Table of Contents

Internal Resources........................................................................................................................2
Surveys.........................................................................................................................................3
Technology...................................................................................................................................3
Focus Groups...............................................................................................................................3
References........................................................................................................................................4

To: Communication Team of IG

From: XYZ, Technical Communication Manager
Date: August 13, 2015
Subject: New Product Announcement
As the new technical communications manager, it is indeed a privilege to work for an
organization like International Gadgets (IG). The organization consists of various internal and
external stakeholders so it is important to find ways in discovering needs of these entities. The
new product which is going to be launched soon needs to be communicated to all stakeholders in
order to keep them up to date on whats going on in the company and how their interests are
being kept in mind in running the company. The organization, as many of you may already know
consists of Research & Development (R&D), Manufacturing, Sales & Marketing, Technical
Support, and Finance/Accounting. The new product launch has not only to be communicated to
these internal departments but also to the wide range of external stakeholders that includes
individuals including customers (large accounts, individuals via web sales), distribution partners,
component suppliers, subcontractors (design and occasional manufacturing). IG also contracts
with Amazon to handle all its product logisticswarehousing, packaging and shipping, and
returns. Therefore it is important for the team to know the various ways through which we can
identify the needs of these people in order to engage them and make this new product important
to them.
The primary stakeholders are those that engage in economic transactions with the business which
include stockholders, customers, suppliers, creditors, and employees. The secondary stakeholders
are those who although do not engage in direct economic exchange with the business but are
effected by or can affect its actions. There are multiple ways through which the needs of these
various stakeholders can be found but the key is in the implementation of these approaches. The
simplest way is to ask the individuals directly on how the new product will be relevant to them
but this is easier said than done as audience members may be geographically distant, or
production schedules may be so tight that its difficult to find time to meet each other (Marcotte,
2000).
Internal Resources
One way to find the needs of stakeholder is to use task analysis and develop a questionnaire in
order to get responses from employees themselves. It would be beneficial to identify groups of
employees within IG who were currently or had previously performed the job functions related
to the new product (Marcotte, 2000). For example the Sales & Marketing department should
have these questionnaires filled with a one on one session to have more accurate responses as
they can provide the most important feedback regarding a new product. Similarly the
finance/accounting questionnaire should include questions relating to the cost and expenses of
the new product as their needs are mostly related with this aspect. These questionnaires should
be filled with having personal interviews as the quality of the answers and information would be
better.

Surveys
The use of questionnaires does provide accurate and relevant information but sometimes it is
hard to access the audience through such means. A better way to get hold of the external
stakeholders is to use written or online surveys in identifying the needs of the audience. This can
be particularly useful in gathering data of customers who are considered as one the most
important primary stakeholders for an organization. An appropriate way to construct
questionnaires for this survey is to get in touch with other departments who have direct
interactions with such audience like Sales & Marketing or Technical Support.
Technology
The Internet has provided the technology for facilitating communication. This is one of the
leading avenues to find the needs of both primary and secondary stakeholders. The new product
announcement can be posted on the companys website to gather information from customers
and to keep abreast of latest product development. This site can be formulated with the help of
various departments such R&D, Marketing and Technical Support indirectly leading to
interaction within these departments and revealing their needs. The double advantage to this
thing is that both customers and employees subscribe to the site whereas the useful features of
the site include frequently asked questions and discussion forums. Information developers
monitor the site to help determine audience issues and needs (Marcotte, 2000).
Focus Groups
These data collection methods for stakeholders involve inviting stakeholders to express their
opinion on the objective. The number of people in a conference room for data collection focusgroup typically varies from 4 to 12 participants. The key to holding a successful focus group
session is to ensure no participant dictates the discussion. Therefore, careful moderation is
critical to the success of a focus group. Another critical success factor is that the discussions
should not be based on preconceived notions. Rather, they should be used to understand them
better. Participants should not only concur or disagree, but rather build on the opinion
expressed. (Sharma, 2011). This is a good platform to invite both primary and secondary
stakeholders and help them express their opinions while at the same time revealing their different
needs and requirements. Distribution partners, component suppliers can be seated together and
be told about the new product in which they can express on how the new product will affect their
supply chain and distribution pattern.
In short, the various ways to identify to the needs of the various stakeholders is through the use
of internal resources, conducting surveys, use technology and having focus groups. It is
important to carry out this task as different audiences do not always have the same needs from
similar announcements so it is up to us to make the new product, and for that matter any sort of
communication relevant for everyone at IG.

References
Marcotte, D. (2000, December). Determining the Needs of Your Audience. Dateline
Houston, 40(4), 1-8.
Sharma, R. (2011, May 25). Retrieved August 13, 2015, from Bright Hub A Project
Management: http://www.brighthubpm.com/project-planning/99511-methodsof-data-collection-in-stakeholder-analysis/