Before you start drafting content, think about who will read and use it, and list all your potential audiences.

Your audiences may be broad groups (eg the general public, parents, government staff) or more specific groups (eg parents of high school children, health researchers, web designers).

You are often likely to have several audiences (eg your report will be read by the irrigation industry, but also the general community).

Once you have listed your audiences, describe their characteristics in an audience profile. You can explore:

• demographic information – what are your reader’s life circumstances (eg age, gender, income, geographic location, cultural environment, ethnicity, language background, literacy level, educational level)?

• psychographic information – what are your reader’s aspirations and priorities (eg personal and career goals, values, interests, lifestyle choices)?

• behavioural information – how might your reader prefer to engage with your content, including format, length, frequency, static versus interactive, time of day, location and preferred sources (eg experts, data, personal anecdotes)? What technological constraints need to be considered? How will the reader be likely to find, use and share the information?

• role information – what are the roles of members of your audiences? How might their roles affect their need for information, and what they will do with the information?

The profile information will guide all aspects of your content, including focus, structure, breadth and depth, voice, tone, and vocabulary.