The Types of Clients

1. Social position - is the status that a person enjoys in a communication

context. One may be a president or leader, middle manager, a colleague or
co-equal, or a subordinate in an organization of community. These social
positions dictate how one gets communicated to and how that communication
has to be crafted, packaged, contained, and delivered.

2. Education level - may suggest the reading skills and healthy literacy and
the ability to engage with more complex topics—new and even unfamiliar. An
audience that has limited literacy skills may find it difficult to use written
materials; with such audience, oral presentations may be more effective.

3. Age range - can affect choice of communication format or distribution. The

communication materials may be relevant to people of all ages but the age of
the audience may affect the communication format or distribution channels.
Social media websites and mobile texting for example may be more
appropriate for providing information to younger audience while printed
materials, emails, phone calls, meetings, and memos may be more effective
for older audience.

4. Race and ethnicity - is an important consideration in communication

particularly in deciding on graphics and photos. It is important to design the
graphics and photos in the communication materials to reflect the
demographics of the intended audience.

5. Primary language - has to be considered if the message is to be effective. If

the language used is different from the one used by the target audience, there
is a need to translate the communication materials into the primary language.

6. Health status - matters a lot as it dictates people’s disposition to listening

and responding and the ability to’ make meaning out of the communicated
material. Although people with certain health conditions tend to be more
informed health-care consumers with a greater awareness of issues within the
health-care system, it is important that the materials are more personal and
relevant to specific health conditions or issues.

7. Job type - of the audience can affect the format of materials and the
distribution methods to be used. For an audience without access to their own
computers, disseminating the materials through an Internet site or email
messages may not be effective.

8. Information - sources matter for they affect the format and distribution of the
communication materials and also the medium they trust.