Pl

anni
ngaBusi
nessMessage

Thesuccessofabusi nessdependsupont hewayonecommuni catesone’

smessaget oother
s.
Thewr i
terofabusinessmessage,therefore,needstopl an,
organize,dr
aft
,revi
se,edit
,and
proofreadhismessage.Ifamessagei snotpr oper
lyplannedandwor ded,itmaynotonl y
tarni
sht heimageoft hewri
terbutalsoadv er
selyaffecttheimageoft heorgani
zationhe/she
represents.Thusexcell
entbusi
nessr esult
scanbeachi evedonlybysendingeffecti
ve
messages.

Fi
veSt
epsf
orPl
anni
ngaBusi
nessMessage

Tocommuni
cat
eef
fect
ivel
y,consi
dert
hef
oll
owi
ngf
ivest
epsf
orpl
anni
ngabusi
nessmessage:

1.I
dentifyyourPurpose
2.Analyzeyouraudience
3.Choosey ourideas
4.Coll
ectdatatosupportyouri
deas
5.Organizeyourmessage

I
dentif
yy ourPurpose
Thef i
rstofthef iveplanningst epsofamessagei stohaveacl earideaofi tspur pose.Normal
ly
,
thepurposeoft hemessagei st wo- fol
d:t
hereasonforthemessagei tsel
fandt hecr eati
onof
goodwi l
l.Thefirststepwhenpl anningamessagei stodetermineitsspeci f
icpur pose.Your
messagemaybei nformat i
onal, suchasannouncingyourfir
m’snewaddr ess.Itmaybe
persuasive,suchasaski ngt hecust omertobuyapar t
icul
arproduct .Besides,allmessages
haveanunder l
yingpur poset ocr eategoodwill
.Court
esyandconsi der at
ionareespeci all
y
necessar yt
ocr eategoodwi l
l.Consequent l
y,i
fthepurposeisnotcleari nthemi ndofthesender,
thecommuni cationwi l
lfailt
oachi evethedesi
redfeedback.

Analy
zey ouraudience
Seeingthemessagef rom t her eceiver
s’poi
ntofview,andkeepinginmind,
theneeds,int
erest
s,
atti
tudes,andcult
ure,helpt oanalyzet heaudi
ence.Youcanimagi net
heaudienceorreaderif
youknowt hem.Muchofy ourwr i
ti
ng,however,wi
llgotopeopleorcompaniesyouhav enever
met .Sobecar ef
ulwit
ht hesal utati
onoft hemessage.Payattenti
ontotheproperpl
acementof
fi
rstandlastnamesandcor recttit
les.
Chooseyouri deas
After
ward, y
ouhav etochoosetheideasfory
ourmessagewhi chi sthesecondstepforpl
anning
abusinessmessage.Thus, ify
ouareansweringalett
er,under
linethemai npoi
ntstodi
scuss,
andjotdowny ouri
deasinthemargin.Li
kewi
se,i
fy ouarewrit
inganuni nvi
tedoracomplex
message, beginbyli
sti
ngideasastheycomet oyou,andthenchoosi ngthebesti
deasforyour
recei
ver.

Howev er,t
heideasy ouincludedependont hetypeofmessagey ouaresending,andthe
backgroundandl ocati
onofy ourreceiver(
nati
onalori
nternational).Forexample,i
nar epl
yfrom
alargeresorthot
el toaper sonwhohasaskedaboutr ates, y
oumi ghtsendabr i
efli
stofin-and
out-
of-seasonpri
ces.Buti fyouwi lll
imityourr
esponsetot hisli
st,youwoul dmissan
opportunit
ytoselltheotherser vi
cesy ouhavetooffer
.Includet hef ol
lowi
ngideasinsuchkind
ofresponse:

A.Fi
rst,t
hankt her eaderforthelet
ter
,askingaboutr
ates.
B.Then,ment i
ont heser v
icesthehotelprovi
des.
C.Si
mi l
arl
y,Includei nf
ormat i
onabouttheplacewherethehot
eli
slocat
ed.
D.Then,Givedet ai
lsaboutt hefaci
li
ti
esyouof f
er.
E.Fi
nall
y,li
stther ates.
Youmightal
soi
ncl
udeabr
ochur
eofy
ourhot
elal
ongwi
thsmal
lbr
ochur
esoff
amoussi
ght
sin
yourar
ea.

Col
lectdatatosupportyourideas
Afterthi
s,youmustdet erminewhet heryouneedspeci f i
cfact
s,fi
gures,orot
herformsof
evidencetosupportyourpoi nts.Moreover,besurey ouknowy ourcompanypol i
cies,
procedures,andproductdet ai
lsifyourmessager equiresthem.Also,checkyourdataonthe
namesofi ndivi
duals,
dat es,addresses,
et c.Si
milarl
y,youmaysomet i
mesneedt oenclosea
brochure,t
able,pi
ctur
e, orproductsampl e.Lastl
y,besur etocol
lectenoughdatatosupport
yourideas.

Or
ganizey ourmessage
Thisist helastofthefi
vestepsf orplanningabusi nessmessage.Bef oreyouwr it
eyourfi
r st
draft,outl
ineyourmessage( mentall
yoronpaper )
.Mor eover,t
heor derinwhi chyoupresent
yourideasi sasi mport
antast heideast hemselves.Ont heotherhand, j
umbl edandpointless
messagesar eof t
enconfusing,anduni mportant.Howev er,di
ff
erenttacticsarenecessaryf or
dif
ferentcul t
ures.Whil
etheU. S.businesspeopleof t
enpr ef
erthedirectst y
le,SouthAmerican,
middl eeastern,andAsiancount r
iesliketheindi
rectstyl
e.Additi
onal l
y,Europeansmostof t en
uset hedirectapproach.Therefore,choosey ourorgani
zat i
onalplanafteryouhav eworked
throughy ourbasicfi
veplanningst epsforplanningabusi nessmessage.