Businesspeople who compose messages for mobile devices should

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4 Planning Business Messages LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this chapter, you will be able to

1 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000001f82#P7001012451000000000000000001F86) Describe the three-step writing process.

2 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000001fc5#P7001012451000000000000000001FC9) Explain why it’s important to analyze a communication situation in order to define your purpose and profile your audience before writing a message.

3 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000002026#P700101245100000000000000000202A) Discuss information-gathering options for simple messages, and identify three attributes of quality information.

4 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000002076#P700101245100000000000000000207A) List the factors to consider when choosing the most appropriate medium for a message.

5 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p70010124510000000000000000021ce#P70010124510000000000000000021D2) Explain why good organization is important to both you and your audience, and list the tasks involved in organizing a message.

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COMMUNICATION CLOSE-UP AT Wolff Olins

www.wolffolins.com (http://www.wolffolins.com)

What do the following activities have in common: watching a movie, reading a novel, and listening to a friend tell you how she learned about herself during an amazing summer she spent volunteering? The common thread is dramatic tension—the need to know how the story is going to turn out. If you care about the person in the story, chances are you’ll want to stick around to the end.

Storytelling might sound like an odd topic for a business communication course, but storytelling is at the heart of some of the most-effective communication efforts, from heart-tugging TV commercials to engaging training materials to rousing motivational speeches. With more and more professionals and companies recognizing the power of storytelling, storytelling techniques have become a hot topic in the business communication field.

As one of the most respected novelists and essayists of his generation, it’s no surprise that the Pakistani writer Mohsin Hamid is an expert at storytelling. But it might come as a surprise to his many fans that he has a second career as the chief storytelling officer (CSO) for Wolff Olins, an international creativity consultancy based in London. In this role Hamid helps business professionals and executives use the art of storytelling as a means to engage with both internal and external audiences.

For example, the company heard from a number of top executives about the challenges of conveying to employees a clear sense of their companies’ purpose and empowering them to apply their individual creative energies to achieving that purpose. Hamid explains that’s it unrealistic to expect an executive to give everyone in the organization explicit task assignments. Instead, he or she can tell the company’s story—where it came from, the reason it exists, and where it is heading—to help employees align their efforts in that shared mission.

Novelist and essayist Mohsin Hamid has a second career as the chief storytelling officer at the London-based creative consultancy Wolff Olins.

© D Legakis/Alamy Stock Photo

Hamid advises executives to engage in this sort of strategic storytelling at three key stages of a company’s evolution: when it is first launched, so that everyone knows where and how the company intends to grow; whenever major changes occur, so that everyone understands how the narrative has changed; and whenever the company’s growth trajectory stalls, to reiterate what the company stands for and how it can overcome the odds. For instance, if a company is facing new competition, the CEO could relate a story from the company’s past about how people came together to find better ways to satisfy customers and thereby protect the business.

By the way, business storytelling has an important personal angle as well. You can map out your career using storytelling (see page 117 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p70010124510000000000000000021ce#page_117) ), and when you’re interviewing for jobs you should be prepared in case an interviewer pops the classic question, “So, what’s your story?” By visualizing a satisfying ending to your own career story, you’ll

have a better idea of what it takes to get there.1

(http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000002310#P7001012451000000000000000002426)

4.1 Understanding the Three-Step Writing Process

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

1 Describe the three-step writing process. The emphasis that Wolff Olins (profiled in the chapter-opening Communication Close-Up) puts on connecting with audiences is a lesson that applies to business messages for all stakeholders. By following the process introduced in this chapter, you can create successful messages that meet audience needs and highlight your skills as a perceptive business professional.

The three-step writing process consists of planning, writing, and completing your messages.

The three-step writing process (see Figure 4.1 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000001f82#P7001012451000000000000000001F8D) ) helps ensure that your messages are both effective (meeting your audience’s needs and getting your points across) and efficient (making the best use of your time and your audience’s time):

Figure 4.1 The Three-Step Writing Process

This three-step process will help you create more effective messages in any medium. As you get more practice with the process, it will become easier and more automatic.

Sources: Based in part on Kevin J. Harty and John Keenan, Writing for Business and Industry: Process and Product (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1987), 3–4; Richard Hatch, Business Writing (Chicago: Science Research Associates, 1983), 88–89; Richard Hatch, Business Communication Theory and Technique (Chicago: Science Research Associates, 1983), 74–75; Center for Humanities, Writing as a Process: A Step-by-Step Guide (Mount Kisco, N.Y.: Center for Humanities, 1987); Michael L. Keene, Effective Professional Writing (New York: D. C. Heath, 1987), 28–34.

• Step 1: Planning business messages. To plan any message, first analyze the situation by defining your purpose and developing a profile of your audience. When you’re sure what you need to accomplish with your message, gather the information that will meet your audience’s needs. Next, select the best combination of medium and channel to deliver your message. Then organize the information by defining your main idea, limiting your scope, selecting the direct or indirect approach, and outlining your content. Planning messages is the focus of this chapter.

• Step 2: Writing business messages. After you’ve planned your message, adapt to your audience by using sensitivity, relationship skills, and an appropriate writing style. Then you’re ready to compose your message by choosing strong words, creating effective sentences, and developing coherent paragraphs. Writing business messages is discussed in Chapter 5 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000002445#P7001012451000000000000000002445) .

• Step 3: Completing business messages. After writing your first draft, revise your message by evaluating the content, reviewing readability, and editing and rewriting until your message comes across concisely and clearly, with correct grammar, proper punctuation, and effective format. Next, produce your message. Put it into the form that your audience will receive and review all design and layout decisions for an attractive, professional appearance. Proofread the final product to ensure high quality and then distribute your message. Completing business messages is discussed in Chapter 6 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000002ade#P7001012451000000000000000002ADE) .

Throughout this book, you’ll learn how to apply these steps to a wide variety of business messages.

OPTIMIZING YOUR WRITING TIME

The more you use the three-step writing process, the more intuitive and automatic it will become. You’ll also get better at allotting time for each task during a writing project. Start by figuring out how much time you have. Then, as a general rule, set aside roughly 50 percent of that time for planning, 25 percent for writing, and 25 percent for completing.

As a starting point, allot roughly half your available time for planning, one-quarter for writing, and one-quarter for completing a message.

Reserving half your time for planning might seem excessive, but as the next section explains, careful planning usually saves time overall by focusing your writing and reducing the need for reworking. Of course, the ideal time allocation varies from project to project. Simpler and shorter messages require less planning than long reports, websites, and other complex projects. Also, the time required to produce and distribute messages can vary widely, depending on the media, the size of the audience, and other factors. Start with the 50-25-25 split as a guideline, and use your best judgment for each project.

PLANNING EFFECTIVELY

As soon as the need to create a message appears, inexperienced communicators are often tempted to dive directly into writing. However, skipping or shortchanging the planning stage often creates extra work and stress later in the process. First, thoughtful planning is necessary to make sure you provide the right information in the right format to the right people. Taking the time to understand your audience members and their needs helps you find and assemble the facts they’re looking for and deliver that information in a concise and compelling way. Second, with careful planning, the writing stage is faster, easier, and much less stressful. Third, planning can save you from embarrassing blunders that could hurt your company or your career.

For everything beyond brief and simple messages, resist the urge to skip the planning step.

4.2 Analyzing the Situation

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

2 Explain why it’s important to analyze a communication situation in order to define your purpose and profile your audience before writing a message. Every communication effort takes place in a particular situation, meaning you have a specific message to send to a specific audience under a specific set of circumstances. For example, describing your professional qualifications in an email message to an executive in your own company differs significantly from describing your qualifications in your LinkedIn profile. The email message is likely to be focused on a single goal, such as explaining why you would be a good choice to head up a major project, and you have the luxury of focusing on the needs of a single, personally identifiable reader. In contrast, your social networking profile could have multiple goals, such as connecting with your peers at other companies and presenting your qualifications to potential employers, and it might be viewed by hundreds or thousands of readers, each with his or her own needs.

The underlying information for these two messages could be roughly the same, but the level of detail to include, the tone of the writing, the specific word choices—these and other decisions you need to make will differ from one situation to another. Making the right choices starts with clearly defining your purpose and understanding your audience’s needs.

DEFINING YOUR PURPOSE

Business messages have both a general purpose and a specific purpose.

All business messages have a general purpose (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000002310#P700101245100000000000000000231C) : to inform, to persuade, or to collaborate with the audience. This purpose helps define the overall approach you’ll need to take, from gathering information to organizing your message. Within the scope of its general purpose, each message also has a specific purpose (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000002310#P7001012451000000000000000002331) , which identifies what you hope to accomplish with your message and what your audience should do or think after receiving your message. For instance, is your goal simply to update your audience about some upcoming event, or do you want people to take immediate action? State your specific purpose as precisely as possible, even to the point of identifying which audience members should respond, how they should respond, and when.

After defining your purpose, verify that the message will be worth the time and effort required to create, send, and receive it.

After you have defined your specific purpose, take a moment for a reality check. Decide whether that purpose merits the time and effort required for you to prepare and send the message—and for your audience to spend the time required to read it, view it, or listen to it. Test your purpose by asking these four questions:

• Will anything change as a result of your message? Don’t contribute to information overload by sending messages that won’t change anything. For instance, if you don’t like your company’s latest advertising campaign but you’re not in a position to influence it, sending a critical message to your colleagues won’t change anything and won’t benefit anyone.

• Is your purpose realistic? Recognizing whether a goal is realistic is an important part of having good business sense. For example, if you request a raise while the company is struggling, you might send the message that you’re not tuned in to the situation around you.

• Is the time right? People who are busy or distracted when they receive your message are less likely to pay attention to it. Many professions and departments have recurring cycles in their workloads, for instance, and messages sent during peak times may be ignored.

• Is your purpose acceptable to your organization? Your company’s business objectives and policies, and even laws that apply to your particular industry, may dictate whether a particular purpose is acceptable. For example, if you work for a discount stock brokerage, one that doesn’t offer investing advice, it would be inappropriate to write a newsletter article on the pros and cons of investing in a particular company.

When you are satisfied that you have a clear and meaningful purpose and that this is a smart time to proceed, your next step is to understand the members of your audience and their needs.

Ask yourself some key questions about your audience:

• Who are they? • How many people do you need to reach? • How much do they already know about the subject? • What is their probable reaction to your message?

DEVELOPING AN AUDIENCE PROFILE

Before audience members will take the time to read or listen to your messages, they have to be interested in what you’re saying. They need to know the message is relevant to their needs—even if they don’t necessarily want to read or see it. The more you know about your audience members, their needs, and their expectations, the more effectively you’ll be able to communicate with them. Follow these steps to conduct a thorough audience analysis (see Figure 4.2 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000001fc5#P7001012451000000000000000001FF2) ):

Figure 4.2 Using Audience Analysis to Plan a Message

For simple, routine messages, you usually don’t need to analyze your audience in depth. However, for complex messages or messages for indifferent or hostile audiences, take the time to study their information needs and potential reactions to your message.

MS Office 365, © Microsoft

If audience members have different levels of understanding of the topic, aim your message at the most influential decision makers.

• Identify your primary audience. For some messages, certain audience members may be more important than others. Don’t ignore the needs of less influential members, but make sure you address the concerns of the key decision makers.

• Determine audience size and geographic distribution. A message aimed at 10,000 people spread around the globe will probably require a different approach than one aimed at a dozen people down the hall.

• Determine audience composition. Look for similarities and differences in culture, language, age, education, organizational rank and status, attitudes, experience, motivations, biases, beliefs, and any other factors that might affect the success of your message (see Figure 4.3 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000001fc5#P700101245100000000000000000201D) on the next page).

• Gauge audience members’ level of understanding. If audience members share your general background, they’ll probably understand your material without difficulty. If not, your message will need an element of education to help people understand it.

• Understand audience expectations and preferences. For example, will members of your audience expect complete details or just a summary of the main points? In general, for internal communication, the higher up the organization your message goes, the fewer details people want to see.

• Forecast probable audience reaction. As you’ll read later in the chapter, potential audience reaction affects message organization. If you expect a favorable response, you can state conclusions and recommendations up front and offer minimal supporting evidence. If you expect skepticism, you can introduce conclusions gradually and provide more proof.

REAL-TIME UPDATES

LEARN MORE BY READING THIS PDF

Dig deep into audience needs with this planning tool

This in-depth tool can help you analyze audiences for even the most complex communication scenarios. Go to real-timeupdates.com/bct14 (http://real- timeupdates.com/bct14) and select Learn More in the Students section.

Figure 4.3 Predicting the Effects of Audience Composition

As just one example of why it’s important to analyze the composition of your audience, the attitudes and beliefs of individual audience members can have a significant impact on the success of a message. In this scenario, for instance, a seemingly positive message about employee benefits can generate a wide range of responses from employees with different beliefs and concerns.

4.3 Gathering Information

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

3 Discuss information-gathering options for simple messages, and identify three attributes of quality information. When you have a clear picture of your audience, your next step is to assemble the information to include in your message. For simple messages, you may already have all the information at hand, but for more complex messages, you may need to do considerable research and analysis before you’re ready to begin writing. Chapter 13 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004d27#P7001012451000000000000000004D27) explores formal techniques for finding, evaluating, and processing information, but you can often use a variety of informal techniques to gather insights and guide your research efforts.

If a project doesn’t require formal research techniques, or if you need answers in a hurry, you can use a variety of informal techniques to gather the information your audience needs.

MOBILE APP

The note-taking apps Evernote and Notebook help you collect, organize, and retrieve information for planning writing projects.

• Consider the audience’s perspective. Put yourself in the audience’s position. What are these people thinking, feeling, or planning? What information do they need to move forward? If you are initiating a conversation in a social media context, what information will stimulate discussion among your target communities?

• Listen to the community. For almost any subject related to business these days, chances are there is a community of customers, product enthusiasts, or other people who engage in online discussions. Find them and listen to what they have to say.

• Read reports and other company documents. Annual reports, financial statements, news releases, blogs by industry experts, marketing reports, and customer surveys are just a few of the many potential information sources. Find out whether your company has a knowledge management system, a centralized database that collects the experiences and insights of employees throughout the organization.

• Talk with supervisors, colleagues, or customers. Fellow workers and customers may have information you need, or they may have good insights into the needs of your target audience.

• Ask your audience for input. If you’re unsure what audience members need from your message, ask them, if possible. Admitting you don’t know but want to meet their needs will impress an audience more than guessing and getting it wrong.

UNCOVERING AUDIENCE NEEDS

In many situations your audience’s information needs will be obvious, or readers will be able to tell you what they need. In other situations, though, people may be unable to articulate exactly what they want. If someone makes a vague or broad request, ask questions to narrow the focus. If your boss says, “Find out everything you can about Interscope Records,” narrow the investigation by asking which aspect of the organization and its business is most important. Asking a question or two often forces the person to think through the request and define more precisely what is required.

Audience members might not be able to describe all the information they need, or you might not have the opportunity to ask them, so you may have to engage in some detective work.

In addition, try to think of relevant information needs that your audience may not have expressed. Suppose you’ve been asked to compare two health insurance plans for your firm’s employees, but your research has uncovered a third alternative that might be even better. You could then expand your report to include a brief explanation of why the third plan should be considered and compare it with the two original plans. Use judgment, however; in some situations you need to provide only what the audience expects and nothing more.

FINDING YOUR FOCUS

Use free writing and other discovery techniques if you need to the find the focus of a new writing project.

You may encounter situations in which the assignment or objective is so vague that you have no idea how to get started in determining what the audience needs to know. In such cases you can use some discovery techniques to help generate ideas and uncover possible avenues to research. One popular technique is free writing (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000002310#P7001012451000000000000000002319) , in which you write whatever comes to mind, without stopping to make any corrections, for a set period of time. The big advantage of free writing is that you silence your “inner critic” and just express ideas as they come to you. You might end up with a rambling mess by any conventional measure, but that’s not important. Within that tangle of expressions, you might also find some useful ideas and angles that hadn’t occurred to you yet—perhaps the crucial idea that will jumpstart the entire project.

The best discovery option in some cases might not be writing at all, but rather sketching. If you’re unable to come up with any words, grab a sketchpad and start drawing. While you’re thinking visually, your brain might release some great ideas that were trapped behind words.

The techniques listed under “Defining Your Main Idea” on page 113 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p70010124510000000000000000021ce#page_113) can also be helpful if you don’t know where to start.

PROVIDING REQUIRED INFORMATION

After you have defined your audience’s information needs, your next step is to satisfy those needs completely. One good way to test the thoroughness of your message is to use the journalistic approach (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000002310#P7001012451000000000000000002322) : Check to see whether your message answers who, what, when, where, why, and how. Using this method, you can quickly tell whether a message fails to deliver. For example, consider this message requesting information from employees:

We are exploring ways to reduce our office space leasing costs and would like your input on a proposed plan in which employees who telecommute on alternate days could share offices. Please let me know what you think of this proposal.

The journalistic approach asks who, what, when, where, why, and how.

The message fails to tell employees everything they need to know to provide meaningful responses. The what could be improved by identifying the specific points of information the writer needs from employees (such as whether individual telecommuting patterns are predictable enough to allow scheduling of shared offices). The writer also doesn’t specify when the responses are needed or how the employees should respond. By failing to address such points, the request is likely to generate a variety of responses, some possibly helpful but some probably not.

Be Sure the Information Is Accurate

You have a responsibility to provide quality information to your readers.

The quality of the information you provide is every bit as important as the quantity. Inaccurate information in business messages can cause a host of problems, from embarrassment and lost productivity to serious safety and legal issues. You might commit the organization to promises it can’t keep—and the error could harm your reputation as a reliable businessperson. Thanks to the Internet, inaccurate information may persist for years after you distribute it.

You can minimize mistakes by double-checking every piece of information you collect. If you are consulting sources outside the organization, ask yourself whether the information is current and reliable. As Chapter 13 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000004d27#P7001012451000000000000000004D27) notes, you must be particularly careful when using sources you find online. Be sure to review any mathematical or financial calculations. Check all dates and schedules and examine your own assumptions and conclusions to be certain they are valid.

Be Sure the Information Is Ethical

By working hard to ensure the accuracy of the information you gather, you’ll also avoid many ethical problems in your messages. If you do make an honest mistake, such as delivering information you initially thought to be true but later found to be false, contact the recipients of the message immediately and correct the error. No one can reasonably fault you in such circumstances, and people will respect your honesty.

Omitting important information can be an unethical decision.

Messages can also be unethical if important information is omitted (see “Ethics Detective: Solving the Case of the Missing Safety Warning (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000002026#P7001012451000000000000000002068) ”). Of course, as a business professional, you may have legal or other sound business reasons for not including every detail about every matter. Just how much detail should you include? Make sure you include enough to avoid misleading your audience. If you’re unsure how much information your audience needs, offer as much as you believe best fits your definition of complete and then offer to provide more upon request.

Be Sure the Information Is Pertinent

When gathering information for your message, remember that some points will be more important to your audience than others. Audience members will appreciate your efforts to prioritize the information they need and filter out the information they don’t. Moreover, by focusing on the information that concerns your audience the most, you increase your chances of accomplishing your own communication goals.

Select the information to include based on how pertinent it is to your readers.

ETHICS DETECTIVE

Solving the Case of the Missing Safety Warning

Your company, Furniture Formations, creates a variety of home furniture products, with extensive use of fine woods. To preserve the look and feel of the wood, your craftspeople use an linseed oil–based finish that you purchase from a local wholesaler. The workers apply the finish with rags, which are thrown away after each project. After a news report about spontaneous combustion of waste rags occurring in other furniture shops, you grow concerned enough to contact the wholesaler and ask for verification of the product’s safety. The wholesaler knows you’ve been considering a nonflammable, water-based alternative from another source but tries to assure you with the following message:

Seal the rags in an approved container and dispose of it according to local regulations. As you probably already know, county regulations require all commercial users of oil-based materials to dispose of leftover finishes at the county’s hazardous waste facility.

You’re still not satisfied. You visit the website of the oil’s manufacturer and find the following cautionary statement about the product you’re currently using:

Finishes that contain linseed oil or tung oil require specific safety precautions to minimize the risk of fire. Oil-soaked rags and other materials such as steel wool must be sealed in water-filled metal containers and then disposed of in accordance with local waste management regulations. Failure to do so can lead to spontaneous combustion that results from the heat-producing chemical reaction that takes place as the finish dries. In particular, DO NOT leave wet, oil-soaked rags in a pile or discard them with other waste.

ANALYSIS

Was the wholesaler guilty of an ethical lapse in this case? If yes, explain what you think the lapse is and why you believe it is unethical. If no, explain why you think the statement qualifies as ethical.

If you don’t know your audience or if you’re communicating with a large group of people who have diverse interests, use common sense to identify points of interest. Audience factors such as age, job, location, income, and education can give you clues. If you’re trying to sell memberships in a health club, you might adjust your message for athletes, busy professionals, families, and people in different locations or in different income brackets. The comprehensive facilities and professional trainers would appeal to athletes, whereas the low monthly rates would appeal to college students on tight budgets.

Some messages necessarily reach audiences with a diverse mix of educational levels, subject awareness, and other variables. If possible, provide each audience segment with its own targeted information, such as by using sections in a brochure or links on a webpage.

4.4 Selecting the Best Combination of Media and Channels

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

4 List the factors to consider when choosing the most appropriate medium for a message. With the necessary information in hand, your next decision involves the best combination of media and channels to reach your target audience. As you recall from Chapter 1 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p700101245100000000000000000105b#P700101245100000000000000000105B) , the medium is the form a message takes and the channel is the system used to deliver the message. The distinction between the two isn’t always crystal clear, and some people use the terms in different ways, but these definitions are a useful way to think about the possibilities for business communication.

Most media can be distributed through more than one channel, so whenever you have a choice, think through your options to select the optimum combination. For example, a brief written message could be distributed as a printed letter or memo, or it could be distributed through a variety of digital channels, from email to blogging to social networking.

THE MOST COMMON MEDIA AND CHANNEL OPTIONS

The simplest way to categorize media choices is to divide them into oral (spoken), written, and visual. Each of these media can be delivered through digital and nondigital channels, which creates six basic combinations, discussed in the following sections. Table 4.1 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000002076#P7001012451000000000000000002084) on the next page summarizes the general advantages and disadvantages of the six medium/channel combinations. Specific options within these categories have their own strengths and weaknesses to consider as well.(For simplicity’s sake, subsequent chapters occasionally use “digital media” to indicate any of the three media types delivered through digital channels.)

Media can be divided into oral, written, and visual forms, and all three can be distributed through digital and nondigital channels.

Oral Medium, In-Person Channel

The oral medium, in-person combo involves talking with people who are in the same location, whether it’s a one-on-one conversation over lunch or a more formal speech or presentation. Being in the same physical space is a key distinction because it enables the nuances of nonverbal communication more than any other media/channel combo. As Chapter 2 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p70010124510000000000000000015f4#P70010124510000000000000000015F4) points out, these nonverbal signals can carry as much weight in the conversation as the words being spoken.

The nonverbal and interactive aspects of in-person communication are difficult to replicate in most other media/channel combinations.

By giving people the ability to see, hear, and react to each other, in-person communication is useful for encouraging people to ask questions, make comments, and work together to reach a consensus or decision. Face-to-face interaction is particularly helpful in complex, emotionally charged situations in which establishing or

fostering a business relationship is important.2

(http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000002310#P7001012451000000000000000002428) Managers who

engage in frequent “walk-arounds,” chatting with employees face-to-face, can get input, answer questions, and interpret important business events and trends.3

(http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000002310#P700101245100000000000000000242A)

Oral Medium, Digital Channel

Oral media via digital channels include any transmission of voice via electronic means, both live and recorded, including telephone calls, podcasts, and voicemail messages. Live phone conversations offer the give-and-take of in-person conversations and can be the best alternative to talking in person. Without a video component, however, they can’t provide the nuances of nonverbal communication. Podcasts can be a good way to share lectures, commentary, and other spoken content.You can read about podcasting in Chapter 7 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000003055#P7001012451000000000000000003055) .

TABLE 4.1 Medium/Channel Combinations: Advantages and Disadvantages

Medium/Channel Advantages Disadvantages

Oral, in-person • Provide opportunity for immediate feedback • Easily resolve misunderstandings and negotiate

meanings • Involve rich nonverbal cues (both physical gesture and

vocal inflection) • Allow expression of the emotion behind your message

• Restrict participation to those physically present • Unless recorded, provide no permanent, verifiable record

of the communication • Reduce communicator’s control over the message

Oral, digital • Can provide opportunity for immediate feedback (live phone or online conversations)

• Not restricted to participants in the same location • Allow time-shifted consumption (for example, podcasts)

• Lack nonverbal cues other than voice inflections • Can be tedious to listen to if not audience focused

(recorded messages)

Medium/Channel Advantages Disadvantages

Written, printed • Allow writers to plan and control their messages • Can reach geographically dispersed audiences • Offer a permanent, verifiable record • Minimize the distortion that can accompany oral

messages • Can be used to avoid immediate interactions • Deemphasize any inappropriate emotional components • Give recipients time to process messages before

responding (compared to oral communication)

• Offer limited opportunities for timely feedback • Lack the rich nonverbal cues provided by oral media • Often take more time and more resources to create and

distribute • Can require special skills to prepare or produce if

document is elaborate

Written, digital Generally, all the advantages of written printed documents plus: • Fast delivery • Can reach geographically dispersed audiences • Flexibility of multiple formats and channels, from

microblogs to wikis • Flexibility to structure messages in creative ways, such

as writing a headline on Twitter and linking to the full message on a blog

• Ability to link to related and more in-depth information • Can increase accessibility and openness in an

organization through broader sharing • Enable audience interaction through social media

features • Ease of integrating with other media types, such as

embedded videos or photos

• Can be limited in terms of reach and capability (for example, on Twitter you can reach only those people who follow you or search for you)

• Require Internet or mobile phone connectivity • Vulnerable to security and privacy problems • Are easy to overuse (sending too many messages to too

many recipients) • Create privacy risks and concerns (exposing confidential

data, employer monitoring, accidental forwarding) • Entail security risks (viruses, spyware; network breaches) • Create productivity concerns (frequent interruptions,

nonbusiness usage)

Visual, printed • Can quickly convey complex ideas and relationships • Often less intimidating than long blocks of text • Can reduce the burden on the audience to figure out

how the pieces of a message or concept fit • Can be easy to create in spreadsheets and other

software (simple charts and graphs), then integrate with reports

• Can require artistic skills to design • Require some technical skills to create • Can require more time to create than equivalent amount

of text • Can be expensive to print

Visual, digital Generally, all the advantages of visual printed documents and all the advantages of written digital formats plus:

• Can personalize and enhance the experience for audience members

• Offer the persuasive power of multimedia formats, particularly video

• Potential time, cost, and skills needed to create • Can require large amounts of bandwidth

Written Medium, Print Channel

Written, printed documents are the classic format of business communication. Memos (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000002310#P700101245100000000000000000232B) are brief printed documents traditionally used for the routine, day-to-day exchange of information within an organization. Letters (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000002310#P7001012451000000000000000002325) are brief written messages sent to customers and other recipients outside the organization. Reports and proposals are usually longer than memos and letters, although both can be created in memo or letter format. These documents come in a variety of lengths, ranging from a few pages to several hundred, and usually have a fairly formal tone.

Although printed documents are still a useful format, they have been replaced by digital alternatives in many instances. However, here are several situations in which you should consider a printed message over electronic alternatives:

Digital media/channel formats have replaced printed documents in many instances, but print is still the best choice for some messages and situations.

• When you want to make a formal impression • When you are legally required to provide information in printed form • When you want to stand out from the flood of electronic messages • When you need a permanent, unchangeable, or secure record

Obviously, if you can’t reach a particular audience electronically, you’ll need to use a printed message. Appendix A (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p70010124510000000000000000070ad#P70010124510000000000000000070AD) offers guidelines on formatting printed memos and letters.

Written Medium, Digital Channel

Most of your business communication efforts will involve the combination of written medium and digital channel.

Figure 4.4 Media and Channel Choices: Written + Digital

Harley-Davidson could’ve chosen a variety of media/channel combinations to share this information about Harley fans taking a cross-country ride on vintage motorcycles. Facebook was an appealing choice because of the company’s huge fan base (more than 7 million people) and the ease of sharing the message on the social network.

Courtesy Harley-Davidson

Most of your business communication efforts will involve written digital messages, with everything from super-short tweets to website content to book-length reports distributed as portable document format (PDF) files (see Figure 4.4 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000002076#P700101245100000000000000000213B) ). Business uses of written digital messages keep evolving as companies look for ways to communicate more effectively. For example, email has been a primary business medium for

several decades, but it is being replaced in many cases by a variety of other digital formats.4

(http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000002310#P700101245100000000000000000242C) Chapters 7 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000003055#P7001012451000000000000000003055) and 8 (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/Bovee.7626.18.1/sections/p7001012451000000000000000003454#P7001012451000000000000000003454) take a closer look at various written-digital combinations, from email to instant messaging (IM) to social networks.

Visual Medium, Print Channel

Photographs and diagrams can be effective communication tools for conveying emotional content, spatial relationships, technical processes, and other content that can be difficult to describe using words alone. You may occasionally create visual printed messages as standalone items, but most will be used as supporting material in printed documents.

Visual Medium, Digital Channel