:

• Small non-profit organization who needs to
reach contributors
A. Phone call directly to CEO
B. Formal Letter
C. Personal E-mail
D. Line Application

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Channels

Pick the best channel for each situation:

• Product recall notifications

A. Company Website
B. Mass media
C. Company FB page
D. All of above

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Channels

Pick the best channel for each situation:

• Notice to all employees about new smoking
policy outside corporate offices

A. Official Letter
B. Memorandum
C. Phone call
D. Social Media

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Six Questions to Analyze Audiences

1. How will audience initially react?

– 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?

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Six Questions to Analyze Audiences

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

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Six Questions to Analyze Audiences

5. What does audience expect?

– What writing style do they prefer?
– Are there red flag words?
– How much detail does audience want?
– Do they prefer direct or indirect structure?
6. How will audience use the document?
– Under what physical conditions?
– What purposes will document serve?
• Reference
• Guide
• Basis of lawsuit

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Audience Benefits

• Advantages audience gets from…

– Using your services
– Buying your products
– Following your policies
– Adopting your ideas

MGT 3907 Business Communication

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

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Four Criteria for Audience Benefits

1. Adapt benefits to audience

- Different audience, different benefits

Dealers Body lotion Customers;

User
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”

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Three Ways to Identify and 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

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Writing to Multiple Audiences

When a document will go to multiple audiences,

GATEKEEPER and
the writer should use the _____________
PRIMARY AUDIENCE to determine;
________________
• Level of detail
• Organization
• Level of formality
• Use of technical terms and theory

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Homework

• Take MBTI personality test

• Capture or print out the result page
and bring it to next discussion class
• Do not tell your classmates which type
of person you get

MGT 3907 Business Communication

Homework (cont.)

https://www.16personalities.com/fre
e-personality-test

MGT 3907 Business Communication

What questions do you have?