Persuasive communication begins with understanding the audience's disposition toward the message.
Classifying the audience as supportive, resistant, or complacent allows the TD professional to determine what type of persuasion is actually required.
A supportive audience may already agree with the idea but need specific instructions or reinforcement to act.
A resistant audience requires careful attention to objections, evidence, credibility, and perceived risks. A complacent audience may neither oppose nor support the proposal strongly; the communicator must therefore establish relevance and explain why action matters.
Knowledge and interest are useful secondary considerations, but they do not describe the audience's stance toward the proposed action as clearly. A knowledgeable audience can still resist an initiative, while an uninformed audience may be highly supportive once basic information is provided.
The message should consequently be tailored to the audience's current position rather than constructed solely from the communicator's perspective. This audience-centered approach improves the likelihood that arguments, examples, evidence, and calls to action will address the actual barrier to influence.
Study Guide Topics: Communication; persuasion; audience analysis; stakeholder influence; change communication.