Audience, Purpose,

& ContextWho?Why?What?

Analyzing the Audience

Who will be reading, listening to, or using this material?

What particular characteristics do they have?

What are their backgrounds and attitudes towards the subject?

Typical Business Audiences

Subordinates

Co-workers / peers

Supervisors

Investors

The Public

“General” Audience

“The Public” isn’t a general audience.

The “general” audience does not exist.

When writing for the public, you are actually writing to interested members of the public. Or those you hope will become interested.

Mixed Audiences

Many business documents have a mixed audience

Memos to subordinates may be read by superiors in a performance review

A document written for investors may be posted on the corporate web site

An internal email may be subpoenaed

Analyzing the Purpose

Why is this communication important?

Why is it needed?

What will users do with this information?

Typical Business Purposes

Informational

Persuasive

Analytical

Mixed Purpose

Purpose, like audience, is often mixed:

An advertisement is often at least partly informational

An analytical report must persuade the reader that the analysis is valid

Analyzing the Context

What are the organizational settings in which the document will be used?

Are there legal issues to consider?

How much time do the users have to perform a task?

Are the readers of this document members of a larger professional community?

Are the readers from one culture only or cross-cultural?

Using Audience Analysis

The results of your audience analysis will affect

Word choice

Examples

Document format

Document length

Document genre

Included or excluded information

Relevance

Relevant information is useful to the audience.

What do they already know?

What do they need to know?

Why are they reading this document?