Building a Brand: The Difficult Simplicity of Defining Your Audience
Writing would be a lot easier if writers didn't have to worry about audiences. Writing would also be easier if I didn’t need to sleep at all. Unfortunately, as has been said many times and many ways, you can’t always get what you want…
I first started writing back when blogs were still a thing. When I first published a post, I wasn’t consciously thinking about audiences, platforms, or any of the metrics of writing at all. That wasn’t really the point for me. I started writing because I needed to process the things that were running through my head about faith and the books I was reading. For me, writing was a great way to do that, and since I have a nasty case of left-handed dude, writing on a blog seemed to make more sense than writing in a journal.
But as I kept writing, and as people started reading, my writing started to shift. I wasn’t writing simply because it was helpful for me. I was writing because I thought it might be helpful for someone who was like me, a relatively new Christian.
Without really meaning to, I began to define my audience as I developed as a writer, one that I still primarily write for to this day.
What is an audience (and why it matters)
Your audience is not how many people are reading your content. Your audience, at its most basic level, is who your content is for. Knowing this shapes what and how you write—what information has to be communicated, what can be assumed, and what can be otherwise ignored.
A college student, for example, is typically writing with his or her professor in mind as the audience. Therefore, the student is going to write to the professor’s requirements in order to get a passing grade. A mystery writer writes with fans of the genre in mind. As such, the writer has a structure for storytelling to follow that will be familiar with readers; there is inferred knowledge that doesn’t need to be communicated. The same goes for those who write about religion, politics, superheroes, and any other subject under the sun.
There are nuances within each audience as well, because you can choose to write to a broad audience or narrowly focus on a specific subset of the audience. Let’s say you were writing to writers. If you’re writing broadly, your communication is going to be very different than if you were to write to a narrower subset. Writing to too broad an audience may hinder a writer, because there’s no clear way to communicate effectively to everyone targeted. Narrowing in on a specific subset gives the clarity needed to effectively communicate. If the audience is newer writers, focus on the essential basics of the craft. On the other side of things, if you are writing for experts in a field, you can safely omit fundamental basics. That information should already be known.
How to define your audience
So if an audience is who you’re writing for, how do you define that group? Start by focusing on your own interests, expertise, and experience. Few things will turn a reader away more easily than inauthenticity. What interests you will interest others. Your experiences matter to other people. Your expertise gives you the authority to speak on subjects people want to learn more about. The somewhat cliché example is nevertheless accurate: if you’ve never been married, or have only been married a short while, it’s probably unwise for you to write about what it takes to nurture a lasting marriage. Because you haven’t lived it, it will come across as hollow even if everything you write is true. Similarly, if you’re writing about the nuances of football but you have no interest in the game, it won’t resonate (again, even if everything you write is true, it will ring hollow in the ears of your readers).
So if you want to define your audience, here’s how to start:
Consider your interests. What are you passionate or excited about? What are you curious about? You don’t necessarily have to be an expert in what you want to write about, but you do have to have an interest in whatever it is.
Name what you’re best at. This might be something you’ve been formally educated in, or a skill you’ve developed over time on your own. Whatever it is, it’s an entry point for an audience into your writing.
Reflect on your own history. What experiences have you had that have shaped you? What you’ve done and experienced gives you something to say, no matter how far down a certain path you are. So explore that and use it well to serve others with your writing.
Honor your audience
An audience is who you’re writing for. Knowing your audience shapes what and how you write. And if you’re a writer, you have an audience—even if that audience is only you. (Remember, that’s how I started. No shame there.) So whoever your audience is, honor them. Consider them as you write. Think about how you can serve them best with your words. Your writing will be all the better because of it.
