MODULE 2

Lesson 1:
PLANNING BUSINESS
MESSAGES
OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the lesson students should be able to:
1. Explain the importance of planning business messages.
2. Demonstrate how to effectively use planning sheet in business
business messages.
3. Appreciate the value of planning business messages.
Introduction

Planning is an important aspect in any human activity. Moreso, in business it is the

first activity in any business endeavor.
In this module, you will be guided to explain the 3 steps in the writing process for
creating effective business messages in less time which will help plan and organize
message that will capture your audience and keep your audience attention.
Pre-test
Write T if the statement is true and F if otherwise.
1. Planning starts with stating your purpose and analyzing the situation. ______
2. In analyzing the situation you have to define your general purpose before
deciding on your specific purpose.
3. In gathering information, putting yourselves in the audience position is not
important.
4. In selecting the right medium the disadvantage of an oral media would be limited
reach because communication is only with people who are present at a particular
time.
5. In the choice of visual media the presence of graphics representation to
supplement your message is a powerful tool.
1.) Planning – start with a clear purpose. Action based purpose statement. Ex. I want
my reader to:
a. Analyze situation
b. Gather information
c. Select the right medium
d. Organizing the Information
a. Analyze the situation - Define your general purpose which could be to inform,
to persuade, to collaborate or to initiate a conversation.
Then, decide on your specific purpose. This will give focus to your message. To
define your specific purpose, decide on what response you like your audience to do.
One way to create a specific purpose by stating it in action based statement which
starts with a verb – “Iwant my reader to … thus, enabling your audience how and
when to respond.
Example:
Project: A report recommending to close down the health facility and subsidize
membership of local health clubs. (Fig. 3.4) Using Audience Analysis to Plan a
Message.
Primary Audience: Nicole Perazzo VP for Operation and her team
Size and Geographic Distribution: Nine (9) managers and 5 staff who are here on
site. Three (3) supervisors are based in Hongkong. Since the 3 supervisors are not
familiar with I will include a description and statistics.
Composition: All have experience in operations management except some who
are not so I will provide statistics and reasons
Of employees on how they will benefit from having it on site.
Level of Understanding: All will understand that financial consideration must be
considered, but few of the managers may not understand the importance of the on
site-facility exercise to our employees.
Expectations and preferences: They are expecting a firms recommendation
backed up with a well thought financial rationale and communicating the bad news to
employees. For this decision, a formal report is necessary; e-mail distribution is
expected.
 Probable reactions: From one-on one discussions, I know that several managers
receiving this report are active users of this on site facility and will not welcome the
idea of closing it down. So I must emphasize the cost of running this, versus the cost
alternative. However, some exercisers generally thinks that it’s a luxury the
company can’t afford. Audience reactions will rate this from highly positive to highly
negative; the report should focus on convincing the people who are likely to have the
most negative reactions.
B. Gathering Information
- Consider audience’s perspective. Put yourselves in the audience position: what are
they thinking? feeling? or planning? What information do they need in order to move
forward?
- Listen to the community. Listen and find out what customers, product enthusiasts or
other people have to say and listen.
- Read reports and other company documents . Annual reports, financial statements,
news releases, blogs etc. Look for data bases to know the insights and experiences of
employees throughout the organization.
- Talk with your colleagues, c supervisors, customers about the information you
need.
- Ask your audience for inputs rather than guessing.
C. Selecting the right medium:
1. Oral media – face to face conversation, interviews, speeches, in-person
presentations and meeting give communicators the ability to see, hear and make
reactions on important issues specially in complex and emotionally charged situation.
Disadvantage would be limited reach because communication is only with people
who are present at a particular time. Reduced control over message as people can
interrupt, question or take control of a conversation.
2. Written media – Letters, memos, with standard format (template) to make it
personalized for each recipient. Reports and proposals depending on the need of the
audience can be longer.
 3. Visual media - the presence of graphics representation to supplement your
message is a powerful tool. Electronic media, infographics, podcasts, wikis, blogs
and the like.
. d. Organizing the information – you need to write a plan sheet.
A. Purpose Statement:
(I want my audience to _______________________)
B. Main message:
(Summarize your message in one sentence )
____________________________________________
C. Audience Questions: (My audience will want to know…)
___________________________________

D. Audience Reaction (How will my audience respond)

____________________________________
E. Channel Selection (What is the best way to send this message to the audience?)
__________________________________
ACTIVITY (100 pts)

Prepare a plan sheet for the following scenario:

You are the VP of a health club, financial constraints necessitates that you need
to tell your employees that you will have to close your health Club and to patronize
local health clubs that will subsidize their membership fee. Follow the template in
coming up with a plan sheet