Easy (but often missed) ways to discover how to speak to your audience

And why it's vital for your content marketing plan              

Have you ever read an article, a headline, a blog or a social media post and felt that the author was speaking directly to you? Like no one else in the world would be reading the same article and taking it in just as much as you were?

That's the beauty of a business owner knowing their audience.

They don't know you personally (yet!), but they know the pain points in your life, and they speak to them. They offered sympathy. They offered solutions. They offered understanding.

And this is why knowing your audience needs to be at the heart of all your marketing and content planning. 

Why is knowing your audience so important for marketing and content planning?      

Knowing your audience is vital for all forms of marketing.

Marketing is psychology. And psychology is knowing people and how they think.

So, I ask you - What is the psychology behind your product that would make people buy it?

 Are you saving them time? Are you making them feel beautiful? Are you giving them prestige? Are you giving them confidence?

The best marketing comes when the audience feels like the writer has read their mind and is speaking to them. You have pinpointed their:

• Pain points

• Challenges

• Goals

• Desires

They think you know them. So, they come to you for help with their issue, and you beautifully articulate what they're going through, showing you understand their pains. Voila! They're going to love you and want to work with you or buy from you.

What happens in business when you know your audience?

When you've mastered this mindreading marketing where you're speaking to your audience, magical things start to happen:

• You start to get more leads as you're speaking to an audience who wants what you're putting down

• You'll convert more people into customers as you've convinced them that your product or service is perfect for them

• You'll find your loyal customers will start to talk about you and refer you to their friends.

Whatever content your creating will start to get shared more. Your social posts will gain more likes, you'll get more followers, your emails will be opened, and your sales will increase.  

Here are 3 ways to understand your audience better

Most people in business would know about the basics of knowing your audience – demographics and psychographics. It's drilled into you to work out your ideal client, a 'buyer's persona', etc.

So, you may classify her as a woman in her 30's who runs a part-time business, earning $55,000 a year while raising 3 kids. She struggles with time management and wants more time to get to the gym.

And this is all great – but what if you could know her better?

1.      Use their words and repeat them back to your audience

You know how you're always asking people to 'leave you a review' or 'recommend you' on LI, or 'write you a testimonial'? Yes? Well, let me ask you what you're doing with these?

Are you simply leaving them online for others to read, or are you going through them, picking out the gold, and using their words?

When you're creating content, if you're using language and writing as your audience speaks, you're going to produce pure marketing gold. So, look at your reviews and use their exact words.

You'll find:

• What your audience loved about your product/service

• The problem you solved for them

• How you helped them

• And much more

For example, 'I felt completely comfortable having her represent my brand and communicate with my audience on my behalf'.

2.      Do a little bit on online stalking

If you know where your audience is hanging out online, hang out with them for a while. See what they're talking about, complaining about, celebrating.

Try all the social channels and join the Facebook groups they are in too. There are also online discussion groups such as Quora and Reddit, where people ask questions about anything.

Give it a go.

Use the search function to type what you think your audience would search for, and then read the comments. As many people posting are doing so anonymously, you'll find some dead honest opinions happening!

As a result, you'll also find words they are using that you may not have thought to use.

For example, they've found a brilliant new shampoo, and their hair is no longer 'greasy' and 'oily looking'. You may think those words weren't 'polished' enough to use in your marketing, but if you did, you'd be speaking directly to your audience and winning them over.

3.      Speak to actual people or do surveys

One of the best ways you're going to get to know your audience is to speak to them – to go directly to them.

You can either speak to them directly (online or in-person) or use surveys to send to your database.

You'd start by asking them all the standard types of questions you'd like to know:

• What the hardest thing about…?

• How did you find me…?

• What do I help you with…?

• How well did I help you solve your issue?

From there, add on 'please tell me more, I'm interested', and you'll find that they're more likely to start opening up and telling you their story.

So, ask, listen, prod and listen some more. Then use their words to promote what you do to a broader audience.

Need a hand creating content targeted to your audience?

When I start with clients, we go through a detailed questionnaire to find out more about their brand and ideal audience. I make sure we're both 100% clear on who we're speaking to so we create winning content.

If you'd like a hand with your social media content and speaking to your audience, please get in touch. Or, if you have any questions, either drop them below or send me an email at sam@samsays.com.au.