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Determining the Audience Needs

Date:         February 14, 2017

To:            Communication Team

From:        Zafer Ozcan

 Subject:   Determining Audience Needs

     We have emphasized that knowing audience plays a key role in the effective communication, so far. And, all we need to know is that there is a variety of audience in the company. Thus, they all have different needs and requirements. Acknowledging this consideration, the communication team must discover the needs of the audience in different areas; thus, the new product announcement will be relevant to them.

     There are five main areas we need to reach to, which are including Manufacturing, Sales and Marketing, Finance/Accounting, Human Resources, Technical Support, R&D, and customers. The offices are located worldwide. Such as Manufacturing – Detroit, Shanghai, and Purchasing teams, Sales & Marketing – U.S. Sales, U.S. Marketing, European Sales, European Marketing, Partner Management, and Online Sales teams.

Ways to Analyze Audience Needs

Using the technology.

     It is the fact that the technology takes up an enormous place in people’s life, and we live in an era in which social media and websites have become major communication means in our life. There is a great deal of information and resources on the internet and websites about every single product so that taking the advantage of the internet is an excellent way to determine the audience.  One of the greatest benefits of the websites and social media is that one can get the feedbacks of users adequately by reviewing the frequently asked questions and comments about a product.  (Marcotte, 2000).

Office Visits

     As Marcotte (2000) stated, “The determination of audience needs is vital to developing useful documentation but is not always easy to accomplish.”  The company’s offices can be located worldwide. Nevertheless, one of the powerful means to determine audience needs is to ask them directly. Even though there are many offices scattered all over the world, it is worth to visit them and have a chance to meet the employees face-to-face. Moreover, we may have a great opportunity to refer to the communication in the future. (Marcotte, 2000).

Using Surveys

     It is sometimes impossible to interview and searching the data from the internet. In that case, it is the best idea to conduct a survey. “One of the many strengths of conducting a survey is easy it is to setup the survey for different methods namely paper, online, and mobile survey.” (Wyse, 2013). A writer can generate survey with the specific questions to define specific attributes of the audience, and distribute them to the intended audience.

Recommendations on a Determination of Audience Needs

     It is stated above that what kind of ways can be followed to determine audience needs. Even though there are a number of means to do that, the aim of the determination is the same, to understand the audience needs and interest. And there are main considerations must be taken into an account when analyzing audience.

     Background. This includes analyzing knowledge, experience, and training. Regardless which way is being used in the determination of audience needs, it is important to analyze adequately what is audiences background.  (McMurrey, n.d). Analysis of a background is a paramount importance in that a communicator can add an extra information into his communication. Otherwise, if the communicator skips this consideration, either he may lose the attention of the audiences since they have missing information about the message or he may add unnecessary information so that audience may be bored. The main goal of the communication must be to keep audience’s   attention at the highest level without missing the main massage to the audience.