I can’t emphasize it enough…know your audience. Basically, if you’re trying to speak to everyone or the masses, you’re speaking to no one. Just throw out that “appealing to the masses” way of thinking. There is no thought police as characterized in George Orwell’s fictional though still very poignant and surprisingly relevant 1984. [Disclaimer: still one of my favorite books for that reason and the reaction it provokes].
We ARE individuals so you need to fine tune your potential audience accordingly.
The result will be a more personalized approach, which your audience will appreciate, one person at a time. Social media has brought us closer and made things more personal. This is something you can’t ignore.
The problem with trying to appeal to the masses or mainstream audience is that you’re usually left with a watered-down, generic, boring rendition of what your original intention probably was. And the objectives you originally set are probably going to be pretty hard to attain because you will likely only skim the surface of your audience instead of directly reaching individual customers.
As I’ve emphasized before, whether it’s an executive, retail consumer or simply someone who might like your product, people want to feel as if your copy is talking directly to them. This can be done no matter how different each customer is…and your customers will appreciate your authenticity.
So when you sit down to write website content, a blog or any other promotional material, define your focus and remember that appealing to 20 different types of audiences will never work. Don’t worry that you’ve missed some of your potential customers. You can always reach them next time. Keep in mind, the more content you create, the more chances you have to do this.
But when it comes right down to it, it’s all about respecting your audience. If you treat all your potential customers the same, where is the value? Orwell spelled that out very clearly in 1984 with his dystopic depiction of what society would be like if things like the “thought police” and displays of individualism were condemned as being “thoughtcrimes” and everyman characters like Winston Smith were embraced. Not pretty.
I’m not asking you to read or reread 1984 to determine what content you create, but remember that “doublethink” is just that and that black isn’t always white.
Perhaps Albert Einstein, who clearly came from a more utopic mindset, said it best when he said, “It is important to foster individuality, for only the individual can produce the new ideas.” And new ideas are never a bad thing.#Orwell #storytelling
