Business Correspondence
Topic: Types of audience, purpose of communication and writing.
Audience
Audience generally refers to a listening, reading or viewing public. It is important to determine the level of education and understanding that our audience has about the subject of our communication. Are we addressing experts in the field of our subject, or lay people? Generally, audiences can be classified into three categories; they are the "lay" audience, the "managerial" audience, and the "experts."

The "lay" audiences are people with no special or little knowledge. They are usually clueless and need background information; they need more definition and description; and they may want attractive graphics or visuals to help them know better and learn more.

The "managerial” audiences are people that have more knowledge than the “lay” audience about the subject, but they need more detailed and expert knowledge so they can make a decision about the issue. Any background information, facts, statistics needed to make a decision should be highlighted.

The "experts" audiences are people that are the most knowledgeable compared to the “lay” and “managerial” audiences. However, they may be the most demanding audience in terms of knowledge, presentation, and graphics or visuals. Experts are often "theorists" or "practitioners."
How do you determine your audience?
Writers determine their audience types by considering: * Who they are (age, sex, education, economic status, political/social/religious beliefs); * What Level of Information they have about the subject (novice, general reader, specialist or expert); * The Context in which they will be reading a piece of writing (in a newspaper, textbook, popular magazine, specialized journal, on the Internet, and so forth).
Knowing the type of audience you are writing or communicating to is a key factor to writing and communicating effectively.

Purpose of business communication
The most fundamental and the most common activity in business is communication. Proper business communication is the key to successful business practices. The way we communicate is changing how we do business and the purpose of business communication is to deliver the message of a particular business or company through electronic, verbal, nonverbal and interpersonal means (e.g. letters and emails…). If done well, a message is successfully translated from one person to an individual or group and a business deal may very well take place. Business firms have to interact effectively and efficiently with customers, suppliers, employees, media and regulatory agencies, therefore communication is very important. Communication with the different entities or individuals and business firms within the above categories is termed as business communication.

Therefore, some purposes of business communication are to persuade audience (clients/customers), inform/notify them, and convey a certain message to them.
For some professionals, the purpose of communication in business can sometimes seem like an excuse for a boss or a customer to talk endlessly about their problems.

What is the purpose of business writing?

Business writing is a form of business communication. Business writing is to communicate through the means of writing letters or emails etc. The purpose of business writing is to convey information to someone else or to request information from them. To be effective writing for business, you must be complete, concise, and accurate. Your text should be written in such a way that the reader will be able to easily understand what you are telling or asking them.
A lot of writing for business is sloppy, poorly written, disorganized, littered with jargon, and incomplete. Often it is either too long or too short. All these attributes contribute to ineffective business writing.
Business letters are used for many purposes such as to make inquiries, send replies, to place orders or bank correspondences etc. The main and the basic function of the business letter is not only to convey your message to the person who receives the letter but also to influence the reader
The single purpose of a letter is to convey thought. That thought may have to do with facts, and the further purpose may be to have the thought produce action. But plainly the action depends solely upon how well the thought is transferred. Words as used in a letter are vehicles for thought, but every word is not a vehicle for thought, because it may not be the kind of word that goes to the place where you want your thought to go; or, to put it another way, there is a wide variation in the understanding of words
Today, it is easier than ever to communicate with businesses, however just a couple of decades ago, there were only two or three ways to communicate with a business, they included phone, in person or included sending out a business letter. Business letters can be highly effective tools to achieve your purpose. With the informality of email, a business letter can get you the attention your request deserves. A well-written, professional business letter can easily open up doors and allow your opinion or request to be heard. Some examples are: * To request more information about a product * To ask for a business reference * To express your opinion about a product * To thank a person * As a sales tool to sell a product

References 1. Dictionary.com. Available http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/intra-office.Last accessed 1 May 2011. 2. Wiki.answers.com. Available http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_purpose_of_communication. Last accessed 1 May 2011. 3. Dictionary.com. Available http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/communication. Last accessed 1 May 2011.