Planning Busniess Messages

*Understanding the 3 step writing process
-- Ensures your messages are effective and efficient

--- Step 1 Planning Business Messages
> define a purpose and develope an audience profile
> gather information
> how to deliver the message
> organize the information

---Step 2 Writing Businesses Messages
> adapt to your audience
> compose the message

---Step 3 completing Business Messages
> revise the message
> proofread the message
> distribute the message

- Optomizing your writing time
--- ex: allow half of your time for planning, a quarter for writing, and a quarter for completing the messages
--- very important to set aside time for completing

- Planning Effectively
--- skimping on one of the main steps. like planning, can cause more time used in the long run
* Analyzing Your Situation
--- a successful message connects the sender's needs with the audiences needs

- Defining your purpose
--- general purpose: to inform, to persuade, or to collaborate with the audience
--- defines the degree of audeince participation and the amount of control you have
--- specific purpose: identifies what you hope to accomplise with your message and what your audience should do or think after recieving the message

--- 4 Questions to test your purpose?
-----1. Will anything change as a result of your message?
-----2. Is your purpose realistic?
-----3. Is the time right?
-----4. Is your purpose acdeptible to your organization?

- Developing an audience Profile
--- audience needs to be interested in what you are saying
--- Steps to an audience analysis:
1-> Identify your primary audience
2-> Determine audeince siae and geographic distribution
3-> Determine audience size and geographic distribution
4-> Guae audeince members' level of understanding
5-> Understand sudience expectations and preferences

The following link is how and why you should know your audience before giving a presentation:
http://www.school-for-champions.com/speaking/audience.htm

* Gathering Information
--- assemble the information that you will include in your message
--- some info may be on hand and some may need considerable research
--- consider the audience's perspectives, read reports, and other company documents, talk with supervisors, colleagues, and customers, and ask your audience for their imput

- Uncovering Audience Needs
--- some audience needs may be obvious whil others may be vague= ask questions
--- include additional info that mey be helpful even if not specifically asked

- Finding your focus
--- Free writing: write whatever comes to mind without stopping to make correctons for a set time period
--- Use if a topic is to vague you are unsure how to get started in determining what the audience needs to know

- Providing required information
--- to test completeness: make aure you answer the 6 journalistic approach questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how
--- check to ensure the information is accurate, ethical, and pertinent
--- Accurate: information is accurate and the commitments made are kept
--- Ethical: clear sense of ethics should guide decisions when determining detail
--- Pertinent: audiences respond to filtered and priortized info to meet their needs, rely on common sense

* Selecting the right medium
--- the form in which you choose to communicate a message
- Oral Media
--- Best when you need to encourage interaction, express emotions, or monitor emotional responses
- Written Media
--- memos: breif printed documents used for routine exchange of info within an organization
---letters: brief written messages that generally are sent to recipants outside the organization
--- printed messages have been replaced in many instances by electronic media-> still has a place in business
- Visual Media
--- a message that is mostly visual and is supported by text can be more effective that a message that relies on text
- Electronic Media
--- Used to deliver messages quickly, to reach wide spread audiences and to take advantage of multimedia formats
---lack of integration in media can cause frustration in the workplace
--- electronic media can be oral (phone calls and teleconferences), written (emails, ims, or blogs), or visual (power point presentations)

* Factors to consider when choosing Media
1. Media richness: the ability to (1) convey a message through more than one ino=formational cue (2) facilitate feedback and (3) establish personal focus
2. Message Formality: nonverbal communication that affects the style and tone of your message
3. Media Limitations: every form of media has limitations inculding face to face
4. Urgency: media can deliver messages differently than others-> don't use instantanious delivery to create false urgency
5. COst: is is a real financial factor and a percieved verbal signal
6. Audience Preferences: Keep your audience's preferences and expectations

* Organizing your information
--- organizing information is an essential business skill
- Recognizing the importance of good organization
--- help audience members understand your message, accept your message, and save time
--- saves time and energy in the writing and completing phases

- Defining your main topic
--- topic: the overalll subject
--- main topic: specific statement about the topic
--- techniques to generate ideas:
----- brainstorming-> generate as many ideas as you can without stopping to critize or organize
----- Journalistic approach-> answers who, what, when, where, why, and how
-----question and answer chain-> start with the most important question in the audience's perspective and work toward your message
----- Story teller's tour-> talk through a communication message before it is written- record yourself
----- Mindmapping-> start with a main idea then connect every other idea that comes to mind
- Limiting your scope
--- scope: is the range of information presented and the length of the message in full detail
--- limit the number of support points: have fewer, stronger points, less weaker points
--- easy to understand and to accept if short

* Choosing between direct and indirect approach
--- direct: start with a main idea and continue with supporting evidence
--- indirect: start with evidence and build you case before stating the main topic
- Routine and Positive Messages
--- always use direct approach
--- involve daily matters from placing orders to updating employees about process changes
- Negative Messages
---lighten the blow of a negative message with following up with a positive one
---most likely profitable to use the indirect approach
- Persuasive Messages
--- indirect approach is usually ideal
--- usually you have to persuade the audience to give up something such as time, money, benefits, and habits
- Outlining your content
--- figure out a logical way to present major points and supporting details
---save time and get better results
--- can help visualize how all the points will fit together
--- experiment with organizational schemes in addition to traditional outlines
--- Start with the main idea
-----1. what you want your audience member to do or think
-----2. why your audience members should do it
--- State main points
-----clarify and explain your main idea
----- to inform and ensure the material is factual
--- Illustrate with evidence
----- each main point should have enough evidence to be convincing
----- not so much evidence that it is lengthy and boring
--- Needs to be in a logical hierarchy
--- Vary the type of detail you include

Interesting Sites:
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0070880581/student_view0/sample_letters.html
I found this site compelling to us as students as it gives several examples as to how business messages should look.