Truth 7. “Me”-focused messages fail

“Who’s the target?” That’s a question every professional writer working in a business environment asks before writing anything, right along with, “What’s my goal?” The target is the intended audience, the one person or many people you’re addressing. Does it make a difference?

You bet. So: Define your audience and analyze it as completely as you can.

Let’s assume that you’re writing to an individual, or to a few people. What can determine how they will receive your message—and therefore influence how you shape it?

It depends on the particular situation, but you may need to take factors such as the following into account:

• Age/generation

• Gender

• Educational level

• Role in the organization

• Your relationship to the persons (Peers? Superiors? People who report to you?)

• Strong suits (Technical? Relationships? Detail oriented? Big-picture thinkers?)

• Weak suits (Technology challenged? Impatient? Short attention span?)

• Cultural/ethnic/religious background

• Language (Native English speakers or a global audience?)

• Their interests and what they care about

• Their hot buttons

• Your competition for their attention

• Their preexisting beliefs about whatever you’re trying to pitch

Only some of these factors are usually relevant to a particular writing situation. But you need to understand the target audience’s viewpoint as well as you can and take it into account. You can’t communicate successfully if the message doesn’t reach the receiver in his or her own language and terms.

Many communications fail because the message senders are so focused on what they want to get across or accomplish that they almost totally ignore the receivers.

There’s an old lawyer’s axiom that says: Never ask a question you don’t know the answer to. For writers, the rule is: Always know how you want the reader to react. To do that, know who they are.

Primary and secondary audiences—Professional writers think in terms of primary audiences and secondary audiences, and it’s a useful concept. Primary are those you’re directly addressing. Secondary audiences can include others who may also end up seeing your message. You report in writing to your boss, and he or she reports to his or hers—perhaps incorporating what you sent him—and so on up the line. Your innocent e-mail can wind up in the organizational stratosphere. So can e-mails you send to a colleague or buddy.

But, we hear you saying, how can I run through a list of audience characteristics like this one every time I write an e-mail or letter? To do that, we have some terrific shortcuts for you.

Quick audience visualizing trick—To get on the same wavelength as your target audience, visualize that individual in your mind.

Take the time to really see him or her: facial expressions, gestures, clothing, stance, mannerisms; hear the person’s voice talking to you, maybe even laughing. Automatically, your writing will adopt the right tone because you’re triggering the same instincts that guide you in face-to-face conversation. Your writing becomes almost an interaction, tailored to that target.

If you’re writing to a prospective customer you’ve met, for example, visualize that customer in as much detail as you can and ask yourself, what would this person want to know? What would his/her questions or objections be? What would show this customer that I understand the company’s problems and can offer solutions?

Once you’ve brought the person alive in your mind, visualize a conversation with him or her on the subject you’re writing about. Doing so will often provide you with important clues to how that person would respond in a face-to-face situation, and you can take account of this in shaping your message.

What if you’re writing to a group? Think individual anyway. Pick a “typical” member of the audience to visualize. If you don’t know one, think of someone you know well who could be a recipient. Warren Buffett, the financier famous for his clear communications, was asked how he wrote so well about complicated subjects. I always think of my two sisters, he reportedly said, who are very intelligent but not sophisticated about finance, and write to them.

See the world through other people’s eyes—Here’s another way to cut to the chase. Put yourself in your target audience’s shoes and answer this one question: What’s in it for me? Thinking about this before you write (or speak) will always make you a better communicator. This is the WIIFM principle referred to throughout this book.

Ask why they should care. What do they have to gain or lose? How will they be affected? Employee communication provides a good example of why a whole program can succeed or fail based on whether the WIIFM question is posed. A company cannot gain support for a change in health benefits by explaining how much money management will save. Every employee will want to know exactly how he or she is affected. If the effect is adverse, it may be important to explain what trade-offs were involved, again in personal terms (for example, a higher deductible is necessary to counter rising insurance costs while maintaining good health benefits).

How messages are delivered—If you’ve attended a workshop on interpersonal communication, you may have heard the presenter cite a study about message delivery. The trainer asks: In sending a message, what do you think is the relative importance of body language, tone of voice, and words?

Unless audience members have been in similar workshops before, most are astounded to learn that 55% is body language; 38% is tone of voice; and only 7% is words.

The study was done by psychologist Albert Mehrabian back in 1971. It tells us something important about writing: When we communicate through the written word, we’re missing tone of voice and body language altogether. This absence can make it hard to know what the writer actually means. Using sarcasm in an e-mail, for example, or a joke, is risky because with only the written words to bear the message, your meaning is open to interpretation.