We’re in the midst of setting up an event for mental health professionals. It’s something we do a few times a year. The invitations just went out.

We spent a bunch of money having the invitations printed, folded, labeled and mailed. In the middle of dealing with the hassle of the mass mailing someone asked if we couldn’t just email the invites and save all that money.

That would be a great idea except for the fact that our audience, in this instance anyway, doesn’t seem to engage with their email. They don’t all have email accounts and those that do seem not to check it frequently. We’ve learned, the hard way, that they don’t respond well to communication via email.

That’s not the case, of course, for other audiences. Some people, like lawyers, are very responsive to email invitations. They’re addicted to email and carry iPhones and Blackberrys with them at all times. An email invitation would be perfect for the attorney audience.

It’s important to think about your audience for every communication. How do your referral sources want to communicate with you? What about your clients?

What’s the best way to find out how people like to communicate? Ask them. They’re more than willing to tell you.

Recently, we were doing some research on how to communicate with other attorneys. Most of the world has moved on from using fax, but not attorneys. They still fax like crazy. If you’re communicating with attorneys that’s a fact worth noting.

The delivery method is one aspect of communication. Obviously, every communication has a multitude of elements. It’s important to constantly think about the perception of the audience whether it’s attorneys, mental health professionals or someone else. Try to put yourself in their shoes and think they way they think. If you have trouble doing that then go talk to them and find out what’s on their minds. The more you tailor your communication to the audience, the more receptive your audience will be.