McGraw-Hill - Briefcase Books - The ...

McGraw-Hill - Briefcase Books - The Manager's Guide to Business Writing, SAMOKSZTAŁCENIE, Mcgraw-Hill [Briefcase ...

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Write for Your
Readers
C
onsider...
A set of spotlights containing instructions only in
French perplexed and frustrated the English-speaking
buyer.
An environmental services brochure that was sent to
purchasing managers used such technical language
(an “aquifer characterization” and “in situ volatilization
to treat the vadose zone”) that many confused pur-
chasers chose another source.
A direct mail piece with a pro-life message sent to a
pro-choice audience actually caused those people to
feel more vehemently opposed to the pro-life position.
A Web page designed for college students tried to
arouse a sense of activism in the students; unfortunate-
ly, the Web page referred to famous activists like Ralph
Nader whom the students didn’t recognize.
The dean of a college sent an e-mail to the chairmen of
five departments. Three of the five were women.
1
2
The Manager’s Guide to Business Writing
Chevy committed a faux pas years ago when it market-
ed a car called the Nova in Mexico. No va in Spanish
means “It doesn’t go.”
These real-life examples show what can happen when you
don’t know your audience. Your communication can confuse,
anger, or simply fail to connect with the people you want to
reach. This chapter focuses on knowing your readers and how
you can connect better with them.
Know Your Readers
The first tip to effective writing is to know your audience. The
more you know, the
more you can tailor or
customize your message
for an individual or
group.
First, think of the per-
son or persons you write
to most frequently. Visu-
alize your supervisor or
your key customer as
you write. Try to obtain information such as age, education
level, income, and gender.
If you can discover interests, opinions, and values, you can
persuade your readers more effectively. You need to know the
reader’s knowledge of your topic—Is she an expert? Does he
know nothing about it? Let’s go back to the opening examples.
If the person who wrote the instructions for the spotlights
had known the
nationality
of the reader, he could have avoid-
ed using the wrong language.
Whoever created the environmental services brochure did
not take into account the educational level of the readers or
the
readers’ knowledge of the topic
, confusing potential pur-
chasers.
The pro-life group ignored the
values
of the people who
would read its message.
It Helps to Know...
When you’re writing to
someone, consider:
• Age, education, income, gender,
race or nationality, religion
• Interests, opinions, attitudes,
beliefs, values
• Reader's knowledge of the topic
Write for Your Readers
3
The person who designed the Web page to arouse activism
in college students ignored an important demographic,
age
:
the students were too young to remember or care about Ralph
Nader.
The dean should have considered
gender
and addressed
his e-mail to “chairs” or “chairpersons.”
Chevy’s marketers ignored the
nationality
of Spanish
speakers, who would interpret the car’s name as a major neg-
ative factor.
You can see that if the writers of these pieces had known
their audiences, they could have avoided serious blunders.
What If You Don’t Know Your Readers?
The scenario: You have
fifteen minutes to write a
memo and you don’t
know much about the
manager you’re address-
ing. Here are some quick
tips.
In most cases you just need to spend a few minutes deter-
mining which of the following categories most closely fits your
reader. Then you can easily adjust your writing.
It’s helpful to evaluate whether your reader is a
layperson
,
an
expert
,an
executive
,a
user
,ora
complex
type. Here are
some guidelines to help you categorize your readers, with
some “Dos and Don’ts” and a few examples.
Layperson
A layperson has little
expertise in a subject
matter and usually no
particular motivation to
read what you write. So
to be effective, you must
motivate or attract your reader; starting with a benefit helps. A
Audience types
Basic cat-
egories of readers, accord-
ing to their knowledge of
the subject and their interest: layper-
son, expert, executive, user, complex,
and mixed.
Layperson
Someone with
little expertise in a subject
and usually no particular
motivation.
4
The Manager’s Guide to Business Writing
layperson is not knowledgeable, so you must adjust your tone,
style, and vocabulary.
Do:
Find a way to attract attention.
Don’t:
Bore your reader with detail.
For example...
If you’re writing to employees (laypersons)
about various health care plans, find an interesting fact or a
reason (benefit) for them to read your first paragraph, like
how they can receive 100% coverage for dependents. If you’re
writing for people who use computers but do not know any
software program well, you might attract attention by using an
easy-to-understand analogy. You might also present one of the
benefits of using a particular software program, like the gram-
mar- and style-checking feature of a word processing pro-
gram.
Expert
An expert cares about process and detail. An expert who is a
chemist, for example,
would want to know how
to reproduce your results
by using all the proce-
dures you followed. Give
experts the specifics. The
same detail would scare or bore the layperson.
Do:
Focus on procedure or process.
Don’t:
Only give bottom-line data.
For example...
If you write to an expert in health care benefits,
spell out the details of the policy. The expert will understand
and appreciate the specifics. If you’re writing about computer
software for programmers, you’ll want to go into particulars
about how you developed a particular program.
Executive
Someone inter-
ested in bottom-line infor-
mation, not details, deliv-
ered in a straightforward way.
Executive
An executive audience
wants bottom-line infor-
mation. Detailed descrip-
tions that work for
Expert
Someone with
considerable knowledge
about the subject and great
interest in details.
Write for Your Readers
5
experts would not work with this audience. Use straightfor-
ward language and tone. Give a benefit and the critical infor-
mation first.
Do:
Get to the point immediately.
Don’t:
Explain in detail.
For example...
Give the executive audience a summary of the
medical benefits package in one paragraph or less. Then pro-
ceed with other important points. The manager in charge of
selling the software product isn’t interested in how it works,
but in how she will sell it.
User
The user must carry out your instructions. For example, users
of a software package must read your documentation in order
to do their job. These people don’t care how you wrote the soft-
ware; they want to know
how to make it work.
Do:
Realize that this per-
son might not know as
much as you do.
Don’t:
Be too brief.
For example...
The
user
in
our health care plan example would need to follow the compli-
cated medical policy. Help the user by explaining clearly how
to use each policy. The person who must use the software and
understand how he can make it work needs the basics and in
sufficient detail.
Writers make a common mistake with user audiences: they
overestimate the readers. This error seems to be particularly
true in technical matters. In one instance, an employee was
trying to use a new software program, but the manual didn’t
help. It began with the command to type in a password after
the prompt. Unfortunately, the employee didn’t know how to
turn the computer on or to find a prompt, so he was unable to
use the software. The writer simply had neglected to start at
the beginning, to provide the basics.
User
Someone who wants
or needs to know how to
make something work. Any
other information might be superflu-
ous.
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