For most of us, though, that just isn’t reality.  Many of the people who will read your business report project proposal and sales letter will belong to one of two difficult groups of audiences to write for: skimmers and skeptics.

Skimmers

Some of your readers will be very busy people.  This is especially true in today’s workplace, where the average employee receives tons of emails per day.  Since they don’t have the luxury of time, they just skim through documents, checking the major points and noting important items.

If you expect skimmers to be among a good number of your readers, your best course of action is to do the following:

• Create a very descriptive headline
• State your main point right on the first paragraph, repeating it at the end
• Use bullet points to list down items
• Highlight important dates, figures and statistics

Of course, this same style of writing should be good for the more thorough readers as well, so it’s a win-win.

Skeptics

Skeptics are a little more tricky, as you’ll need to flex your persuasion muscles a bit.  This type of reader often begins perusing your material while in a mood of doubt and disdain – a bad combination.  Since you can’t put a gun to their head to convince them of anything you write (such as the department prognosis based on your report, for instance), your best bet is to make the most compelling argument possible.  For skeptics, in particular, your best avenue of persuasion is tons of facts – use details and hard evidence to quell their apprehensions.

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.