Planning Messages: Audience Profile For each communication task below, write brief answers to three questions:
Who is my audience?
What is my audience’s general attitude toward my subject?
How much does my audience already know about the subject?
What does my audience need to know?
a) A final-notice collection letter from an appliance manufacturer to an appliance dealer, sent 10 days before initiating legal collection procedures b) An unsolicited sales letter asking readers to purchase computer external hard drives at near-wholesale prices c) An advertisement for peanut butter d) Fliers to be attached to doorknobs in the residence halls announcing discounts by local restaurants e) A cover letter sent along with your resume to a potential employer f) A request (to the seller) for a price adjustment on a textbook, originally marked new, from Amazon
Assignment More companies are reaching out to audiences through their Websites. Choose one company’s website and follow the link to its 2012 annual report. Next, locate and read the chairman’s letter. Answer the following questions:
Who is the audience for this message?
What is the general purpose of the message?
What do you think this audience wants to know from the chairman of the company?
How does the chairman emphasize the positive in this letter?
Tone
Language -- conciseness, concrete words, active voice vs. passive, non-discriminatory, level of difficulty
Summarize your answers in a brief presentation (4-5 slides). Include a hyperlink to the chairman’s letter in the annual report.
For each communication task below, write brief answers to three questions:
a) A final-notice collection letter from an appliance manufacturer to an appliance dealer, sent 10 days before initiating legal collection procedures
b) An unsolicited sales letter asking readers to purchase computer external hard drives at near-wholesale prices
c) An advertisement for peanut butter
d) Fliers to be attached to doorknobs in the residence halls announcing discounts by local restaurants
e) A cover letter sent along with your resume to a potential employer
f) A request (to the seller) for a price adjustment on a textbook, originally marked new, from Amazon
One Definition of Audience Profile
Developing an Audience Profile
About Connection, Credibility, Confidence
Images for Audience Analysis
Assignment
More companies are reaching out to audiences through their Websites. Choose one company’s website and follow the link to its 2012 annual report. Next, locate and read the chairman’s letter. Answer the following questions:
- Who is the audience for this message?
- What is the general purpose of the message?
- What do you think this audience wants to know from the chairman of the company?
- How does the chairman emphasize the positive in this letter?
- Tone
- Language -- conciseness, concrete words, active voice vs. passive, non-discriminatory, level of difficulty
Summarize your answers in a brief presentation (4-5 slides). Include a hyperlink to the chairman’s letter in the annual report.Do not use this but it is an example of an annual report.
http://www.pepsico.com/annual11/downloads/pep_ar11_2011_annual_report.pdf