Choose one scenario from the list below and write an appropriate message. Depending on your audience, your message might be in the form of a letter, or it might be a memo – you decide. It is expected that you will make up the details in each case.
Assume that you are the vice-president in charge of customer relations in a company that installs specialized telecommunications equipment for large corporate clients. The company recently changed from an outdated paper-based system to a cloud-based online approach in an attempt to remain competitive in a changing marketplace. The changeover will undoubtedly present some difficulties, since many of your long-time sales reps are accustomed to keeping their clients’ records in personal notebooks and not in shared databases, but the switch is seen as a positive move for the company that should open up many exciting new opportunities.
Your Task: Write an appropriate message to all members of your sales force and explain the new system.
You’re the marketing director for Crossroads Brewhaus, a struggling new microbrewery in your hometown. To keep pace with customers’ changing tastes, your company has just perfected a new product (you choose the product) that is setting the microbrew world on fire. You’ve already won the prestigious national YouBrew! award, and now you’ve landed a front page article in the current issue of Draught Quarterly magazine.
Your Task: Write a message to your investors and explain the significance of this new product and the resulting publicity.
Audience: These problems all have specific audiences. Write with those persons (and roles) in mind. (Sometimes the audience given makes it clear whether you should write a letter or a memo.) Make up whatever details are necessary. Your audience’s name will appear in the memo header or letter salutation/address.
Grading criteria: All grading criteria/aspects of communication matter – except channel choice (it’s a written message). Serious problems with language use can have a greater impact on your grade. Self-presentation and task/context are not as important as the others.
