Writing to Your Audience

Effective writing goes beyond mere mastery of grammar and style. It calls upon superior research and interviewing skills; proper selection of tone and voice; insightful information; solid reasoning and organizational skills -- but before any of this, you need to know your audience. Here are some considerations when identifying and determining the people to whom you write:

If you are writing persuasively, remember that you are “selling” something. So you must think as a salesperson. To influence others, you must write in the reader’s language, use a great deal of tact, and be sensitive to their background. Note that in almost every country, language and word connotations are often different within provinces, regions, villages and even neighboring towns. Words that can win over one group of people can be lethal to another.

Form a mental image of your audience. Visualization is a strong aide that evokes other emotions, language details, culture, socio-economic background and possible reactions of your target audience. Likewise, use visual words as often as you can in your writing.

Tone! Read your words out loud. Do they sound rude or curt, ramble, or overly submissive or aggressive? Do you sound angry, sad, optimistic, or even boring? The written word is very different than the spoken word, and though your writing may appear powerful on paper, most readers read aloud with their own voice or in their heads. You may be surprised at the discrepancy you notice in the two forms. When talking, you can gauge the reaction of your audience and adjust your presentation. But with writing, you only get one shot.

Follow the three C’s. Keep it clear, concise, and compelling. Break long text into as many paragraphs as you can. Most readers tend to get lost in a long block of words. If you’ve got a lot of information or data to present, choose and use the strongest one(s). Make your point and nothing more. Don’t use extra reference data when not needed. Don’t repeat phrases even when you think it needs repeating, which is a sign of a lazy writer. If a certain point needs emphasis, do so with powerful words and images instead of repetition.  

Make it flow! The last thing you want to do is give the reader an opportunity to take a break from reading your awesome writing piece. Avoid sudden shifts from one thought to another. They stop your reader, and they may decide it is a good place to get off and put your paper aside, maybe forever. This is a big no-no if you’ve been saving your best writing for later on. It is a myth that you should save your best for last. Instead, put it up front. Some novices think that a powerful beginning will raise impossible expectations and the reader will get bored thereafter. It will do the opposite – it will hook them to keep reading on and on. The best books I’ve ever read were the ones I picked up after reading the first line and didn’t put down until I got to the words “The End”. Readers are busy folks. Once then pick up your masterpiece, you have to mind their time, keep them reading and don’t give them any reason to stop.

That said, this is my place to stop, and I hope that this has been helpful to you. Happy writing, my dear readers!