Plan
Who is your audience?
Who are you writing for? Make sure you know who your target audience is before you start writing. This will help you choose the right method to use and will focus your energies on communicating to them in a very direct and specific way.
What’s in it for them?
When you are very involved or close to a topic, it’s tempting to tell your audience what you think they should know, rather than what they actually want to know. A good way to avoid this is to focus on the benefits to your audience, instead of the features that you are proud of, have worked hard on, or think they should appreciate.
Ask ‘So what? Why would they care?’ When you can confidently answer that question, you have found an effective approach that will engage and interest the reader.
| ! | Many students don’t read all the content in the messages we send them. |
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What do you want them to do or understand?
Once you have the audience’s attention it’s time to be very clear about what you want or need them to do. This is your purpose or your ‘call to action’.
Sometimes this information is buried at the bottom of the message but it’s much better to put it right up the top. Your readers will appreciate the clarity of that information and they are also much less likely to miss it.
| TIP | Focus on the benefits. The headline on the Apple’s advertising campaign for the very first iPod – an extraordinary piece of new technology – was ‘1,000 songs in your pocket’. Rather than explain the iPod’s features, they simply told the audience how it would benefit them. That’s why the course finder on our website says ‘Let’s find your dream career’. Instead of talking about the wide range of courses Federation offers, the focus is on helping visitors to our website achieve their goals. |
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