Ad Web Audience Targeting

October 5, 2015 at 7:42 pm (Advertising, Business Conflicts, Business Ethics, communication, Communication Problems, Comparison and contrast, Conflict, Education, Effective Communication, Forbes, Internet Consensus)
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Defining and targeting an audience are vital steps in great communication.  In publications, the ads are an excellent representation of who the targeted audience is.  Websites of these publications also target an audience but with an added dimension, the ability to individually target the viewer (audience.)  The ads vary by the choices selected within the publication website thus, redefining the audience.

Forbes website was the chosen publication to illustrate this changing targeted audience.  On the homepage of Forbes, the ads are geared toward a well-defined target group.  The initial ads were for Wall Street Journal; government tax programs; CD bank rates; oil dividends; filmmaking courses; and senior cell phone plans.  Together, these ads are for older wealthy businessmen. These are representative of the homepage initial ads.  The target audience is towards one who is interested in financial issues of taxes, CD notes, dividends, and business news from the WSJ…a businessman of diverse monetary concerns.  Definitely, the “senior plan” refers to an older generation.  The filmmaking courses also reinforce the older target group with an advertisement for a new hobby or starting a new business.  This is an extremely focused target audience.

Having the advantage of real-time viewing, websites can narrow the target audience.  When a viewer chooses a selection, a story or an article, the site chooses ads focusing on the audience’s interests.  If the chosen article deals with businesses with negative issues then the ads may change to customer service aids for businesses, insurance ads, or company improvement ads.  Relating the ads to the different types of articles narrows the targeted audience.

Another audience-targeting dimension of websites is third party advertising, directly targeting the individual viewer.  Third party advertising is advertisers which monitor viewers’ web surfing on their computers.  Directing ads of the real-time viewer’s interests allows the publication to broaden its audience.  These viewer-interest ads frame the articles with familiar and personal target ads.  Even though these ads may not have any connection with the article or the publication, the audience is familiar with these ads.  This frame may keep them reading the articles.  This allows for various changes so the targeted audience is the viewer even if the viewers do not fit the original targeted audience.  A young want-to-be businesswoman planning to start her own business would now be a targeted audience.  This real-time changing redefines the target audience as the current viewer to keep them interested in the publication even if they may not initially seem to be the audience targeted.

Concluding, this publication’s ads were aimed at a senior population of wealthy businessmen.  In general, this is the overall targeted audience but with websites drawing in different audiences with a specific article, the website uses ads to include the new audience in real-time viewing.  This advantage allows websites to reframe the site to include the viewer.  This is the magic of website ads – framing articles with advertising content this viewer is interested in seeing.

By Kentrina Freeman, Liberal Arts Major – IUPUC

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Is texting and social media making communication too informal? How to know when punctuation and grammar really matter.

October 24, 2013 at 11:40 am (Communication Problems, Effective Communication, Social Media/Technology)
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How many of you text every day? Update your Facebook status? Tweet?  How often do you actually stop and think about using correct punctuation and grammar? Do you make sure that you are using the correct form of there, their, and they’re? Most often we do not think about using punctuation and grammar that we would in an English paper when we are texting friends or on Facebook and Twitter. We have unconsciously started to become too informal because of new technology that has been introduced to the world.

How do we know when punctuation and grammar really matter? Hopefully, we all know that it matters in the workplace.  As professionals, grammar and punctuation can represent how educated or uneducated a person is based on the use of language and sentence structure.  Receiving emails that do not contain the proper form of it’s or its, you’re and your, effect and affect, can be very embarrassing for the sender of the email.  It’s important to know how to use the correct form of a word because Word does not always catch these mistakes. It is crucial to make sure that in the business world we continue to use the correct punctuation and grammar because if not it could prevent us from being looked at for a promotion or being the lead on an important project. Knowing when to use those commas and colons is important!

Facebook, Twitter, and texting do not help matters when it comes to punctuation and grammar that matter. Social media sites and cell phones have made people lazy when it comes to using proper English, commas, periods, and correct use of verbs. Most often we do not even take the time type out complete words let alone worry about our punctuation and grammar. Even though typing “ttyl” for talk to you later at the end of a text message may be appropriate, ending an email with “ttyl” is not at all. This is too informal and some people depending on what generation they belong to may not even know what the acronym means at all. Even as a college student keeping up with the internet language can be tough. The informal writing habits that Facebook, Twitter, and texting have created are almost absurd because it does carry over into English class and other aspects of life where the informality is inappropriate.

A major concern is with those children who have been born and raised in the socially media savvy world of today. These children even before they enter into formal education have already been programed to the informal use of language due to all the technological devices that are out there. They see and hear this informal language and by the time they reach school age they have already been trained to see the discipline of proper English as outdated and tedious. However, what they are failing to realize is that they are being set up for failure. These students need to be able to speak and communicate in complete and coherent sentences to be able to get their points across in an educated manner. Without the instruction and use of proper English we will have a world where people can rarely compose a proper proposal or letter to effectively convey their ideas or desires.

Being aware that we do unconsciously use more informal writing habits because of social media and texting may be half the battle. Knowing and passing on the importance of proper grammar and punctuation to the younger generations, may help sustain the importance this type of English has in the global world and hopefully will help us remember to use correct forms of communication.

By: Ashleigh Shouse IUPUC Business Major

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Writing Different Types of Business Reports

August 16, 2011 at 10:55 am (Effective Communication)
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The following is an article written by Robin Fritz for eHow.com’s Money feature:

In the business world, good writing can get you noticed, hired and promoted.  And, much like a Super Bowl commercial, a well written report is an opportunity to highlight your skills.  But as a busy manager, how do you write a business report?  The following tips will help you tackle a variety of reports:

Know your purpose.  What have you been asked to do?  Are you providing information only?  Then, you’re writing an informational report.  Are you analyzing a problem and making recommendations to solve it?  If so, you’re writing an analytical report.  Are you describing a conference, meeting, or monthly progress on a project?  Then, you’re writing a standard report.  Knowing your purpose keeps you on target.  It gives you focus.

Identify your audience.  Who are you writing to – a client?  Your supervisor?  That individual is your primary audience.  But what if your supervisor shows it to her supervisor?  Then, you have a secondary audience.  Knowing potential audiences will help you identify the proper tone, whether formal or informal.

Analyze your audiences.  What do your audiences know about this topic?  Do you need to educate them?  Can you use industry jargon?  Analyzing your audience helps you avoid leaving out key information.  It saves you – and your audience – time.

Research your topic.  Brainstorm ideas.  What information already exists and what’s missing?  What sources are trusted by your audience?  Asking key questions gives you a research plan for your business report and gets you moving in the right direction.

Organize your research.  Look for relationships.  Ignore irrelevant information. Identify your strongest ideas and start your business report with them.  Good organization builds an outline and – most importantly – helps avoid writer’s block.

Compose your report.  Adopt a conversational tone.  Avoid trite business phrases like “per your request.”  Use vivid, precise language.  Focus on being clear and concise.  Use transitional expressions.

Revise and proofread your work.  Edit with “fresh eyes” only.  Review your content – are you satisfied?  If not, re-write.  Proofread for spelling, grammar and formatting.  Use your spell checker, but DON’T rely on it.  Verify noun/verb/pronoun agreement.  Check for page numbers.  Error free work is an advertisement for your skills.  Take the time to proofread carefully.

Evaluate the final product.  Did you achieve your purpose?  Does your tone match your audience?  Did you do justice to the topic?  Is it free from errors?  If you can say yes, congratulations!  You have a business report of which you can be proud.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6107127_write-different-business-reports.html

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