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Audience Analysis

Most failures of communication can be directly linked to ineffective

audience analysis.

- PGC

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1. Fundamental Principles

• Effective persuaders adapt their messages to their audiences.• Message sent Message received• Benefits:

• Increases efficiency• Enhances influence

• There is usually more than one audience• Groups within groups• Hidden decision makers• Variances over time

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2. Perspective

• “The best way to identify the meaningful political categories is to choose categories that are: 1) as inclusive as possible and 2) internally homogeneous with respect to the issues under study. Identifying the political categories is, in other words, a problem of clustering, in which the criterion is to cluster people together to maximize their homogeneity in opinions and preferences that are relevant to the questions being studied. This involves the exercise of judgment, to discern whether the differences between given sets of people are important enough to justify considering them as separate political groups.”

– Jeffery Pfeffer

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3. Audience Differences

• Personality profiles

• Demographics (education, gender, etc.)

• Physical location

• Job responsibilities

• Beliefs

• Past experiences

• Values

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4. Conducting AA

• Prior to

• During

• After

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5. So What?

Adapt:

• Proof (verbal, visual, etc…)

• Examples

• Word choices

• Arguments

• Strategy

• Physical setting

• Communicators (who delivers message)