Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share How to Create an Ideal Reader Profile - 047
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
How to Create an Ideal Reader Profile - 047
When you take some time to think about your target reader, you are being intentional, which is ALWAYS a good thing. Without intention, you don’t have strategy.
Will this be perfect? NO.
I sometimes get a little eye-roll-y when people talk about their perfect reader named Molly, the one with three kids, a husband who works a corporate job, and who loves to buy her clothes at White House/Black Market.
This drives me crazy because I know my own audience pretty well. At least, a good portion of them. They email me back and talk about their lives. They hang out in my Facebook group and share what they are working on and struggling with.
I still don’t know where most of them shop. And if you asked me where I like to shop, I would say that I LOVE White House/Black Market, but I can AFFORD Ross.
People are complicated. Your audience will not be one-dimensional.
If it helps you to name your ideal reader and think of that person when you write, great. If that brings clarity and cohesion to your work, power to you! Do what works. But more often, I think that completing a workbook like this and thinking about your target audience is more about YOU.
It is more about finding out the kinds of need that you meet with your blog, your writing, or your business. Your ideal reader is the person who NEEDS what you OFFER.
Do your best to imagine that one person who needs what you have. Think about their ins and outs and their finances and marital status and what shows they watch and what makes them click on a particular headline. This can be a very helpful exercise.
But then remember as you write that your audience may have some commonalities and some similar backgrounds and interests. They are diverse. They are not all named Molly.
Defining your target audience is a great tool for you! But the more you actually connect with your readers in a personal way through emails or Facebook groups or comments on a Facebook page, the more you will be able to write with those particular people in mind.
It doesn’t mean you will try to please them all, but you might think about how you word something because there are four REALLY dedicated dudes that follow your 90% female readership. Consider your target audience and write for them as WELL as the audience you know IS actually reading.
View all episodes
By Kirsten Oliphant
4.9
9797 ratings
When you take some time to think about your target reader, you are being intentional, which is ALWAYS a good thing. Without intention, you don’t have strategy.
Will this be perfect? NO.
I sometimes get a little eye-roll-y when people talk about their perfect reader named Molly, the one with three kids, a husband who works a corporate job, and who loves to buy her clothes at White House/Black Market.
This drives me crazy because I know my own audience pretty well. At least, a good portion of them. They email me back and talk about their lives. They hang out in my Facebook group and share what they are working on and struggling with.
I still don’t know where most of them shop. And if you asked me where I like to shop, I would say that I LOVE White House/Black Market, but I can AFFORD Ross.
People are complicated. Your audience will not be one-dimensional.
If it helps you to name your ideal reader and think of that person when you write, great. If that brings clarity and cohesion to your work, power to you! Do what works. But more often, I think that completing a workbook like this and thinking about your target audience is more about YOU.
It is more about finding out the kinds of need that you meet with your blog, your writing, or your business. Your ideal reader is the person who NEEDS what you OFFER.
Do your best to imagine that one person who needs what you have. Think about their ins and outs and their finances and marital status and what shows they watch and what makes them click on a particular headline. This can be a very helpful exercise.
But then remember as you write that your audience may have some commonalities and some similar backgrounds and interests. They are diverse. They are not all named Molly.
Defining your target audience is a great tool for you! But the more you actually connect with your readers in a personal way through emails or Facebook groups or comments on a Facebook page, the more you will be able to write with those particular people in mind.
It doesn’t mean you will try to please them all, but you might think about how you word something because there are four REALLY dedicated dudes that follow your 90% female readership. Consider your target audience and write for them as WELL as the audience you know IS actually reading.