It’s impossible to think of a professional communication without a purpose.

You should be clear about what you want a communication to achieve before you can make decisions about the design or the nature of your content.  Before you fire up the software and start creating off the top of your head, spend some time articulating your purpose. What are you trying to achieve?  Always answer in terms of your audience.  What do you want them to know?  To do?   Your purpose may require diagrams, graphics, or even video. Some things are very difficult to express in writing.

Also consider how many purposes you can manage at once. A single short brochure that attempts to advertise the services at a community center, encourage healthy eating habits, and persuade the audience of the benefits of a municipal bond measure will probably fail on one or all counts. That’s a lot to cover in a short publication. A brief booklet that explains the ins and outs of kitesurfing in Kailua will accomplish a lot more than a general “Travel in Hawaii” brochure, which is likely to be pretty but not terribly informative. More specific, focused content is nearly always more helpful and interesting to a reader. Don’t try to do too much in a short format.

Sometimes your purpose is set for you. Readers of a business plan, for example, will expect certain information: an executive summary, a rundown of marketing strategies, financial requirements and assets, and a description of how the business will function. Know your audience, and make sure you cover all the required or conventional elements that they will expect.

Failing to understand your purpose (and your audience’s needs, which drive your purpose) can cause you to produce a document that readers can’t use. Think of a garage sale sign with no dates and no address. Readers of the sign won’t be able to use it, and they’ll just ignore it. Similarly, a flyer for a kids’ soccer camp that doesn’t tell parents what they need to bring or doesn’t contain a schedule of the daily program will get you a lot of annoying phone calls and emailed questions.