Audience Analysis: Characteristics and Major Aspects

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Audience
Characteristics of Audience
Communication Channels
Diversity and message effectiveness
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

It is every business goal to achieve sustainable success, however, this cannot be fulfilled without effective communication, marketing and organizational culture, among others. When business employees, such as marketing personnel present results or proposals in stakeholders meetings, it is quite essential to analyze the audience. This is because, in most cases and especially in multinational firms, there are large audiences with different objectives, attitudes, styles and cultures. Therefore, to pass the message effectively, he/she is required to have a good understanding of his/her audience. Accurate analysis of the audience gives rise to effective communication since the message is conveyed in its context. This has proved successful, for instance, in 2004 when a formal brand of Ann Taylor merchandise sagged, they resorted to focusing on audience, and was quickly rewarded with huge sales records of over 500% by 2006 (Locker & Kienzler, 2008, pp. 40-64). This paper will explore audience characteristics, diversity, as well as channels of communication, to ensure that the message is well conveyed.

Audience

Every message in any kind of communication must have its target, when this target is well defined, then he/she is considered consumer or end-user of communication and hence the audience. Several factors must be considered in defining an audience, these may include, skills, culture, interests, age, knowledge on the subject, language, channel or form of communication as well as the content of the message. Therefore, when presenting quarterly sales in a meeting, which comprises of stakeholders that includes salespeople as well as customers, it is worth noting that these people are from different fields or backgrounds, their understanding of marketing terms differs, yet they need to be fulfilled after the presentation. This presentation should therefore be designed to be all-inclusive and to fulfill its goal of effective communication (Popular Culture, 2010, p. 1).

Characteristics of Audience

Audiences have different characteristics, and these need to be understood in designing the message. They hold different values and belong to diverse groups as well; For example, an organizational audience comprising of stakeholders consists of multiple audiences, whose motivation must be ascertained. The first move in analyzing these audiences is by identifying them. Gatekeeper is considered the first of all, he analyses the message to be passed and gives his/her consent if its presentation should proceed, in our case would be the manager or supervisor. Other audiences comprise of Primary audience, who must be reached, and have the choice to accept or reject the message, secondary audience, who would be asked to comment on the message, Auxiliary audience, who may just come across your message and does not need to interact. In addition, we have a watchdog audience, who keeps attention to your conversations with the primary audience, for review (Locker & Kienzler, 2008, pp. 40-64).

In our example of quarterly sales results presentation, all the stakeholders form the primary audience, and among them would be my manager who is again my gatekeeper, authorizing the content to be presented. The media who could be present to take notes acts as both primary and secondary audiences. Moreover, the audience possesses diverse characteristics, they may be either extraversion, who prefer to focus and get energy or introversion, who have internal energy, sensing or intuitive, in which the former prefers his/her sense in gathering information, while the latter looks at the larger picture in gathering information. Others include those who either think or feel, with the former opting to give logical analysis to information while the latter basing decisions on its impact on people. The last group, according to Myers-Briggs, is the judging or perceiving, and here, the former opts for planned things while the latter focuses on flexibility. When these characteristics are known, an effective message can then be designed (Locker & Kienzler, 2008, pp. 40-64).

Communication Channels

These are ways by which a message is conveyed and depend on several factors namely, accuracy, number of audiences served, cost, content, speed, and message capacity among others. Channels of communication may include the use of telephone, e-mail, use of flyers or posters, letters, visits, oral presentations as well as electronic channels like websites, blogs and widgets among others. In this case, an oral presentation would work for active interaction with the audience.

Diversity and message effectiveness

Diversity is a usual phenomenon in multinational or big institutions, comprising of stakeholders from different backgrounds, views and cultures. For instance, the meeting consists of stakeholders from different social, economic and cultural backgrounds. Besides, their knowledge on the subject of sales differs, it is therefore vital to consider these. Language to be used should be universal and that which is understandable to the customers, as they may not be at par with a wide range of business concepts (Locker & Kienzler, 2008, pp. 40-64).

To pass your information effectively, it is important to convey the right message to the correct audience. After identifying your audience, it is essential to understand them, this would include taking the initiative to conduct an analysis on them, to remain relevant and in turn improve on efficiency. Other factors regarded to ensure that effective messages are delivered are by giving consideration to the organizational culture of the audience, economy and contemporary events that may affect their decisions and feelings. These, when carefully reviewed would lead to an effective message (Locker & Kienzler, 2008, pp. 40-64).

Conclusion

Audience analysis is the basis of effective communication in an organization; this is because it is through effective communication that activities are smoothly run in a business environment. In analyzing audience, they should be identified, their characteristics understood, and cross-cultural diversity considered, before designing the message to be conveyed. This would help in reaching out to all the audience irrespective of their status, knowledge, and background, hence achieving the main objective of effective communication.

Reference List

Locker, K. & Kienzler, D. (2008). Business and Administrative Communication, Eighth Edition. New York. Mc Graw-Hill/Irwin.
Popular Culture. (2010). Audience Analysis. Cultural Politics.

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