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Pitching
Business or Marketing Material to Your Audience; 2005 Murkiest Writing
Contest Information (Marketing
Memo, December, 2005)
Writing
for your audience can be challenging. One technique is to envision a
persona or agent and to direct your business or marketing writing towards
this persona. This technique has helped students in my business writing
classes at Babson College focus their writing.
QUESTIONS
TO ASK WHEN CREATING A PERSONA
- What
do you know about your reader?
- What
is the reader's role in or connection with your company?
- How
does this role affect the reader's information needs?
- Does
the person have a technical or business background?
- What
are the reader's pain points and biases?
- What
does the reader already know about your company and your offerings?
- What
does the reader expect to learn from you?
- What
three or four salient points do you need to convey? While answering
the above questions, try to envision your reader. Then, customize
your main points and examples so that they will resonate with your
reader. You may need to talk with co-workers or with your reader to
ensure that you understand the reader's needs. If you are writing
for people with varied backgrounds or needs, you may have to write
more than one version of the document.
2005
MURKIEST WRITING CONTEST
Send us
examples of the most convoluted, disorganized, and poorly worded business
or professional documents that you have received.
Contest
Information
- Submit
one entry per person to [email protected]
by December 31, 2005.
- Entries
may be from one sentence to one paragraph in length.
- Entries
should not contain personal information or company confidential information.
- Selection
criteria include wordiness, unclear purpose or message, inappropriate
or excessive details, and awkward or incorrect grammar and usage.
- The
winner will receive an Amazon.com gift certificate.
- We will
publish the winning entry in our next newsletter.
- To see
the 2004 winning entry, call (508-877-1938) or send an email to [email protected].
Winett
Associates provides market analysis and writing services.
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