Going deeper with your audience

One way of deciding what content you want to create is to come up with an image in your head of your ideal reader. 

However, this can feel like a chicken or an egg situation. Do you identify your ideal reader first or do you pick your niche first? 

There isn’t a correct way to approach this. It’s going to come down to which area you have the strongest opinion about. But the two will go hand in hand and should be considered in conjunction with each other.

If you’ve already decided on your blog niche, then the next step will be to identify who your target audience is. The reason for doing this is that it will exponentially improve your writing and focus when you clearly know exactly who you want to reach with your message.

If you haven’t decided on your niche, perhaps you already have an idea of who you want to write for. In which case, doing a deeper dive into understanding that target audience, or ideal reader, will give you a better understanding of the possible niches that would align well for both you and your desired audience. 

For example, maybe you know that you want to write for teens. You know that you’re passionate about helping or empowering teens, but you’re just not sure where to focus that passion. Getting super clear on the exact teen you want to be your ideal reader will provide clarity on the possible niches that would be appropriate and from there, you can narrow it down to the ones that you’re most excited to explore.

Writing with a specific person in mind is a great way to focus your thoughts and goals. If you’ve spent any time hanging around marketing or advertising folks, you’ve probably heard the terms “buyer persona” or “target audience” mentioned a lot, especially as they’re developing campaigns to promote a new product or service.

A “buyer persona” is simply a profile of the type of buyer the advertiser or marketer has in mind for that product. The buyer persona is usually developed with a lot of demographic specifics: age, geographic location, sex, profession/career, family status, even hobbies and product favorites. 

Imagine for a moment that you are a film producer and you’re developing a movie about a group of young, bright preteens who also happen to be students attending a magical school for budding wizards. 

Now, visualize the theater on opening night. What would the typical audience member look like? 

A good film producer will keep that image in mind as they write the screenplay, cast the film, curate the soundtrack music, film the movie itself, and even develop the marketing campaign. Everything about the creation of the movie will be in service to that imaginary audience member.

For bloggers, the equivalent of the buyer persona and the movie audience member is the “Ideal Reader”. Think about who it is that will most want to consume your content and ideas. For example, if you’re reviewing the most expensive fine dining restaurants in the world, you are unlikely to appeal to students fresh out of college.

Try and create a comprehensive profile of your “Ideal Reader”, adding as many specifics as you can. Don’t worry if you can’t do this straight away. You can do this as you develop your blog and understand more about your topic.

Here is an outline to help you get started. 

• Age
• Gender / Sex
• Family status
• Occupation
• Hobbies
• Geographic location

Be as creative as you like! Maybe your Ideal Reader has a favorite social media site, movie genre, or even favorite way they consume content (e.g. Kindle, iPad, podcast).

Again, you can be as detailed or as general as you’d like. As you continue on your blogging journey and your audience naturally grows, you’ll develop a better “feel” for your Ideal Reader, what they like, what resonates with them, and what keeps them engaged on your site.

Here is a great way to get thinking about this. 

Think about your favorite blog, especially one that’s been around for a while and has a lot of content. Chances are, your favorite blogger is writing with a clear “Ideal Reader” in mind, too.

Try reverse engineering it. 

Check out their latest posts and the About page. If the blog has a “Most Popular Posts” widget or feature, review those as well. 

See if the blog has a blogroll too. A blogroll is a compilation of links to other blogs that the blogger recommends and likes. All of those are great clues that can help you develop a clear idea of that site’s “Ideal Reader” and inspire your search for your own.

For extra credit, write a blog post specifically for the Ideal Reader that you created above.

1. First, brainstorm the kind of person you hope will read your blog. What do you want to say to them?
2. Write your post as if you’re writing to that one Ideal Reader. If you’re feeling adventurous, add some unique element like a photo or video. We’ll cover media in more detail later, so this is completely optional.
3. Finally, don’t forget to publish it! (Or at least save it as a draft to come back to.)