Target Market Identified - Now the message
Friday, July 18, 2008 at 01:59PM You have identified your Target Market - now you need to send them a message. Your next step must be to supply purpose, content, and an organized message.
Purpose: why are you going to write the message. If you don't know what it is that you want to accomplish then how do you know when you achieved your goal. It doesn't matter how well the message is done just how well you communicated it.
Having a clear-cut purpose lets you then focus on your content and organization eliminating any distracting information.
Content: Now that you have established the interest of your Target Market and have the purpose of your message you can now decide on the information that you want them to have.
The trick here is to include enough good and concise information so not to lose or confuse your reader. Start with an outline for your message, whether in your head or on paper. Most articles are usually already started in your head before you ever begin.
Brainstorm....jot down ideas or facts and aim for quantity not quality. Once you have run out of ideas for your content then begin to refine, delete and revise.
Organization: This is the final step in the planning process. Now that you have your main topic, organize your ideas around it in order of importance, grouping related ideas together. Also decide how you want to approach your market. In other words do you want to give them the conclusion first followed by the "why," or the "why" first and then the conclusion. Either way is fine.