Principle #2: Know your audience
A clear understanding of the content's target audience helps you make decisions about:
- word choice
- voice and tone
- structure and layout.
Once you know your audience, it is easier to write to their abilities and expectations.
Audience types
Before making a decision about whether web content will reach a target audience, find out who the audience is.
For example, it could include:
- business owners
- a small restaurant owner looking for licensing information; a medium-sized enterprise looking for statistical information
- residents
- a keen gardener looking for information on weeds and pests; a parent wanting to know what schools are in their area
- community groups
- an environmental group wanting research information
- tourists
- visitors wanting information on things to see and do in Queensland.
A piece of content will often have multiple target audiences.
Identifying the audience
Audiences can be identified by:
- age and gender
- social group (e.g. family with young children, seniors)
- occupation, interest or concern.
For each audience type consider:
- education and/or reading level
- language abilities
- subject-specific knowledge.
Questions to consider when identifying your audience
What does your audience already know about the subject? (e.g. do they have general or specialised knowledge)
What are the main ideas that your audience needs to know?
How does the audience expect to be spoken to? (e.g. a business audience expects a more formal tone than a residential audience)
Is there any specialised language your audience needs or that you should avoid? (Ensure that inclusive terms are used where required).
