Over the coming weeks I will be giving you my top 5 tips for corporate and technical writing.  This week my tip is to really understand your audience.  Who are you writing for?  It may sound obvious, but you need to be sure of this from the start, because it dictates the sort of information and level of detail you need to include.

• Identify the audience for your document to tailor your style of writing.  Writing for a Board will require a different approach to writing for technical experts.
• Assess the expertise of your audience so you include the right level of detail.  Where you have a group of experts you can assume a higher level of knowledge, so you don’t have to go into so much detail as you might otherwise.
• Consider what your audience is interested in (and what it isn’t).  It will save time because you will be focused on what is important.
• Reflect on how much time your audience will have available to spend understanding your message.  If you know your readers are time poor, then it will help if your key messages are up front with signposting to the relevant details.