Experienced letter writers often admit that some of the most challenging letters they have to write are those that are addressed to people who themselves are in the business of writing and presenting ideas and thus are likely to be highly critical of anything that is amateurish.
This group includes people who work for the media and public relations agencies.
The next most challenging assignment, they say, is writing letters aimed at staff members of business and professional associations.
Why? Primarily because those recipients have to send out so many letters in their daily work that they are likely to cast a critical eye on their own incoming mail.
If you have a hang-up about writing letters to these discriminating audiences, you can relax.
You may be better off with less experience because you can be yourself and express your own ideas in an honest and straightforward fashion.
The pros recognize and respect letters that come from the heart rather than the copywriter's formula bank.
Write to a person, not to an address Before you write the first word in your letter, close your eyes and imagine your letter being read.
Do you see a flesh-and-blood person in that image? Or do you visualize an office, a bank, a repair shop, a retail store, or some other structural entity? Once you envision a real person opening the envelope, you are on the right track.
But you still have to overcome a second hurdle, which is to have reasonably realistic understanding of the recipient's interest.
Many letters fail to make their mark because they stress situations and ideas relating to the writer, rather than the reader.
How often have you read letters, for example, from friends or associates and ended with the distinct thought that the writers were looking for sympathy or understanding for themselves and were not really too concerned with how you were making out these days? Don't fall into that trap.
When composing your thoughts, think in terms of you, the person who is the recipient.
Even when the subject of a letter is routine and conventional, there are ways to bring the reader into the picture.
Analyzing your audience 1.
The media.
These people are in the business of working with ideas and issues and communicating them to people through magazines, newspapers, broadcasts, and other media.
They may be writers, editors, publishers, administrators, or marketers, but they are dedicated to better communication, and they respond favorably to letters that clarify ideas and issues and given them something substantial to think about.
2.
Public relations.
Like those in the media, these people are concerned with ideas and issues.
The main difference is that, whether because of personal convictions or loyalty to clients, they are likely to have preconceived opinions about the issues.
They respond well to suggestions for improving relationships between organizations and the public.
3.
Business Associations.
The kinds of staff members you are likely to write to in business associations are much like people in public relations, but more specialized.
They are committed to the goal of helping business in general and their own field in particular to flourish and be economically healthy.
They respond well to requests for information and to ideas that will be mutually beneficial to the recipient, as well as the letter writer.
4.
Professional Association.
Picture the staff member you are writing to as a person who is more "vertical" in both interests and experience.
He or she will be perhaps less knowledgeable about general business, but substantially informed about the work and goals of the profession that the association represents.
These people react positively to requests for data and publications that can spread their message, as well as ideas for improving any relationships affecting the association.