Developing an Audience Profile

Develop an audience profile by

• Identifying the primary audience
• Determining audience size and geographic distribution
• Determining audience composition
• Gauging your audience members’ level of understanding
• Understanding audience expectations and preferences
• Forecasting probable audience reaction

Before audience members will take the time to read or listen to your messages, they have to be interested in what you’re saying. They need to know the message is relevant to their needs—even if they don’t necessarily want to read or see it. The more you know about your audience members, their needs, and their expectations, the more effectively you’ll be able to communicate with them. Follow these steps to conduct a thorough audience analysis

•  Identify your primary audience. For some messages, certain audience members may be more important than others. Don’t ignore the needs of less influential members, but make sure you address the concerns of the key decision-makers.
•  Determine audience size and geographic distribution. A message aimed at 10,000 people spread around the globe will probably require a different approach than one aimed at a dozen people down the hall.
•  Determine audience composition. Look for similarities and differences in culture, language, age, education, organizational rank and status, attitudes, experience, motivations, biases, beliefs, and any other factors that might affect the success of your message
• Gauge audience members’ level of understanding. If audience members share your general background, they’ll probably understand your material without difficulty. If not, your message will need an element of education to help people understand it.
•  Understand audience expectations and preferences. For example, will members of your audience expect complete details or just a summary of the main points? In general, for internal communication, the higher up the organization your message goes, the fewer details people want to see.
• Forecast probable audience reaction. As you’ll read later in the chapter, potential audience reaction affects message organization. If you expect a favourable response, you can state conclusions and recommendations upfront and offer minimal supporting evidence. If you expect scepticism, you can introduce conclusions gradually and provide more proof.