What is planning business messages

All communication, whether personal or business requires planning. Thirukkural says “whosoever one might be, one should guard his tongue”. You can easily offend a person or damage a situation by the slip of the tongue or a wrong gesture. In situations of personal communication, planning is done quickly and most times the situation or the context helps the planning. But in business communication planning is definitely a prerequisite.

Table of Contents Show

Demonstrate a Need
Offer a Non-Specific Solution
Show Your Solution
Call to Action

In business communication, the first principle is planning. Any message, communicated without proper planning is bound to be haphazard and disjointed. The exercise of planning, though apparently time consuming, will be rewarding. Abraham Lincoln’s most celebrated emotional speech known as the Gettysburgh address, where he dedicated the cemetery to war heroes is acclaimed to be outstanding for its spontaneity and brevity. But the truth of the matter is that Lincoln spent hours and days to refine and polish the speech as evidenced from the records in the archives.

Stages of Planning

Planning and preparation bring extra dividends. Planning leads to better organization of the message and produces the desired results. When we say desired result, we agree that every communication exercise is a means to an end. The communicator must be able to clearly identify the end. In short, he should identify the purpose for which he is sending the message. The purpose may be to remind about a due, or may be to give some new information, or may be to point out a lapse or may be just a courtesy with the underlying purpose of promoting goodwill. Once you have identified the purpose, you must make an evaluation of the receiver. It means you should have an understanding of the mental attitude of the receiver. Is he going to be responsive or indifferent, interested or apathetic to your message. You have to adopt your message to the mental attitude of the receiver. This is easier in the case of an individual than in the case of a group at the receiver’s end. If it is a group, you should be able to identify the minimum communication response expected of the group and adopt the message to it. The next stage would be to collect the ideas and gather data to make the communication effective. Finally, the message should be organized by preparing rough drafts. If all these steps are not carefully gone through, the message would appear disjointed, ill-organized and become ineffective. On the other hand, if the purpose is identified, the receiver evaluated, ideas gathered and message organized, the communication would become effective. Before one makes a speech or sends across a letter, or conceives an advertisement, one has to go through the steps of planning such as identifying purpose, evaluating the audience, collecting all relevant information and finally organizing the message. Once the message is organized, the sender should choose the proper medium for transmitting the message.

1. Describe the three-step writing process.

Planning business messages: analyze the situation, gather information, select the right medium, organize information.

2. Explain why it's important to analyze the situation, and define your purpose carefully before writing a message.

To determine the specific purpose, think how the audience's ideas or behavior should be affected by the message.
Defer sending a message, or do not send it at all, if

Nothing will change as a result of sending the message
The purpose is not realistic
The timing is not right
The purpose is not acceptable to your organization

Developing an audience profile

identify your primary audience
Determine audience size and geographic distribution
Determine audience composition
Guage audience members' level of understanding
Understand audience expectations and preferences
Forecast probable audience reaction

3. Discuss information gathering options for simple messages, and identify three attributes of quality information

Conside the audience's perspective
Read reports and other company documents
Talk with supervisors, colleagues, or customers
Ask your audience for input
Uncovering the audience's needs

If you're giving a vague request, ask questions to clarify it before you plan a response
If appropriate, include additional information that might be helpful, even though the requester didn't specifically ask for it

Finding your focus
Providing required information

Journalistic approach

test the completeness of your document by making sure it answers all six journalistic questions: who, what, where, when, why, and how
Is the information accurate, ethical, and pertinent?

4. List the factors to consider when choosing the most appropriate medium for a message.

Oral

Best when you need to encourage interaction, express emotions, or monitor emotional responses.

Written media

Memos, letters
Printed messages have been replaced in many instances by electronic media, although the print medium still has a place in business today.

Visual media

A message that is visual, with text used to support the illustration, can be more effective than a message that relies primarily on text.

Electronic media

Used to deliver messages quickly, to reach widely dispersed audiences, and to take advantage of rich multimedia formats

Complicated messages often benefit from richer media.

Media richness- 1) convey a message through more than one informational cue. 2) facilitate feedback 3) establish personal focus

5. Explain why good organization is important to both you and your audience

The ability to present information in an organized fashion is an essential business skill
Good organization helps audience members understand your message, accept your message, and save time.
Good organization saves you time and enregy in writing and completing phases
Topic is the overall subject; the main idea is a specific statement about the topic.

Brainstorming- generating ideas and questions
Journalistic approach- who, what, where, when, why, and how
Questions and answer chain- questions and answers lead to more questions until you have all the information needed
Storyteller's tour- record yourself as you describe what you intend to write
Mind mapping- Start with main idea, then branch out to connect every other related idea that comes to mind

Limit the number of support points; having fewer, stronger points is a better approach than using many, weaker points

6. Explain the differences between the direct and indirect approaches to organizing a message

Use the direct approach if the audience's reaction is likely to be positive and the indirect approach if it is likely to be negative.
Routine positive messages nearly always use the direct approach
In many situations, you can cushion the blow of negative news by introducing it with other, more positive information
Persuasive messages can be a challenge because you're asking your audience to give up something, such a time, money, beliefs, or habits.
With longer messages, use an outline to visualize how all points will fit together
Make sure major points clarify your idea and main points
Support each major point with enough specific evidence to be convincing. However, don't put too much it to make your message boring.

Different media gurus have different theories about how to craft ads, press releases, brochures, memos, sales letters and other marketing materials. However, most successful message suggestions have several things in common. To create a business message that has impact, you’ll need to solve a problem or offer a benefit to motivate your staff, clients or customers to act.

Demonstrate a Need

Most business messages should start with explaining why the reader should read your message. This is known as selling the benefits, rather than the features. For example, if you own a clothing store, emphasize that you offer trendiness, affordability or some other benefit your target customers want. If you’re sending an inter-office business memo, don’t lead with an announcement that there’s a meeting Friday at 10:30 am in the conference room -- start by telling your employees you will be launching a new product, then announce the time and place of the meeting. The more interested people are in your message, the more likely they will take steps to remember to act.

Offer a Non-Specific Solution

Once you’ve demonstrated a need, which often points out a problem, give a general solution. For example, an advertisement headline or main photo might point out the frustration or unpleasantness of being overweight. Once that headline or graphic has caught the attention of those people who are overweight and want to address that, the ad will give a solution, such as aerobic exercise or calorie control. If you give your business or product as the solution without telling why it works first, you won’t sell your audience as effectively.

Show Your Solution

Once you’ve convinced your audience they have a need, problem or interest and you’ve given the generic solution, show you how you can give them that benefit. A car dealer might run an ad with a photo of a person standing next to a car with the hood raised. The next message might be that regular car maintenance prevents breakdowns and costly repairs that could have been avoided. The ad would then point out that Bob’s Car Dealership has a service shop that offers regular auto maintenance to help you keep your car running. The message would note that spending hundreds on annual maintenance at Bob’s can save thousands in avoidable repairs. An inter-office email or memo to management might announce that the company is losing sales to a new competitor, that you are considering several options to address this and that you are holding a meeting to solicit ideas to decide on the final plan.

Call to Action

Many business messages end with a call to action to prevent the reader from forgetting to buy, visit or order. A call to action can be as simple as including, “Call Today!,” above a phone number. It can direct the reader to a website address, offer a time-sensitive discount, provide a reward for mentioning how the person saw the ad or give other instructions for buying or ordering.