On any given day, we end up writing in some manner or another—more than likely, it’s in an email format. That, at least, is simple–there’s no question about knowing your audience when you write a personal email. But for other types of writing, this becomes a bit more difficult to pin down.

When beginning any writing project, a writer needs to determine his target audience. A quick email to a friend, a technical document, a business-to-business publication—every piece of work has to zero in on whom it’s trying to reach and how a reader will react. A writer is going to have a hard time getting his point across if he misjudges (or doesn’t judge at all) his reader’s response.

Furthermore, over- or under-reaching can have lasting consequences, especially if one is trying to direct reader opinion or sell a product. That isn’t to say that risks aren’t worth taking, but a writer cannot disregard whom he’s risking his words on.

Audience types can include the general public or the media or a business seeking a specific product, service, or solution. Speak to your audience, not at them or over them. See who it is you’re approaching, their needs and wants, and reach out to them on that level.

Three examples of this in the working world include those approaching the public, those approaching the media, and those approaching both.

Knowing Your Audience Began in News Writing

In the news world, written pieces and their target audiences are fairly straightforward (the opinion section notwithstanding). Journalists must strive to remain unbiased and provide facts and only facts, and their editors must make certain this is the case—it’s up to the reader to take those facts and form an opinion.

There are many nuances in the ethics of journalism that can impede this process. A restaurant may offer delectable freebies in order to persuade a writer to produce a positive review or a company may offer airfare or tickets to an event to induce a writer’s good favor. These are the pitfalls and perils in remaining a staunch reporter, and many journalists and editors view these dangers as a sacred duty to avoid lest they fail their readers.

When reporters and editors have failed in this duty to provide straightforward facts without opinion, a publication loses its credibility. And that aspect is key across all levels of writing, not just in news.

Public Relations and Marketing

Push a product that you don’t believe in or perhaps isn’t even ready for public consumption, and wait for the fallout. Share a company’s abilities without really understanding what it is the company does or what its clients need, and wait and see what little distance the write-up covers, if it moves at all.

The PR or marketing executive must know his multiple audiences, and he won’t have his clients for long if he doesn’t know or understand what they desire. For instance, the executive who doesn’t understand what media outlets need to know in order to disseminate a client’s message will find his client’s voice silenced.

And a PR or marketing practitioner who doesn’t understand what the public desires to know—or doesn’t know how to craft a message that the public can understand—fails to represent a client effectively.

Understanding and offering solid facts are the lodestones in all types of writing. A writer, be he in news, marketing, or some other industry, must offer hard evidence backed up by facts, opinions from solid sources, and a keen understanding of he’s writing. Lazy research methods or downright dismissal of a client’s offerings are surefire ways to immediately disengage a reader.

Above all, knowing your audience means thinking like your audience. And when that happens, not only does your audience grow, but so does your reach.

Note: Thanks to fellow writer John Przybys for fleshing these ideas out.

Anne King, Copy Editor