As a technical writer, he rarely writes in a vacuum. For whatever type of document you are writing, there is a Target audiences.

Depending on the allocation, the target audience can be very broad: everyone who buys a Harper’s Handy Home Widget, or it can be very specific: aerospace mold makers using a Three-axis reciprocating fulminator TRF-3. When you write, you must write to a defined target audience.

The easiest target audience to write for is the clearest and most defined. As the target audience becomes less specific, the job of the tech writer becomes more difficult.

General characteristics of a target audience

Each target audience shares common characteristics. Normally, your client knows what those characteristics are and gives them to you. In some rare cases, you may need to research your target audience to find out what makes them a target. Some common and shared characteristics are:

• age
• Gender
• Rental
• Occupation
• Entry
• Education
• Interests

You will notice that these are the same characteristics that marketing companies take into account. For the tech writer, however, there are other features that may be even more important than these.

Specific characteristics of a target audience

When writing procedures, it is important that you understand what the target audience already knows about the topic. From there, you can decide at what level you need to start and how much information you need to provide.

In the case of a common household appliance, such as a toaster, you can determine in the manufacturer’s target market who the target audience is likely to be. If the product will be sold in the US in large department and appliance stores, you can fairly safely assume that the people who buy it already know what a toaster is, what it does, and how to use it. They know that it is an electrical device that must be plugged into a 110v outlet. If it’s like most toasters, it has a slot for each slice of bread and a control of some sort that determines how well the toast is done. Obviously, you don’t spend a lot of time on these items.

If the toaster has a setting for toasting only one side of English bagels and muffins, you need to make sure the user is aware of this feature and how to use it. Not all toasters have settings for frozen waffles or tarts. This must be clearly explained.

What you are doing is deciding what the user already knows and what they will need to learn. Of course there are the standards Warnings and Disclaimers of liability which are generally written as if the user is five years old or a complete idiot.

At the other end of the scale is writing for a very limited or specialized audience. Again, the customer must provide you with information. But whether or not that happens, it’s your job to uncover the salient characteristics of the target audience. You need to ask:

• Who will use the product?
• Under what conditions?
• What is the experience, training and level of experience of the user?

Fortunately, it is often easier the more specialized the target audience is.

If you are writing about an improved model of a test device, you can probably assume that the technician using it is already trained in the subject and has experience using the current device. Unless the operation is significantly different, the focus will be on the differences between the new model and the previous model.

Generally speaking …

The same standards apply regardless of the type of material you are writing. You will write a whitepaper or brochure depending on who is going to read it. Only after you have a clear understanding of who the target audience is, can you start planning the approach and developing the content for any writing assignment.