Defining The Audience You’re Writing For
Amateurs write for a general audience. Smart writers know better. Most pieces of writing that you’ll need to put together are likely to appeal towards a very specific subsection of readers. As such, you will need to write it directly for them.
Is your report intended for high-level company officials? Does it appeal towards young audiences? Are your readers largely women of a specific economic demographic?
An Example
Even a publication that’s as narrowly-focused as a company newsletter is not as cut dry as it may sound. Many company newsletters are intended for dissemination to general members of the organization; others are geared strictly for upper management and board members; and some are even distributed to clients and outside partners.
In each of those cases, a company newsletter will need various types of content editing (as opposed to editing form and grammar, like what a grammar checker does). While a publication for upper management will likely contain statistics on the company’s finances, the same type of information is not something you may want to make available for all employees, much less to individuals from outside the company.
Your Writing
Whatever type of material you’re writing, from essays to emails to reports, you will need to tailor both the content and form to the audience you’re expecting to affect with it. More importantly, if your text attracts a different audience than your original target, it’s a good time to consider expanding your reach. If they’re the type of readers you wish to keep, it makes sense to include them when planning for content.