We all see so many messages each day. On tv, mobiles phones, social media, online, at work etc. So to have an impact, you have to make sure that your content cuts through and speaks directly to who you are targeting.
In this episode, I explain how to work out who your ideal audience is for your content, and where they are hanging as I unpick in more detail Step Three & Four of my Seven Simple Steps to Effective Communication Activity with Impact.
You will learn how to implement these two steps and gain tools and insights into each of these steps so that you can understand more about how to define your audience and reach them effectively.
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Full Transcription
Emma Drake:
Hello, and welcome to this episode of Communication Strategy That Works, with me, Emma Drake.
Today I wanted to talk to you all about how to connect with your audience effectively. So whether that’s customers, staff, stakeholders, or other funders and investors, we’re all exposed to so many messages each day, so you have to make sure that your content cuts through and speaks directly to who you’re targeting.
It’s really worth taking the time to work out where your ideal audience for your products or services is hanging out, and the best way to connect with them. So in this episode, I unpick, it’s actually steps three and four of my seven simple steps to communication planning for your business. And in this episode, you’ll learn how to implement these two steps and gain tools and insights into each of these steps so that you can understand more about how to define your audience and reach them effectively.
The reason I’ve broke this down into steps is because I’ve done this lots of times, and I understand why it’s more effective to do this as steps. I’ve found that there are some really obvious stages to getting this sequence right, and also it really helps to make it a manageable task. So from a strategic perspective, focusing on this part of the overall process means you can always have one eye on your goal as you question each stage and make sure it’s relevant and as effective as it can be. So, let’s dive in.
So first we need to work out who’s buying and who’s benefiting from your product or service? Think about those words for a minute and tell me, honestly, that you can say for every piece of content you have in your mind, who is buying and who’s benefiting from this product or service?This is particularly important if you work in business to business or B2B for short, or you rely on a supply chain to sell your product for you. So for example, if you don’t sell directly to your customers yourself.
So what we’re looking to do here is break this down so it’s as defined as it possibly can be. So whether that’s by geography or interests, buying habits or age maybe, you need to try and understand as much as you can about your ideal purchaser of this product or service in this example that we’re using. So if you sell online financial advisory services, whilst everyone in business may need these in some way, shape or form, it’s actually the shape or form here that will help you define who is buying or benefiting from your financial advisory services. Now, this might be a certain type of business but also works in a particular sector, maybe. You need to make a note of this audience and be as absolutely as specific as you can be.
The next step is how to reach them. So once we have an idea of who is buying or benefiting, we can move on to work out where they are most likely to see or hear about your products or services via your content. So if you understand who your ideal customer is, you want to then find out where they’re hanging out. So this step is really about understanding where best to give them a chance to find your content and engage with it and take action. Now, this takes a little bit of research, but it’s totally worth spending the time to find out. I’m doing an episode that dives deeper into this later this year so have a look out for that.
So there are places to look for insights, and you will need to apply your own industry knowledge as well, because this can be very industry specific actually. For example, places you could look are publications and news broadcast and print media and industry events actually will have readily available demographic data on who reads the publications or attends the events. And you can also look at social media insights because for most social media platforms, you can glean from the analytics section what age groups are interested in that platform and where they’re most likely to be hanging out. So you need to allocate a little bit of time for this, but once you have that data, you are going to be armed with it for all your products and services.
So here’s a couple of examples for you. If your typical buyer is a 30 to 45 year old man, who’s buying on behalf of a company, so not using their own money, and typically will not have a lot of time as they’re flat out doing their jobs. They’re not on social media much during the day, at least, or for work at least, but will read trade publications as part of their ongoing development, whether that’s online or in print, or they’ll attend industry events, for example. So that might be your best chance of getting in front of them.
So this type of customer is unlikely to spend company money on someone they’ve seen on social media. They will want to understand that you’re proven in your field, that you’re a thought leader maybe, that you have a really strong track record. And I’ve worked for companies that they aspire to be like. So this relationship actually might take some time to get to know you and understand that you’re trustworthy. So you need to think about that with your content and the type of content you’re producing.
Emma Drake:
If your typical buyer is a 30 to 55 year old female who runs her own business for example, she may well be on two to three social media channels a day. She trusts social media and has bought from ads or from referrals on social media. So in this instance, showing up consistently is super important. So you need to have lots of free advice, testimonials to build credibility in your products or services, and you’re going to have to build that relationship over time.
So you have to be in the right place at the right time, and also tick all the boxes with your content to connect effectively with your audience. So not much to do, right? But not everyone is hanging out everywhere as has been proven by those examples. So you do need to think about this and do a little bit of research.
So moving on to content. Firstly, people usually need to engage with several pieces of content before they actually take the next step with you. So whether that’s checking out your website landing page, listening to your Facebook lives, or webinars and signing up for your emails, or tuning into your podcast maybe, like you are today tuning into my podcast. So take some time to make sure you have more than one bite of the cherry for people, so to speak, and several ways for them to take action. That’s my first point.
Secondly, you want to create content that you know will have a good idea will work. So for example, that seasonal guide that looked cool but didn’t convert, perhaps wasn’t all that worth the effort in the end. But the how to infographic was viewed lots of times, or maybe it was downloaded. So maybe your small business owner or your ideal audience would rather have some quick advice than see you can be fun and seasonal, for example. Although, as I said, that’s a really good brand-building piece of content and can help to build relationships up to this point, if you’re using social media.
So this is where tracking your activity and keeping one eye on what you’re creating and on what works and what doesn’t is really important. I cover this in more detail in episode four, I think it is. So check that one out if you get a minute.
So today you have learned how to understand who’s buying and benefiting from your product or services and gained some insights into each of these really important steps in the planning process so you can understand more about how to define your own audience and reach them effectively with great content.
So finally, thank you for listening to this episode of Communication Strategy That Works. Don’t forget to check my show notes for those links that I mentioned, and I’d really love it if you would subscribe to my podcast and leave me a review. And also if you think there’s someone that could benefit from listening to this podcast, please share this within your networks. So I’ll just say bye for now, and see you next time.