BUSINESS COMMUNICATION Assignments

Let me explain something about the Assignments that you will see throughout this Course.

They are not sophisticated.
They are not difficult to understand or read.
They do not require research.
They are not about great issues in human philosophy or significant issues of national controversy.

I do NOT want the Assignments to require you to do research, or to make you worry about getting the "right" answer, or to require you to have a strong background in any one particular field or topic.

What I want is for the subject matter of the Assignments to be so simple and straight forward that you can focus on your WRITING, Focus on your AUDIENCE ANALYSIS, ORGANIZATION, WORD CHOICES VOCABULARY, andSTYLE.

So don't look for DEEP and DIFFICULT Assignments. Instead, look for opportunities to THINK about the way you Communicate -- are you successfully "selling" your points, your thoughts, and your ideas? How well have you Analyzed Your Audience?

Assignment #1

Negative Message Letter

You are the Energy Information Specialist for Granite Gas & Electric Company. Granite Gas & Electric offers videos and speakers, at no charge, to local groups and organizations. These videos and speakers help your company educate the public about energy conservation issues, and also help you build and maintain a good service reputation with your customers and the public. (Sounds like Goodwill!)

You have received a letter from Karolyn Minocha, Vice President of the Fairfield High School Community Advisory Board, asking you to reserve a video for her called The Energy-Efficient Home, for her Community Advisory Board meeting in three weeks.

Unfortunately, The Energy-Efficient Home is your most popular video and all have been reserved for the entire next month. You are a little surprised by her late request, since most customers seem to know that they need to reserve videos much earlier to ensure availability!

(Your reservation request book shows you that all three videos are reserved for the next three months!)

You have two videos on somewhat similar topics: Landscaping for Energy and Water Savings, and TheHeat Pump: Is It the Answer for You? You know that it is your general rule to only reserve the videos on a "first-come, first-served basis" and you cannot be certain that these two videos will be available, by the time she responds to your letter.

WRITE A LETTER to Ms. Minocha, and tell her the bad news about the video she is hoping to reserve for her meeting next month.

Remember that Negative Messages must be proceeded by a Buffer.

Should you tell her that well-organized people usually contact her at least two months in advance, to ensure the availability of videos, or would that just seem to be another "slap" in her face, after you have already disappointed her by telling her that the video is not available?

Think about what you can do to re-build Goodwill after you tell her the video she wants is not available. Should you follow your usual policy of "first-come, first-served" for the two similar videos, or might it be best to do a little more here for her -- perhaps hold one or both videos for a week, to enable her to have time to reply to you?

What else can you do with your approach and tone in this letter to try to re-build Goodwill for Granite Gas & Electric?

NOTE: One Page Maximum for this Letter.

Assignment #2

WALL STREET JOURNAL -- AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

Choose TWO Articles from the WSJ from the past two weeks. Look for Articles that describe, interpret, discuss, or deal with AUDIENCE ANALYSIS. You can easily find numerous articles about firms that are launching a new product, struggling to sell a product, trying to market an old product to a new audience, or giving up after concluding that they cannot find -- or did not find -- an audience for their product.

You may also use articles about Government Agencies and Government Organizations-- such as the FCC, the SEC, The US Congress or The California Legislature -- these agencies and organizations also try to analyze their audiences, to determine how to sell their "products" or messages -- and to find out what they need to do, or need to stop doing!

(Do you think both the FCC and Congress would have convened public hearings a few years ago about Television Broadcast Decency Standards, if there had been NO public uproar about Janet Jackson's Super Bowl Breast? They see the public is "outraged" -- and these politicians respond immediately to their audience. (Even if they are not really doing anything useful, they try to make it look like they are being responsive to the public!)

There are also articles about Political Candidates, (Obama, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin) who are trying to analyze their audience to be elected to office. There are even articles about Countries, such as Pakistan, Great Britain, Iran and Iraq, Israel and Libya -- which are often working to change the message that their international Audiences hear -- where successful results can often mean great financial or political gain in the World Marketplace.

Briefly describe, explain and comment on the Audience Analysis issue: problems, successes, mistakes, hunches, gambles, and strategies. Write just under half a page for each article -- and complete the assignment on one page.

You have some choices here -- you can describe or review your first article, and then write about the second article, or you can write about both articles, comparing and contrasting the Audience Analysis issues from both articles.

This Assignment is somewhat like those short Book Reports you may have done in Elementary School -- do you remember those Book Reports, where you would try to tell your teacher just enough about what happened in the book, so that she would know, or think, that you really did read it??

NOTE: I want you to do a little MORE!! Please do NOT just List or Repeat what the article says! I want you to THINK about the quality, success, or failure of the Audience Analysis! Tell me, briefly, what would you have done differently? Or what was remarkable about the insight of the firm's Audience Analysis? Or did they completely misunderstand who their audience was? Why?

Even though the Lecture Notes do indicate that it would be more proper and courteous to use a LETTER Format to contact your Professor, for this Assignment, use a MEMO!

Do NOT comment on the Audience Analysis done by the WJS Reporter!

It is NOT the point of this Assignment for you to discuss whether the writer of the article correctly predicted that there would be an Audience interested in reading the article.

DON'T tell me that the article was chosen to reach any certain audience in the world of WSJ subscribers!
DON'T tell me that the author of the article believed that a certain part of the WSJ Audience would be interested.

Assignment #3

You work for a small company called NIRVANA TIME. Your firm has just developed a new Alarm Clock, which you have named the NIRVANA ALARM CLOCK. (You may wish to note how "NIRVANA" is a particularly interesting name for an alarm clock.)

Your plan is to sell the new Alarm Clock to College Students.

Write a SALES LETTER that is suitable to use to market your new product.

Here is some data about the new NIRVANA ALARM CLOCK:

• It automatically resets the Alarm for the same time on the next day.

• It has a sturdy, non-tip Base.

• It has a 55-Decibel Buzzer.

• It has a Snooze Alarm.

• It is constructed of the finest, durable Polystyrene.

• It is small -- measuring only 6 by 6 by 3 inches.

• It has a Luminous Face.

• Available in Red, White, Blue, Purple, Black, Pink Grapefruit and Orange Sherbet.

• It comes with a 2-year Guarantee.

• The Price is $18.99, plus $3.00 for Shipping and Handling.

Here is some additional information for you to use for this Assignment:

Your Position with NIRVANA TIME is: Vice President, New Technology Division.

Your staff has prepared for you a Mailing List with the Name and Address of 10, 000 College Students.

Write the LETTER using the Three-Part Format for SALES LETTERS.

Analyze Your Audience -- your tone and style may NOT need to be as formal when you write to these College Students, as your tone and style might be if you were writing to Bank Employees.

Remember to consider the Three Additional Format Requirements!

You do NOT need to mention EVERY feature about the Clock listed above.

Assignment parameters are as follows:

Minimum, One Page.
Maximum, Two Pages.
Business Letter Format.

Assignment #4

Locate and Choose TWO Articles from the WSJ from the past two weeks.

Look for Articles that describe, interpret, discuss, or deal with AUDIENCE ANALYSIS.

You can easily find numerous articles about Firms that are launching a new product, struggling to sell a product, trying to market an old product to a new audience, or giving up after concluding that they cannot find -- or did not find -- an audience for their product.

You may also use articles about Government Agencies and Organizations and Politicians-- such as the FCC, the SEC, The US Congress or The California Legislature, Arnold, or Obama -- these agencies, organizations, and politicians also try to Analyze their Audiences, to determine how to sell their "products" or messages -- and to find out what they need to do, or need to stop doing!

You will likely find articles about EBAY's Meg and former Governor Jerry Brown, Toyota, Basketball, Baseball and Steroids, Health Care, Haiti and the Red Cross, and iPods and iPads during the past two weeks; but you can choose Articles on any topic covered in the WSJ.

Briefly describe, explain and comment on the Audience Analysis issue: problems, successes, mistakes, hunches, gambles, and strategies. Write just under half a page for each article -- and complete the assignment on one page.

You can describe or review your first article, and then write about the second article, or you can write about both articles, comparing and contrasting the Audience Analysis issues from both articles.

NOTE: Please do NOT just List or Repeat what the article says! I want you to THINK about the quality, success, or failure of the Audience Analysis! Tell me, briefly, what would you have done differently? Or what was remarkable about the insight of the firm's Audience Analysis? Or did they completely misunderstand who their audience was? Why?

ASSIGNMENT PARAMETERS:

Comment/Review Two WSJ Articles -- One Page Maximum
Focus on the Audience Analysis Issues
Indicate the Title and Date of the Articles.