Developing communication strategy begins with audience analysis. It's essential that we can to the extent possible, understand our audience in terms of its general makeup and composition, and perhaps most importantly, understand the attitudes and beliefs that they hold toward us and our topic. We can begin the process of audience analysis by looking at some of the areas that are typically examined in traditional advertising and PR campaign planning. Let's look at some of those categories now. Audience analysis involves looking at several categories. The first is demographics, which is the area that looks at an audience in terms of its members age, income, sex, religion, or nationality.

The next would be geographic information. This concerns where our audience members live, and how where they live may influence their views on certain issues, or influence the types of products they use and by Lastly, psychographics This is a critically important area that looks at what an audience is like in terms of its members, activities, interests, and opinions. Now, by definition, psychographics is focused on identifying people's attitudes and beliefs toward a given subject or issue. Most of the guidance in this course comes from classical rhetoric, and theorists like Aristotle, but it was a 20th century theorist Kenneth Burke, who conceptualized the idea of identification, which in my view is one of the most essential persuasive communication strategies that we could pursue. Identification holds that persuasion is impossible. Unless we have forged a common bond with our audience.

We can forge a common bond With our audience or identify with our audience, by focusing on several key areas, the first would be interests, such as literature, sports or hobbies. Next would be attitudes such as common attitudes in terms of politics or social issues. Next values such as honesty, integrity or loyalty, experiences, such as education, vocation, perceptions, such as people's challenges of the problems or opportunities they see. Or Lastly, material property, things such as how is this artwork course or other positions. as writers and communicators, we can use the process of audience analysis and identification to support and inform the process of rhetorical research. And it's with rhetorical research that we begin the process of formally articulating our communication strategy and specific messages that we hope to impart.

So Let's sum up. Audience analysis is essential to understand your readers and listeners in terms of their general composition, their makeup, and most importantly, the key attitudes and beliefs that they hold toward you and your topic. Second, identification is a critically important theory of persuasion, which holds that we have to forge a common bond with our audience in order to persuade them. Many people believe that there can be no persuasion, without identification. Lastly, audience analysis is particularly important from the standpoint of its ability to help inform and support your rhetorical research, and then ultimately your communication strategy, and messaging. In the next lesson, we'll look at the ways to conduct rhetorical research to begin the process of crafting our overall communication approach.