Wiley Content Management Bible, 2nd Edition 978-0-7645-7371-2 Manuale Utente

n audience is a group of people that is defined by both a com-
mon set of traits shared by its members, and by your decision

to deliver value to that group in the form of content or functionality.
In this section, I discuss the idea of audiences from the perspectives
of marketing, software development, and writing. I discuss how you
may go about segmenting users into audiences, and then I detail the
information that you need to capture about each of your audiences
so that you can deliver the best content to them.

It never ceases to amaze me how much lip service people pay to
understanding their audiences and how little real effort they put into
doing so. I’ve never run into someone who disagrees with the state-
ment “You must understand who you’re serving if you’re to serve
them well.” On the other hand, I know of precious few who do any-
thing more than a cursory analysis of those they intend to serve.

This Jumpstart summarizes what you need to do to include localiza-
tion in your CM process and system. 

Use this jumpstart as a summary without the weight of detail, or as a
quick review if you’ve already read the chapter and want a checklist
of what you need to do localization. 

To analyze your audiences you can follow these steps:

1. Define your potential audiences. If your organization doesn’t

already have a well-defined audience document, expect to
spend several iterations refining your audience definition with
key stakeholders. 

2. Refine your list of audiences. Determine how the CMS can help

you serve each audience better and also reach your goals. 

3. For each audience on your final list: 

• Identify them by giving each audience a name and chart-

ing the characteristics that describe it. 

• Describe their demographics using a narrative that

explains the audience and how they benefit from your
organization. Also include descriptive characteristics
such as their jobs, technical savvy, and traditional demo-
graphics, as well as the size of this audience. 

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Serving versus exploiting
your audiences

Looking at audiences
through the lens of a
CMS

Collecting information
about your audiences
during logical design

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