The Business Audience
As a business communicator, you’ll be communicating with two types of audiences.
primary vs. secondary audience
- Your primary audience is the audience that your communication is intended for and who are expected to take action or make decisions based on the communication.
- The secondary audience includes individuals who are not the main focus of the communication but who may still read, hear, or use the information indirectly or have an interest in its outcomes.
For instance, if you’re preparing an earnings report, the primary audience is likely your senior team. They will review the information, give you feedback, and decide if they need to take action based on the information you’ve provided. That same earnings report might find other audiences in investors, stockholders, or even your competitors or the media. They may comment on your data or take action on it in ways that may influence your senior team.
Understanding Primary and Secondary Audiences
The differences between primary and secondary audiences affects how you will communicate.
- Managing information: When you consider the information you should be communicating, you need to consider the needs of your primary audience first. The information they require to do their work is your first concern. Other information that would be important to a secondary audience would be a lower priority.
- Managing language: A key factor in communicating effectively is the assessment of the knowledge that your intended audience brings to the table. If your primary audience is a group of middle school students and your challenge is to explain a summer internship program run by your nonprofit organization, your language will be very different than if you explain it to a group of potential donors. Choose the correct language to communicate.
- Managing the depth of your topic: The human resources team might want to dig into a turnover report in great detail and, if they’re your primary audience, it’s your job to communicate that information to them. On the other hand, the CEO may just want to know what the annualized rate is. “Are people staying or are they leaving?” he will ask. Sometimes a simple, “Staying,” is all he needs to know.
You will communicate more effectively if you understand your audience and the depth of knowledge they bring with them to the communication event.