Locker and Kaczmarek (p. 12) give us a model for message analysis in business settings that focuses on six aspects to think about when “encoding” or “decoding” a message:
(P)urpose
(A)udience
(I)nformation
(B)enefits
(O)bjections
(C)ontext
While this, like any other model, is only intended to provide a frame of reference for an analysis, and not a depiction of reality, it does focus on good things to think about composing texts in business settings.
One of these “things,” is audience. Below are links to seven business communications texts, each one written for a radically different purpose and in a different context from the others. As you review them, think about their intended (and perhaps even, unintended) audiences:
- Letter from James G. Robinson to Lindsay Lohan regarding the film, Georgia Rule.
- Owners’ manual for Sig Sauer Classic pistols.
- The new California Lottery website, including the short film, “Snowfall” (1:03).
- Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.
- New York City College of Technology Student Handbook.
- The Conversation Prism, 2013.
- Enterprising Student’s Sales Poster
Who are the primary audiences for these texts? What secondary audiences exist for them? Do they have initial audiences? Gatekeepers? Watchdogs? If so, who?
