Understanding your audience

when writing a proposal

One purpose of any proposal is to convince your readers of the existence of a problem and the need for a solution(s). Emphasize that your suggestion is (are) the best one(s) possible. To convince your audience to accept your solution, pay careful attention to your reader´s view and attitudes toward the problem.
Hacker, the writer of “A Writer’s Reference”, explained that while preparing a proposal, keep two audiences in mind. The first group includes people who could possibly do something about the problem; the second are general readers who could influence those in the first group by bringing the weight of the public opinion down on them, it might make the difference. You have to reach people with the power to change the situation. Therefore, first identify such individuals or groups, and then tailoring your proposal to your audience´s expectations. Make reasonable options, your proposal will not be taken seriously unless you have weighed all the workable possibilities.
When you are writing a proposal you may want to ask yourself, how could I adapt to my audience? The answer is, build a strong relationship between you and your audience. To achieve that relationship you have to be sensitive to your audience´s necessities and feelings. The readers should be interested in the solution that you are writing about. Always think about you audience’s needs, values, resources, and in the arguments that are most likely to convince them. When you write to solve problems, you will need to be persuasive. Then, make sure your tone engages your readers and does not in any way offend or threaten them.

Ruszkiewicz and Dolmage (2007), the authors of “How to write anything”, say that you need to keep in mind four aspects of audience sensitivity, which are:

Also, they point out that when writing a proposal you should focus on:
· What will your audience know about the problem?
· Why should they concern about it?
· How can you make your solutions seem reasonable to them?
· What kinds of responses would you expect them to have to your proposal?
· How will you convince your audience the problem needs attention?

Furthermore, decide on the most effective media and genre to use to present your proposal to the audience you want to reach. Visuals such as charts, graphs, and photographs may help you make your case.

Effective visual media

When writing an informal proposal you can use first person by referring to them as you, and refer to yourself as I. Yet, in a formal proposal you have to avoid those references. Therefore, be careful to avoid jocks, smiles, and metaphors.
If you are writing in representation of your company or organization, you might want to evaluate and plan how you will represent your organization properly. The language and style used on your message will help you to reach a strong reflection of the image of your organization. In the business world you may have to communicate with different cultures. Since the business environment in other counties tends to be more formal, communication between different cultures calls for more formality. An informal document tends to translate poorly or not at all from one culture to another.
You can certain study models of successful proposals, noting how the writers raise an issue with readers, provide them with information and options, and then argue with a particular solution. Writers adjust for audience all the time in offering proposals.

References:
Ruszkiewicz and Dolmage (2007), How to write anything, New York
Hacker (2009), A Writer’s Reference (with writing about Literature), New York
Photo credit:
http://www.cse.ohio-state.edu/~zhang/SHJU-photos.html
http://www.illustrationsof.com/16345-royalty-free-graphs-clipart
http://www.urshula.com/wordpress/design/identifying-your-websites-target-audience/
http://www.tploy.com/data2/Sync/200708/10/fynnypics/ShowYourFeelings.jpg