assignment 6.1 advertising techniques

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Eight tips for creating a more effective advertising strategy.

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CMO at  Quantcast , a global advertising technology company that is championing the free and open internet.

I recently published “ The Good In Advertising (And How To Channel It) ,” and I wanted to expand on how to reach audiences effectively.

In today’s era of digital advertising, I believe that every business can get their message out effectively and efficiently to help shift the needle. But there are several considerations to make, regardless of your business, to ensure you achieve your overall objectives. First, let’s understand the reason for advertising. To put it another way, ask the question: Why advertise? In my very humble opinion, the answer is simple. We advertise to grow our business: Full stop. We do this by identifying and reaching new customers through awareness and engaging current customers to create brand loyalty through offers that help our businesses capture revenue. That’s why we all advertise and why advertising is a “bazillion-dollar business.” Today’s modern ad tech platforms can help you know and grow your audiences in order for your business to thrive. (Full disclosure: My company offers an ad tech platform.) In addition to considering the platform options available to you, there are a myriad of other factors you should take into account. Here’s my go-to list, but first, let’s discuss No. 0. That’s right: No. 0. The first thing you should do is this:

0. Create a plan. What are your objectives? What are your success metrics? Are you focused on brand awareness or conversions to a purchase? How will you time your campaign? How long will it run? Will it be local or global? Will you target current customers, new ones or both? What about formats and budget? My point is that without a plan, you may not achieve your business objectives. Before embarking on a campaign (marketing or advertising), I believe it is essential to map out all of the above and get buy-in from the business.

Now let’s get started on the key considerations for your new advertising campaign:

1. Determine where your audience is. To do this, first ask yourself these questions: Who is your audience? What are their patterns, behaviors, psychographics and preferences? If you know the answers to those questions, you might actually be able to find out where they are. I remember when IBM TV ads of yesteryear were aired during golf tournaments that my dad watched. As a kid, I equated golf to IBM. But their decision-makers and the audience they wanted to reach were likely watching those commercials. It makes sense to me now, but I was not their intended audience. In today’s digital world, your audience might be on LinkedIn or hanging out on Reddit, People or Forbes . Ask yourself: Where is my potential audience? And keep in mind that your audience — and where they like to go — is ever-changing.

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2. Understand your audience. I mean really understand them. What you think might be appealing to them may not be, especially when it comes to creative, copy and delivery. Think about their reactions, and experiment to see what works.

3. Be authentic to your brand. As I mentioned in my last piece, “Don’t try to convey a message that is not in line with the brand, product or consumer. Don’t be what you are not. It always gets a reaction from people: ‘Huh? That’s different for [name of the brand].’ Different isn’t always better.”

4. Fine-tune your message. I strongly believe the message is everything. If you miss the message, you miss the market and the audience. Will your message appeal to the audience you’re trying to reach?

5. Make sure creative and copy work together for your brand. The most clever and effective brand ads are sometimes the most subtle. They blend their message and the art together to present a holistic picture of a brand — sometimes focusing on the product and sometimes the ideal customer. You know this strategy when you see it. It is true to the brand, true to the product and true to the potential customer. It truly is a piece of art.

6. People matter. Larger companies have the ability to work with creative and media agencies. Smaller companies may be able to create their own ad campaigns, or they can hire a small, independent agency. Regardless, the people you work with matter. They should listen and work side-by-side with you as a partner. One size does not fit all, and sometimes a combination of agency and DIY work is just fine.

7. Reach your audience where they are, not where they are not. What is your advertising mix? Do you use billboards, online display units, social media or print? If you know where your potential audience is, can you determine the best format with which to reach them? Large agencies might know. For example, if you are an online gaming company, potential customers are probably playing their favorite online games already.

8. Measure. If it is a brand campaign, you will likely want to measure brand lift. My team once placed a digital billboard near the airport on the freeway. Roughly 1.4 million people drove by that billboard weekly. That’s as fine-grained as we got on measurement, but that provided brand awareness. On the other hand, you can measure performance ads with metrics like leads, conversions, clicks and more. Always factor measurement into your plan so you can point to indications of success.

I’m sure my friends in advertising can offer more ideas, and it would be great to hear from others about what has worked so we can all learn and do even better.

Forbes Communications Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?

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13.1 The Promotion Mix and Its Elements

Learning outcomes.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• 1 Define the promotion mix and explain its importance.
• 2 List and describe the elements of the promotion mix.

What Is the Promotion Mix?

We are all consumers, and we have all been the target of promotional campaigns. To connect with consumers of a target market, companies conduct extensive market research so that they may better understand the consumer. When companies understand the consumer, they can better structure a message to appeal to the consumer and also find the best channels for reaching the customer.

The created messages aim to get consumers’ attention. Sometimes they create awareness of a new event, a new product, a new idea, or a place to visit. Sometimes they are asking consumers to make a purchase. Marketing promotion is all around us.

According to the marketing firm Yankelovich Inc. , the average digitally connected person is exposed to around 5,000 ads per day. 4 Among the biggest promotional spenders in the United States is Disney . 5 Disney produces ads for everything from its movies and toys to its vacation clubs and theme parks. While we should be flattered that these companies are thinking of us and trying to figure out how to reach us and what messages they should send, many consumers are busy trying to figure out how to shut out the messages.

When you sit down to watch television, you are typically exposed to ads that a company believes that you will respond to based on the research it has done about the audience watching the show you tuned in to watch. During your time scrolling through your news feed on Facebook , you are being served ads that correspond to your Internet search history and even products you may have mentioned while your phone was on and your news feed open. Digital advertising relies heavily on algorithms of your search history and site visits.

As recipients of these marketing messages, many consumers believe that marketing is only advertising or sales. However, advertising and sales are simply two options in a marketer’s arsenal of communication tools used to connect with the target market. Developing a marketing communications strategy is something marketers should only do after they have developed the rest of the marketing mix.

In fact, marketers have a wide variety of strategies to use from the overall promotional mix (see Figure 13.2 ). Most companies choose to use a combination of the promotional mix methods to create an integrated marketing communication message that reaches the customer in many different ways. When the messaging is integrated, the consumer receives the same message no matter which method of promotion is chosen. If the consumer is watching the news and hears a story about the company or product, public relations has impacted them. If they then scroll through their social media accounts at the end of the day and they see an ad for the same product, advertising has impacted them. When they sort through their email and have a message from the company, they have received a direct marketing communication.

No longer does promotion need to rely heavily on just one method of marketing communication. Marketers can be much more targeted and more cost-effective in the promotional methods they choose. Using a combination of methods to send the same message allows the marketer to be more strategic in their messaging and in their budgeting.

The best products are nothing until the consumer knows about them. Without good promotion, the best products are just secrets. We all have things we want to say, and on any given day we make phone calls, create Instagram posts, upload TikTok videos, send emails, shoot off text messages, and talk face-to-face with people. And just like us, marketers also have things to say. Usually, they want to tell consumers about their new brand extension of Reese’s, a trade-in allowance for a new Toyota Camry that just hit the car lot, or even a buy-one-get-one-free promotion for your Starbucks latte. How marketers decide to say and send the message is the promotion mix.

The promotion mix is the set of strategies marketers use to communicate with their customers. With combined strategies, the promotion mix creates a powerful method of connecting with the customer and conveying all the other marketing mix elements for a holistic marketing approach. The promotion mix allows marketers to reach customers in many different ways, ensuring that the message is seen, heard, and understood. After determining and defining the target market, creating a good product, selecting a pricing strategy and optimal price, and deciding on the distribution method, the marketer is ready to communicate with the customer.

Messages sent by multiple methods provide a better opportunity for consumers to see and hear the message and make the connection back to the company. When a message is only sent by one method, the potential for interference, noise, and avoidance is more likely to occur. Marketers use a multichannel approach to send an integrated message.

Promotion Mix Defined

The full set of strategies that combine to make up the promotion mix include advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, public relations, direct marketing, and Internet/digital marketing. Each of these methods is intended to produce different results when used. Combining the elements creates an overall integrated message designed to reach consumers at various points in their path to purchase. Marketers call this integrated messaging integrated marketing communications.

The Importance of the Promotion Mix

Of all the marketing mix variables, the promotion mix can be further divided into different message channels that allow for connection and communication with the customer. When the promotion connects with the customer, it is the moment when all the marketing activities come together. When the messaging and method of delivery reach the customer and create the desired result, the marketing has achieved its purpose.

The strategies in the promotion mix provide the marketer with an arsenal of methods to achieve their marketing objectives, such as increasing sales or introducing a new product. However, consumers are bombarded with marketing messages throughout the day, and these are combined with the business of everyday life events like news, music, work, chores, family, and friends. With this busy pace and activity, the consumer is very difficult to reach. For the busy consumer, one communication method alone is not likely to cut through the clutter and noise to reach them and make an impact. Marketers must combine the various communication elements to connect with the customer and meet the communication objective.

Elements of the Promotion Mix

When analyzed individually, each of the promotional mix elements is powerful. They each have a part to play in the overall success of a company. When combined and carefully executed, they create powerful brands with legions of loyal fans and followers—the consumers. What do each of these promotional mix elements do, and how do they contribute to the whole process of connecting with the consumer?

• Advertising

Advertising is a multibillion-dollar industry. According to Statista, in 2020 alone, worldwide advertising spending reached $586 billion. 6 Advertising is paid, nonpersonal communication from an identified source that allows for creative messaging about all aspects of a product, service, idea, person, or place. Consumers are able to quickly point to advertising as a form of promotion. It is perhaps the element of the promotional mix that we are most familiar with and the one we have been most exposed to throughout every phase of our lives.

From our very first commercial showing how much fun it is to build with LEGO to imagery of a toddler walking the Disney streets with a costumed princess and Cinderella’s castle in the foreground, we know what advertising looks like. And while advertising can take many forms, it is important to note that advertising consists of carefully designed messaging from the company to the consumer. Advertising is meant to produce a response in the viewer. And advertising is all about what the company wants to tell us.

Advertising can be the pop-up window while we are doing a Google search. It can be the Chick-fil-A billboard we pass every day on our way to work. Advertising can be the trailer we watch before our movie starts. And advertising can be the fun Doritos spots we look forward to during the annual Super Bowl.

While advertising can be a costly means of communication with the customer, it is relatively inexpensive based on the number of people reached. When NBC priced the 2021 Super Bowl at $6 million for a 30-second spot, with a record 96 million viewers, the price averaged out to around $0.06 per person reached. 7

Advertising is effective based on the frequency with which it is usually viewed. And because of the media, the advertising message can usually be repeated many times, depending on the budget. Due to its repeatability, production costs have a better return on investment (ROI) the more an ad is used, and the recall of the ad increases significantly.

Sales Promotion

Most consumers love a sales promotion . It creates a feeling of excitement and often includes a bit of a gaming experience into the purchase decision. Marketers value the benefits of sales promotions because the results are immediate and they have a wide variety of options when using this promotional mix element. A sales promotion is a method for a marketer to induce sales in the short term. Sales promotion is not a long-term strategy but is geared toward specific calls to action, typically aimed at getting the consumer to buy something immediately or enter a sweepstakes or contest (see Figure 13.3 ).

Using sales promotions can be an effective method of getting the consumer to try a product or buy more of a product, or it can be a way to quickly deplete an inventory to make way for new products.

While sales promotions have many tactics that the marketer can employ, several commonly used examples of sales promotion include the following:

• Buy One Get One (BOGO) . When Domino’s Pizza offers the customer a free pizza when they buy a medium one-topping pizza, this BOGO deal is used to get an immediate increase in sales for Domino’s pizza. Consumers may buy Domino’s over other pizza brands because they can get more pizza for their money.
• Enter to Win . PepsiCo needed to gain traction with the millennial audience. It needed to boost the Lay’s brand of potato chips and compete with new flavorful organic chips that were getting market share in the category once dominated by Lay’s. To generate new interest in its brand, Lay’s launched a campaign for consumers to create a new flavor. New flavors could be entered, Lay’s would create samples, and the winner of the new chip flavor would win $1 million.
• Coupons . This method of promotion has come a long way with the use of technology. While consumers are still able to “clip” coupons and redeem them at the point of sale to receive savings on the products they are buying, many companies are making coupons available through mobile apps and discount codes to apply at the point of sale through an e-commerce store. Using coupons is a great method of inducing trial of a new product and increasing market share.

For National Ice Cream Day (see Figure 13.4 ), Cumberland Farms wanted to increase the sales of its house brand of ice cream, Ultimate Scoop . 8 It offered consumers a digital coupon for $1 off a pint of the ice cream. Cumberland Farms’ existing customers received their coupon via text message, and new customers could text in to get the coupon.

• Rebates . Companies offer rebates to induce purchase and generally to receive something in return besides the sale. When a rebate is offered for the purchase of an Energy Star–certified product, the consumer gets a designated dollar amount off the price of the product, and in turn they must submit the proof of purchase along with identifying information about themselves.

Personal Selling

Personal selling is one of the most expensive forms of promotion because it is a one-on-one, person-to-person form of communicating with the customer. The role of the salesperson is to inform and persuade the customer. This is usually done in what is termed an exchange situation. The salesperson is exchanging knowledge and something of value, while the customer is exchanging money for the item of value. Personal selling is ideal for products that can be customized, are complex, and have a relatively high price point.

Typically, personal selling is most often used in business-to-business (B2B) markets. Business buyers have longer buying cycles, more complex buying situations, and larger budgets. The pharmaceutical industry is well-known for using personal selling. Company representatives must have a high degree of training and knowledge about the products they are selling to physicians and hospitals. It is also very common to have a sales force to sell equipment and machinery to manufacturing plants. Businesses rely on the knowledge and service of the sales force selling them products.

In the business-to-consumer (B2C) market, personal selling is used for items that cost more or items that have a high degree of variation. We find sales representatives when we buy automobiles, home improvement products, and insurance. The job of the sales representative is to determine our needs and provide solutions that fill those needs.

When compared to advertising, which has a very general message directed to a very large audience, personal selling is an individualized message for one or several people within the buying group. When evaluating the costs of personal selling, it is typically hundreds to thousands of dollars per person reached.

The process of personal selling can be time-consuming. The process of selling and the tasks of the sales force can be complex. The sales professional is tasked with prospecting to identify the right customers and then qualifying them to make certain they are a good fit for the product.

It is not uncommon to hear people say, “You talk a good game. You could sell to anyone.” In reality, salespeople do not want to talk people into a product. A good sales force only wants to sell to customers who want and need the product. The best sales force knows that when the customer is a good fit, they will bring repeat business and good word of mouth.

While some salespeople have a natural inclination for selling, others are highly skilled with the technical knowledge of the products they are selling. Understanding customers, the buying situation, and the product being sold are a few of the skills needed to master the art of selling. Good sales professionals know that the real work of the sale is to service the needs of the client long after the sale has been made.

Public Relations

Public relations is a nonpaid, nonpersonal form of promotion. Because it is nonpaid, it has a high degree of credibility and is beneficial because a typically credible, non-biased third party is the messenger. While there are many tactics that marketers might use for public relations, some of the most commonly used include press releases, press conferences, events, and annual reports.

Many of the other promotional tools focus specifically on communication with the customer. By contrast, public relations includes efforts to work with the community where it operates, media, government officials, educators, and potential investors.

When Nordstrom opened its flagship store in Manhattan, it unlocked the doors a few days early for a VIP celebration that included Vogue ’s editor, Anna Wintour , along with actresses, models, and designers. Some of the noted attendees included Zoe Saldana , Katie Holmes , Olivia Wilde , Karlie Kloss , Joan Smalls , Winnie Harlow , Tory Burch , Tommy Hilfiger , and Stacey Bendet of Alice + Olivia . Guests formed long lines around the store in an attempt to access the party. 9

TOMS shoes has long been a leader in cause marketing (see Figure 13.5 ). When you buy from TOMS, one-third of the profits go to Grassroot Good . 10 TOMS’ annual report highlights the people the company helps and how it helps them. Investors and any interested parties receive the annual report that details the work TOMS does right along with the profits it is making.

When celebrities wind up in the news, it is public relations, and it works to keep their name before the public and their fans. So the headline that hits the front page of the New York Times or is a leading story on the NBC nightly news both create publicity for the celebrity. Businesses also use publicity. A business might have a product as part of a movie, such as BMW vehicles showing up in 37 of the highest-grossing movies of 2018. 11

Public relations can also include crisis communication when negative issues occur. One of the biggest public relations issues happened in 1982 to Tylenol . A malicious person or persons in the Chicago area tampered with a few bottles of Tylenol Extra Strength capsules by replacing the actual capsules with cyanide-laced capsules. Consumers who unwittingly bought the Tylenol ended up dead. Johnson & Johnson , the maker of Tylenol, was facing issues that could easily have destroyed its business. The issue was the leading story for every news outlet.

Johnson & Johnson faced the issue head-on and made the bold move to have Tylenol removed from all shelves. The recall resulted in the removal of 30 million products from store shelves. 12 In the end Tylenol was a hero and won the trust of a nation.

Direct Marketing

Direct marketing allows for direct communication with the customer. Messages can be tailored to specific market segments and even personalized toward individual consumers. Early tactics of direct marketing included telephone and mail; however, technology has allowed for new methods of connecting with the customer to include text messaging and email marketing.

In 2019, the Data & Marketing Association (DMA) reported that the direct mail industry was valued at $44.2 billion. 13 It’s the second largest channel for ad spend in the United States, and it continues to grow. Transformed by technology, direct marketing is finding new methods to connect with the customer. Most connection includes a call to action that provides for immediate feedback on the effectiveness of the method.

Internet/Digital Marketing

Internet/digital marketing includes uses of technology to reach customers at many different points of interaction. Marketers have at their disposal a variety of methods to reach their customers and brand products. Some of the tools include websites, landing pages, social media pages, widgets, and customer relationship management (CRM) systems. All the digital properties work together to drive traffic to the branded properties and engage the consumers.

Digital marketing is geared toward very specific market segments and is primarily interactive. Think of digital marketing as the mechanism that produces the immediate interaction with the customer and produces some type of feedback. Digital is considered two-way communication between the company and the customer. During the early stages of launching the SPANX brand, Sara Blakely primarily used digital marketing with a heaving emphasis on social media. 14 She involved her women friends who were in her target market demographic and had them post about the brand through their social media.

By contrast, Internet marketing is sending a message to a mass audience. The Internet is used to for digital marketing and includes websites and digital ads as well as the two-way communication of social media. Other forms of digital marketing include mobile technology such as SMS and mobile apps.

When a consumer completes a Google search for shoes and then jumps to Facebook to scroll their feed and are served shoe ads from Nordstrom, Macy’s , and Steve Madden , they have been targeted by these shoe companies. The targeting, immediacy, and changeability of the messaging makes digital a quick and efficient method of reaching consumers. Digital promotional tools are extremely effective and can cut through the clutter and reach the consumer when they are in the demand phase of the buying process and have signaled an intent to purchase.

According to a 2020 chief marketing officer (CMO) survey from Gartner , two-thirds of promotional budgets are being spent on digital. 15 Because of the tremendous analytics available, marketers are able to assess the effectiveness immediately. Messages can be tested for effectiveness and quickly changed if they are not producing results. It is very difficult to get the same quick feedback with any of the other forms of promotion. Through careful tracking and robust customer relationship management (CRM) systems, marketers are quickly able to promote products, increase brand awareness, and move consumers down the sales funnel to instantly purchase through online e-commerce sites.

Utilizing mobile app technology, marketers are able to push promotions to customers while segmenting them by their behaviors and simultaneously filling their CRM with insights and analytics that can help drive promotions and sales.

Careers In Marketing

Integrated marketing career.

An integrated marketing communications (IMC) professional builds and manages campaigns that integrate all the facets of marketing—advertising, public relations, digital campaigns, sales, etc. If you’re interested in this job role, check out this article to learn about the qualifications, experience, and salary . You can also refer to programs offered by educational organizations that specialize in integrated marketing. A few examples of those educational organizations include San Diego State University , Marist , Northwestern , and Eastern Michigan University, to name a few. Check out this list for the Best Marketing Communication Colleges according to Best Accredited Colleges .

Additional resources to explore include the following video:

Knowledge Check

It’s time to check your knowledge on the concepts presented in this section. Refer to the Answer Key at the end of the book for feedback.

• have all of a company’s marketing and promotional activities project a consistent image and message to its target market
• control all facets of a product’s distribution
• communicate with customers only through television commercials
• have complete control over all facets of the marketing mix
• communications about a good, service, or company
• paid forms of nonpersonal communication about a good, service, or company
• communication that moves the product from the wholesaler to the retailer
• communication from a company sales representative to a company buyer
• Sales promotion
• Personal selling
• Public relations
• sales promotion
• public relations
• personal selling
• Internet/digital promotion
• advertising
• direct marketing

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Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/principles-marketing/pages/1-unit-introduction

• Authors: Dr. Maria Gomez Albrecht, Dr. Mark Green, Linda Hoffman
• Publisher/website: OpenStax
• Book title: Principles of Marketing
• Publication date: Jan 25, 2023
• Location: Houston, Texas
• Book URL: https://openstax.org/books/principles-marketing/pages/1-unit-introduction
• Section URL: https://openstax.org/books/principles-marketing/pages/13-1-the-promotion-mix-and-its-elements

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• Visual Arts
• English & Literature

Media Awareness I: The Basics of Advertising How are consumers influenced by media marketing?

In this 6-8 lesson, students will examine the influence of advertising from past and present-day products. Students apply design principles to illustrate a product with background and foreground. This is the first lesson designed to accompany the media awareness unit.

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Lesson Content

• Preparation
• Instruction

Learning Objectives  

Students will: 

• Analyze print, video, and audio advertisements. 
• Evaluate the influence that advertising exerts on people through the media.
• Interpret the purpose of advertising and what the term “target audience” means.
• Discuss interpretations and inferences from product or service advertisements.
• Use principles of art and design to create an advertisement of their own. 
• Demonstrate an illustration with background and foreground.

Standards Alignment

National Core Arts Standards National Core Arts Standards

VA:Cr2.1.6a Demonstrate openness in trying new ideas, materials, methods, and approaches in making works of art and design.

VA:Cr2.1.7a Demonstrate persistence in developing skills with various materials, methods, and approaches in creating works of art or design. 

VA:Cr2.1.8a Demonstrate willingness to experiment, innovate, and take risks to pursue ideas, forms, and meanings that emerge in the process of artmaking or designing

VA:Cr3.1.6a Reflect on whether personal artwork conveys the intended meaning and revise accordingly

VA:Cr3.1.7a Reflect on and explain important information about personal artwork in an artist statement or another format.

VA:Cr3.1.8a Apply relevant criteria to examine, reflect on, and plan revisions for a work of art or design in progress.

VA:Re.7.2.6a Analyze ways that visual components and cultural associations suggested by images influence ideas, emotions, and actions.

VA:Re.7.2.7a Analyze multiple ways that images influence specific audiences.

VA:Re.7.2.8a Compare and contrast contexts and media in which viewers encounter images that influence ideas, emotions, and actions.

VA:Re8.1.6a Interpret art by distinguishing between relevant and non-relevant contextual information and analyzing subject matter, characteristics of form and structure, and use of media to identify ideas and mood conveyed.

VA:Re8.1.7a Interpret art by analyzing artmaking approaches, the characteristics of form and structure, relevant contextual information, subject matter, and use of media to identify ideas and mood conveyed.

VA:Re8.1.8a Interpret art by analyzing how the interaction of subject matter, characteristics of form and structure, use of media, artmaking approaches, and relevant contextual information contributes to understanding messages or ideas and mood conveyed.

MA:Re7.1.6a Identify, describe, and analyze how message and meaning are created by components in media artworks. 

MA:Re7.1.7a Describe, compare, and analyze the qualities of and relationships between the components in media artworks. 

MA:Re7.1.8a Compare, contrast, and analyze the qualities of and relationships between the components and style in media artworks.

MA:Re8.1.6 Analyze the intent of a variety of media artworks, using given criteria.

MA:Re8.1.7 Analyze the intent and meaning of a variety of media artworks, using self developed criteria.

MA:Re8.1.8 Analyze the intent and meanings of a variety of media artworks, focusing on intentions, forms, and various contexts.

MA:Cn11.1.6a Research and show how media artworks and ideas relate to personal life, and social, community, and cultural situations, such as personal identity, history, and entertainment.

MA:Cn11.1.7a Research and demonstrate how media artworks and ideas relate to various situations, purposes and values, such as community, vocations, and social media. 

MA:Cn11.1.8a Demonstrate and explain how media artworks and ideas relate to various contexts, purposes, and values, such as democracy, environment, and connecting people and places.

Common Core State Standards Common Core State Standards

ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.1.A Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence on the topic, text, or issue to probe and reflect on ideas under discussion.

ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.1.B Follow rules for collegial discussions, set specific goals and deadlines, and define individual roles as needed.

ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.1.C Pose and respond to specific questions with elaboration and detail by making comments that contribute to the topic, text, or issue under discussion.

ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.1.D Review the key ideas expressed and demonstrate understanding of multiple perspectives through reflection and paraphrasing.

ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.2 Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study.

ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.1.A Come to discussions prepared, having read or researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence on the topic, text, or issue to probe and reflect on ideas under discussion.

ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.1.B Follow rules for collegial discussions, track progress toward specific goals and deadlines, and define individual roles as needed.

ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.1.C Pose questions that elicit elaboration and respond to others' questions and comments with relevant observations and ideas that bring the discussion back on topic as needed.

ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.1.D Acknowledge new information expressed by others and, when warranted, modify their own views.

ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.2 Analyze the main ideas and supporting details presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how the ideas clarify a topic, text, or issue under study.

ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.1.A Come to discussions prepared, having read or researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence on the topic, text, or issue to probe and reflect on ideas under discussion.

ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.1.B Follow rules for collegial discussions and decision-making, track progress toward specific goals and deadlines, and define individual roles as needed.

ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.1.C Pose questions that connect the ideas of several speakers and respond to others' questions and comments with relevant evidence, observations, and ideas.

ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.1.D Acknowledge new information expressed by others, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views in light of the evidence presented.

ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.2 Analyze the purpose of information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and evaluate the motives (e.g., social, commercial, political) behind its presentation.

Recommended Student Materials

Editable Documents : Before sharing these resources with students, you must first save them to your Google account by opening them, and selecting “Make a copy” from the File menu. Check out Sharing Tips or Instructional Benefits when implementing Google Docs and Google Slides with students.

• Common Advertising Strategies
• Slide: Product Advertisements
• Product Discussion Questions
• Elements and Principles of Art
• Slide: Illustration Examples
• Criteria for Success: Product Illustration

Teacher Background

Teachers should use age-appropriate advertisements and products. Bring a collection of sample products for students to observe. Visit Advertising 101: Tips to Get you Started and review Common Advertising Strategies before teaching the lesson.  Preview the other two lessons in the unit, Media Awareness II: Key Concepts in Advertising and Media Awareness III: Helping a Product Cross the Finish Line . 

Student Prerequisites  

Students should have a basic understanding of advertising and their favorite products.

Accessibility Notes

Provide preferential seating and captions for visual presentations. Give students the option to create an audio advertisement as opposed to a visual one.

• Display a few children’s products (games, cereals, toys, devices, DVDs, etc.) around the classroom. Ask students to “turn and talk” and answer the following question: What is one of your favorite products and why?
• Initiate a class discussion in which each student shares what they like/dislike about their product.
• Have all students brainstorm different categories of kid-oriented products. Create a “t-chart” with a running list of these products on one side, then write down the reasons for valuing each item on the other.
• Introduce students to the three-part lesson on advertising. Ask students, who have heard of the term “advertising?” How is advertising related to the product we listed on the “t-chart?”
• Distribute or display the resource, Common Advertising Strategies . Review the basics of advertising and marketing and inform the students that they will be using their knowledge to create an advertisement for their favorite kid-oriented product.
• Show the students examples of print and video ads from the Slide: Product Advertisements . Be mindful of any students that may need one type of advertisement over the other. See “Accessibility Accommodations” for modifications.
• Begin a discussion about advertisements. Ask: Would you want to buy this product? If so, what about the advertisement caught your attention? Who is the target audience for the advertisement? How do you know? Based on the Common Advertising Strategies resource, which marketing techniques do the advertisements use?
• Ask students to bring a favorite product from home. This can include food, a toy, or any product they enjoy.
• Have students divide into pairs or small groups and temporarily exchange with one another their product and the associated advertisement. This discussion will promote an enhanced understanding of advertising and the effect it can have on the audience. If for any reason the student does not have a product, allow them to choose a product from the teacher’s collection or one on the web.
• Display the Product Discussion Questions and encourage students to elaborate on their product. 
• Allow students approximately 5 – 10 minutes to discuss their products. Then, ask each group to summarize their discussion points.

Reflect  

• Distribute the Elements and Principles of Art resource to students and review the Criteria for Success: Product Illustration . Explain to students that the class will only focus on a few of the elements and principles for the next activity (students will draw his/her item from observation).
• Model the concept of using overlapping lines to create the illusion of foreground/background space in the picture plane. Show students the Slide: Illustration Examples to analyze the foreground/background space illusion technique. Also, do a quick sketch to illustrate the process in detail. The background will then be drawn in to show where the item is usually kept at home (shelf, drawer, etc.).
• Explain to students that this drawing will become an advertisement for their product. 
• Distribute 18” x 12” newsprint paper and pencils and have students begin their drawings. Allow sufficient time for students to complete the assignment. Offer additional modeling and feedback for students who need support. Encourage them to collaborate with their classmates for constructive feedback. 
• Assess students’ knowledge with a written response. Have students compare the various choices made in the placement of the object on the page and the principle of balance.
• Collect drawings, as students will use these drawings as a springboard during the next lesson. 
• Ask students to bring in an example of an advertisement for a product to discuss during the next lesson.
• Using their notes from the discussion on kid-oriented products, students will expand upon their knowledge by researching various advertisements for the products they listed (games, CDs, interactive toys, etc.). Using a double-sided journal entry, each student will choose one type of product and then record the characteristics of the product’s advertisement. The ads can be television, radio, internet, or print ads. During the next lesson, have students report their findings.
• Have students review Digital Marketing strategies and infographic advertisements by visiting age-appropriate websites. Then have them create their own digital add or infographic using Animaker , Smore , or a graphic design tool like Google Drawings . This activity helps students to compare and contrast various websites and how they use marketing to attract consumers.

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Radio Ad: Rocky Mountain Rides

Tonya Abari

JoDee Scissors

November 15, 2021

Related Resources

Lesson media awareness ii: key concepts in advertising.

In this 6-8 lesson, students will continue the exploration of advertising and media awareness.  Students will examine the purpose, target audience, and value of advertisements. Students will then create original, hand-drawn advertisements. This is the second lesson designed to accompany the media awareness unit.

Lesson Media Awareness III: Crossing the Finish Line

In this 6-8 lesson, students will develop and market a new children’s product. They will apply advertising design strategies to market their product. This is the third lesson designed to accompany the media awareness unit. 

Article Raising “Art Smart” Students in the 21st Century

So, what are 21st century skills exactly? Why do they matter to “art smart” parents and how do we help our kids?

• Life Skills

Collection Media Arts

Audio, video, animation, photography, and technology. From Depression-era images that captured the attention of a nation, to student-produced videos on local artists, to how to make your own blood and guts special effects, explore the ever-changing world of media arts.

Kennedy Center Education Digital Learning

Eric Friedman  Director, Digital Learning

Kenny Neal  Manager, Digital Education Resources

Tiffany A. Bryant  Manager, Operations and Audience Engagement

Joanna McKee  Program Coordinator, Digital Learning

JoDee Scissors  Content Specialist, Digital Learning

Connect with us!

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Unit 1 Discussion Board 2 Healthcare Marketing Strategies HCM673 Concepts in Health Care Marketing

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6.1 Purpose, Audience, Tone, and Content

Learning objectives.

• Identify the four common academic purposes.
• Identify audience, tone, and content.
• Apply purpose, audience, tone, and content to a specific assignment.

Imagine reading one long block of text, with each idea blurring into the next. Even if you are reading a thrilling novel or an interesting news article, you will likely lose interest in what the author has to say very quickly. During the writing process, it is helpful to position yourself as a reader. Ask yourself whether you can focus easily on each point you make. One technique that effective writers use is to begin a fresh paragraph for each new idea they introduce.

Paragraphs separate ideas into logical, manageable chunks. One paragraph focuses on only one main idea and presents coherent sentences to support that one point. Because all the sentences in one paragraph support the same point, a paragraph may stand on its own. To create longer assignments and to discuss more than one point, writers group together paragraphs.

Three elements shape the content of each paragraph:

• Purpose . The reason the writer composes the paragraph.
• Tone . The attitude the writer conveys about the paragraph’s subject.
• Audience . The individual or group whom the writer intends to address.

Figure 6.1 Purpose, Audience, Tone, and Content Triangle

The assignment’s purpose, audience, and tone dictate what the paragraph covers and how it will support one main point. This section covers how purpose, audience, and tone affect reading and writing paragraphs.

Identifying Common Academic Purposes

The purpose for a piece of writing identifies the reason you write a particular document. Basically, the purpose of a piece of writing answers the question “Why?” For example, why write a play? To entertain a packed theater. Why write instructions to the babysitter? To inform him or her of your schedule and rules. Why write a letter to your congressman? To persuade him to address your community’s needs.

In academic settings, the reasons for writing fulfill four main purposes: to summarize, to analyze, to synthesize, and to evaluate. You will encounter these four purposes not only as you read for your classes but also as you read for work or pleasure. Because reading and writing work together, your writing skills will improve as you read. To learn more about reading in the writing process, see Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” .

Eventually, your instructors will ask you to complete assignments specifically designed to meet one of the four purposes. As you will see, the purpose for writing will guide you through each part of the paper, helping you make decisions about content and style. For now, identifying these purposes by reading paragraphs will prepare you to write individual paragraphs and to build longer assignments.

Summary Paragraphs

A summary shrinks a large amount of information into only the essentials. You probably summarize events, books, and movies daily. Think about the last blockbuster movie you saw or the last novel you read. Chances are, at some point in a casual conversation with a friend, coworker, or classmate, you compressed all the action in a two-hour film or in a two-hundred-page book into a brief description of the major plot movements. While in conversation, you probably described the major highlights, or the main points in just a few sentences, using your own vocabulary and manner of speaking.

Similarly, a summary paragraph condenses a long piece of writing into a smaller paragraph by extracting only the vital information. A summary uses only the writer’s own words. Like the summary’s purpose in daily conversation, the purpose of an academic summary paragraph is to maintain all the essential information from a longer document. Although shorter than the original piece of writing, a summary should still communicate all the key points and key support. In other words, summary paragraphs should be succinct and to the point.

A summary of the report should present all the main points and supporting details in brief. Read the following summary of the report written by a student:

Notice how the summary retains the key points made by the writers of the original report but omits most of the statistical data. Summaries need not contain all the specific facts and figures in the original document; they provide only an overview of the essential information.

Analysis Paragraphs

An analysis separates complex materials in their different parts and studies how the parts relate to one another. The analysis of simple table salt, for example, would require a deconstruction of its parts—the elements sodium (Na) and chloride (Cl). Then, scientists would study how the two elements interact to create the compound NaCl, or sodium chloride, which is also called simple table salt.

Analysis is not limited to the sciences, of course. An analysis paragraph in academic writing fulfills the same purpose. Instead of deconstructing compounds, academic analysis paragraphs typically deconstruct documents. An analysis takes apart a primary source (an essay, a book, an article, etc.) point by point. It communicates the main points of the document by examining individual points and identifying how the points relate to one another.

Take a look at a student’s analysis of the journal report.

Notice how the analysis does not simply repeat information from the original report, but considers how the points within the report relate to one another. By doing this, the student uncovers a discrepancy between the points that are backed up by statistics and those that require additional information. Analyzing a document involves a close examination of each of the individual parts and how they work together.

Synthesis Paragraphs

A synthesis combines two or more items to create an entirely new item. Consider the electronic musical instrument aptly named the synthesizer. It looks like a simple keyboard but displays a dashboard of switches, buttons, and levers. With the flip of a few switches, a musician may combine the distinct sounds of a piano, a flute, or a guitar—or any other combination of instruments—to create a new sound. The purpose of the synthesizer is to blend together the notes from individual instruments to form new, unique notes.

The purpose of an academic synthesis is to blend individual documents into a new document. An academic synthesis paragraph considers the main points from one or more pieces of writing and links the main points together to create a new point, one not replicated in either document.

Take a look at a student’s synthesis of several sources about underage drinking.

Notice how the synthesis paragraphs consider each source and use information from each to create a new thesis. A good synthesis does not repeat information; the writer uses a variety of sources to create a new idea.

Evaluation Paragraphs

An evaluation judges the value of something and determines its worth. Evaluations in everyday experiences are often not only dictated by set standards but also influenced by opinion and prior knowledge. For example, at work, a supervisor may complete an employee evaluation by judging his subordinate’s performance based on the company’s goals. If the company focuses on improving communication, the supervisor will rate the employee’s customer service according to a standard scale. However, the evaluation still depends on the supervisor’s opinion and prior experience with the employee. The purpose of the evaluation is to determine how well the employee performs at his or her job.

An academic evaluation communicates your opinion, and its justifications, about a document or a topic of discussion. Evaluations are influenced by your reading of the document, your prior knowledge, and your prior experience with the topic or issue. Because an evaluation incorporates your point of view and reasons for your point of view, it typically requires more critical thinking and a combination of summary, analysis, and synthesis skills. Thus evaluation paragraphs often follow summary, analysis, and synthesis paragraphs. Read a student’s evaluation paragraph.

Notice how the paragraph incorporates the student’s personal judgment within the evaluation. Evaluating a document requires prior knowledge that is often based on additional research.

When reviewing directions for assignments, look for the verbs summarize , analyze , synthesize , or evaluate . Instructors often use these words to clearly indicate the assignment’s purpose. These words will cue you on how to complete the assignment because you will know its exact purpose.

Read the following paragraphs about four films and then identify the purpose of each paragraph.

• This film could easily have been cut down to less than two hours. By the final scene, I noticed that most of my fellow moviegoers were snoozing in their seats and were barely paying attention to what was happening on screen. Although the director sticks diligently to the book, he tries too hard to cram in all the action, which is just too ambitious for such a detail-oriented story. If you want my advice, read the book and give the movie a miss.
• During the opening scene, we learn that the character Laura is adopted and that she has spent the past three years desperately trying to track down her real parents. Having exhausted all the usual options—adoption agencies, online searches, family trees, and so on—she is on the verge of giving up when she meets a stranger on a bus. The chance encounter leads to a complicated chain of events that ultimately result in Laura getting her lifelong wish. But is it really what she wants? Throughout the rest of the film, Laura discovers that sometimes the past is best left where it belongs.
• To create the feeling of being gripped in a vice, the director, May Lee, uses a variety of elements to gradually increase the tension. The creepy, haunting melody that subtly enhances the earlier scenes becomes ever more insistent, rising to a disturbing crescendo toward the end of the movie. The desperation of the actors, combined with the claustrophobic atmosphere and tight camera angles create a realistic firestorm, from which there is little hope of escape. Walking out of the theater at the end feels like staggering out of a Roman dungeon.
• The scene in which Campbell and his fellow prisoners assist the guards in shutting down the riot immediately strikes the viewer as unrealistic. Based on the recent reports on prison riots in both Detroit and California, it seems highly unlikely that a posse of hardened criminals will intentionally help their captors at the risk of inciting future revenge from other inmates. Instead, both news reports and psychological studies indicate that prisoners who do not actively participate in a riot will go back to their cells and avoid conflict altogether. Examples of this lack of attention to detail occur throughout the film, making it almost unbearable to watch.

Collaboration

Share with a classmate and compare your answers.

Writing at Work

Thinking about the purpose of writing a report in the workplace can help focus and structure the document. A summary should provide colleagues with a factual overview of your findings without going into too much specific detail. In contrast, an evaluation should include your personal opinion, along with supporting evidence, research, or examples to back it up. Listen for words such as summarize , analyze , synthesize , or evaluate when your boss asks you to complete a report to help determine a purpose for writing.

Consider the essay most recently assigned to you. Identify the most effective academic purpose for the assignment.

My assignment: ____________________________________________

My purpose: ____________________________________________

Identifying the Audience

Imagine you must give a presentation to a group of executives in an office. Weeks before the big day, you spend time creating and rehearsing the presentation. You must make important, careful decisions not only about the content but also about your delivery. Will the presentation require technology to project figures and charts? Should the presentation define important words, or will the executives already know the terms? Should you wear your suit and dress shirt? The answers to these questions will help you develop an appropriate relationship with your audience, making them more receptive to your message.

Now imagine you must explain the same business concepts from your presentation to a group of high school students. Those important questions you previously answered may now require different answers. The figures and charts may be too sophisticated, and the terms will certainly require definitions. You may even reconsider your outfit and sport a more casual look. Because the audience has shifted, your presentation and delivery will shift as well to create a new relationship with the new audience.

In these two situations, the audience—the individuals who will watch and listen to the presentation—plays a role in the development of presentation. As you prepare the presentation, you visualize the audience to anticipate their expectations and reactions. What you imagine affects the information you choose to present and how you will present it. Then, during the presentation, you meet the audience in person and discover immediately how well you perform.

Although the audience for writing assignments—your readers—may not appear in person, they play an equally vital role. Even in everyday writing activities, you identify your readers’ characteristics, interests, and expectations before making decisions about what you write. In fact, thinking about audience has become so common that you may not even detect the audience-driven decisions.

For example, you update your status on a social networking site with the awareness of who will digitally follow the post. If you want to brag about a good grade, you may write the post to please family members. If you want to describe a funny moment, you may write with your friends’ senses of humor in mind. Even at work, you send e-mails with an awareness of an unintended receiver who could intercept the message.

In other words, being aware of “invisible” readers is a skill you most likely already possess and one you rely on every day. Consider the following paragraphs. Which one would the author send to her parents? Which one would she send to her best friend?

Last Saturday, I volunteered at a local hospital. The visit was fun and rewarding. I even learned how to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR. Unfortunately, I think caught a cold from one of the patients. This week, I will rest in bed and drink plenty of clear fluids. I hope I am well by next Saturday to volunteer again.

OMG! You won’t believe this! My advisor forced me to do my community service hours at this hospital all weekend! We learned CPR but we did it on dummies, not even real peeps. And some kid sneezed on me and got me sick! I was so bored and sniffling all weekend; I hope I don’t have to go back next week. I def do NOT want to miss the basketball tournament!

Most likely, you matched each paragraph to its intended audience with little hesitation. Because each paragraph reveals the author’s relationship with her intended readers, you can identify the audience fairly quickly. When writing your own paragraphs, you must engage with your audience to build an appropriate relationship given your subject. Imagining your readers during each stage of the writing process will help you make decisions about your writing. Ultimately, the people you visualize will affect what and how you write.

While giving a speech, you may articulate an inspiring or critical message, but if you left your hair a mess and laced up mismatched shoes, your audience would not take you seriously. They may be too distracted by your appearance to listen to your words.

Similarly, grammar and sentence structure serve as the appearance of a piece of writing. Polishing your work using correct grammar will impress your readers and allow them to focus on what you have to say.

Because focusing on audience will enhance your writing, your process, and your finished product, you must consider the specific traits of your audience members. Use your imagination to anticipate the readers’ demographics, education, prior knowledge, and expectations.

• Demographics. These measure important data about a group of people, such as their age range, their ethnicity, their religious beliefs, or their gender. Certain topics and assignments will require these kinds of considerations about your audience. For other topics and assignments, these measurements may not influence your writing in the end. Regardless, it is important to consider demographics when you begin to think about your purpose for writing.
• Education. Education considers the audience’s level of schooling. If audience members have earned a doctorate degree, for example, you may need to elevate your style and use more formal language. Or, if audience members are still in college, you could write in a more relaxed style. An audience member’s major or emphasis may also dictate your writing.
• Prior knowledge. This refers to what the audience already knows about your topic. If your readers have studied certain topics, they may already know some terms and concepts related to the topic. You may decide whether to define terms and explain concepts based on your audience’s prior knowledge. Although you cannot peer inside the brains of your readers to discover their knowledge, you can make reasonable assumptions. For instance, a nursing major would presumably know more about health-related topics than a business major would.
• Expectations. These indicate what readers will look for while reading your assignment. Readers may expect consistencies in the assignment’s appearance, such as correct grammar and traditional formatting like double-spaced lines and legible font. Readers may also have content-based expectations given the assignment’s purpose and organization. In an essay titled “The Economics of Enlightenment: The Effects of Rising Tuition,” for example, audience members may expect to read about the economic repercussions of college tuition costs.

On your own sheet of paper, generate a list of characteristics under each category for each audience. This list will help you later when you read about tone and content.

1. Your classmates

• Demographics ____________________________________________
• Education ____________________________________________
• Prior knowledge ____________________________________________
• Expectations ____________________________________________

2. Your instructor

3. The head of your academic department

4. Now think about your next writing assignment. Identify the purpose (you may use the same purpose listed in Note 6.12 “Exercise 2” ), and then identify the audience. Create a list of characteristics under each category.

My audience: ____________________________________________

Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.

Keep in mind that as your topic shifts in the writing process, your audience may also shift. For more information about the writing process, see Chapter 8 “The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?” .

Also, remember that decisions about style depend on audience, purpose, and content. Identifying your audience’s demographics, education, prior knowledge, and expectations will affect how you write, but purpose and content play an equally important role. The next subsection covers how to select an appropriate tone to match the audience and purpose.

Selecting an Appropriate Tone

Tone identifies a speaker’s attitude toward a subject or another person. You may pick up a person’s tone of voice fairly easily in conversation. A friend who tells you about her weekend may speak excitedly about a fun skiing trip. An instructor who means business may speak in a low, slow voice to emphasize her serious mood. Or, a coworker who needs to let off some steam after a long meeting may crack a sarcastic joke.

Just as speakers transmit emotion through voice, writers can transmit through writing a range of attitudes, from excited and humorous to somber and critical. These emotions create connections among the audience, the author, and the subject, ultimately building a relationship between the audience and the text. To stimulate these connections, writers intimate their attitudes and feelings with useful devices, such as sentence structure, word choice, punctuation, and formal or informal language. Keep in mind that the writer’s attitude should always appropriately match the audience and the purpose.

Read the following paragraph and consider the writer’s tone. How would you describe the writer’s attitude toward wildlife conservation?

Many species of plants and animals are disappearing right before our eyes. If we don’t act fast, it might be too late to save them. Human activities, including pollution, deforestation, hunting, and overpopulation, are devastating the natural environment. Without our help, many species will not survive long enough for our children to see them in the wild. Take the tiger, for example. Today, tigers occupy just 7 percent of their historical range, and many local populations are already extinct. Hunted for their beautiful pelt and other body parts, the tiger population has plummeted from one hundred thousand in 1920 to just a few thousand. Contact your local wildlife conservation society today to find out how you can stop this terrible destruction.

Think about the assignment and purpose you selected in Note 6.12 “Exercise 2” , and the audience you selected in Note 6.16 “Exercise 3” . Now, identify the tone you would use in the assignment.

My tone: ____________________________________________

Choosing Appropriate, Interesting Content

Content refers to all the written substance in a document. After selecting an audience and a purpose, you must choose what information will make it to the page. Content may consist of examples, statistics, facts, anecdotes, testimonies, and observations, but no matter the type, the information must be appropriate and interesting for the audience and purpose. An essay written for third graders that summarizes the legislative process, for example, would have to contain succinct and simple content.

Content is also shaped by tone. When the tone matches the content, the audience will be more engaged, and you will build a stronger relationship with your readers. Consider that audience of third graders. You would choose simple content that the audience will easily understand, and you would express that content through an enthusiastic tone. The same considerations apply to all audiences and purposes.

Match the content in the box to the appropriate audience and purpose. On your own sheet of paper, write the correct letter next to the number.

• Whereas economist Holmes contends that the financial crisis is far from over, the presidential advisor Jones points out that it is vital to catch the first wave of opportunity to increase market share. We can use elements of both experts’ visions. Let me explain how.
• In 2000, foreign money flowed into the United States, contributing to easy credit conditions. People bought larger houses than they could afford, eventually defaulting on their loans as interest rates rose.
• The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, known by most of us as the humungous government bailout, caused mixed reactions. Although supported by many political leaders, the statute provoked outrage among grassroots groups. In their opinion, the government was actually rewarding banks for their appalling behavior.

Audience: An instructor

Purpose: To analyze the reasons behind the 2007 financial crisis

Content: ____________________________________________

Audience: Classmates

Purpose: To summarize the effects of the $700 billion government bailout

Audience: An employer

Purpose: To synthesize two articles on preparing businesses for economic recovery

Using the assignment, purpose, audience, and tone from Note 6.18 “Exercise 4” , generate a list of content ideas. Remember that content consists of examples, statistics, facts, anecdotes, testimonies, and observations.

My content ideas: ____________________________________________

Key Takeaways

• Paragraphs separate ideas into logical, manageable chunks of information.
• The content of each paragraph and document is shaped by purpose, audience, and tone.
• The four common academic purposes are to summarize, to analyze, to synthesize, and to evaluate.
• Identifying the audience’s demographics, education, prior knowledge, and expectations will affect how and what you write.
• Devices such as sentence structure, word choice, punctuation, and formal or informal language communicate tone and create a relationship between the writer and his or her audience.
• Content may consist of examples, statistics, facts, anecdotes, testimonies, and observations. All content must be appropriate and interesting for the audience, purpose and tone.

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.