Who are You Writing For?

In my own content creation, I have always found the question of audience a particularly challenging one. Who exactly am I supposed to be writing to? The blogs I have written, videos I have made, posts I have created could be easily viewed by anyone. So how do I make what I am writing relevant and interesting for all of the possible people who might come across my content? The simple answer is I can’t, and you shouldn’t try to either.

It’s very rare that a message is so widely applicable it will have an impact on everyone who reads it. Those types of messages are usually those of global significance like presidential addresses or the news. As much as we might like to think otherwise, most of what we as content creators make won’t be at that profound scale. This presents us with the task of selecting our target audience. Sure, we’ll lose out on potential connections, but what we make will be that much more valuable to those we focus on.

Many of our blogs here at Encite focus on two major demographics. First, small business owners in the Denver area, our primary market. Our goal is to educate them on different marketing topics so they can make better informed marketing decisions. Often in our conversations and consultations we don’t have time to cover every topic or strategy that could be remotely helpful. We write these blogs so that our clients can get a taste for what’s out there, and ask the right questions when we meet.

Our other main demographic is, well, ourselves. Marketing professionals who have a hunger for knowledge and want to hear other opinions. Most of us on the Encite team have a list of news sources and blogs to stay up to date on the latest from the marketing world. We listen when others share their thoughts and ideas, and make ourselves better from their suggestions. These marketer focused blogs offer our own opinions and thoughts on major marketing strategies and theories. We are seeking to contribute to the greater conversation, and maybe educate a bit on the side.

Each demographic has different topic shades that we focus on when targeting them. We may talk about something like SEO to both groups, but the theme and end goal is slightly different. We also use slight differences in tone and vernacular to make that difference. For example, you’ll see much more industry jargon in a blog post target to marketing professionals than you will in one focused towards business owners. It’s all a trick of voice, theme, and tone.

Now the big question: which demographic do you think this blog was targeted at?