lesson 3

• Communicators who understand their audience

  Are more successful in achieving their communication goals
• Understanding your audience


  • Can help you answer questions about:
  • How much they already know about my topic
  • What they think about my topic
  • What are their goals
• Identify your audience


  1. Make an informal list of the kinds of people who comprise it

  2. Be as specific as possible
• Analyze your audience


  1. You will need to know not only who your audience is, but also what they need from your communication task

  2. Regardless of your level of knowledge about your audience, audience analysis will help you gain such insight
• Research your audience


  1. Gather demographic and psychographic information

  2. Keep careful notes you can refer to as necessary
• Characteristics of audiences/clientele to consider

  • Education
  • Professional Experience
  • Job Responsibility
  • Personal Characteristics
  • Personal Preferences
  • Cultural Characteristics
• Classify your readers into three categories

  • Primary audience - people who use your document in carrying out their jobs
  • Secondary audience - people who need to stay aware of developments but won't directly act on or respond to your document
  • Tertiary audience - people who might take an interest in the subject
• Attitudes and expectations your readers have


  • Attitudes toward you
  • Attitudes toward your subject
  • Expectations about the document
• Why and how will your reader use your document?

  • Why is the reader reading your document?
  • How will the reader read your document?
  • What is the reader's reading skill level?
  • What is the physical environment in which the reader will read your document?
• Learn about your readers

  1. Tally what you already know and don't know

  2. Interview people

  3. Search for information on the Internet

  4. Read documents your readers have written
• Major cultural variables that lie on the surface

  • Political
  • Economic
  • Social
  • Religious
  • Educational
  • Technological
  • Linguistic
• Cultural variables that lie beneath the surface


  • Focus on individuals or groups
  • Distance between business life and private life
  • Distance between ranks
  • Nature of truth
  • Need to spell out details
  • Attitudes toward uncertainty
• Points about cultural variables beneath the surface

  • Each variable represents a spectrum of attitudes
  • The six variables do not line up in a clear pattern
  • Different organizations within the same culture can vary greatly
  • An organization's cultural attitudes are fluid, not static