Understanding Your Audience by Steph Beth Nickel

 

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There's nothing wrong with writing exclusively for yourself. Enter the journal in its numerous iterations: bullet journals, diary-type journals, guided journals, etc., etc., etc.

But . . . 

If you're writing for an audience, there are several things to take into consideration.

You've likely heard the term "target audience," but defining who you're writing to is crucial to what you write, the vocabulary you use, and how you market your writing.

The good news: Defining your target audience, your "ideal reader," has numerous benefits. The bad news: No, you're not writing for everyone. 

When you have determined who your ideal reader is, you'll have to do some research as to where to find them. Do they spend time on social media? If so, where? Facebook? Instagram? TikTok?

As you explore, you'll not only find your target audience but also what interests them, what they're posting about, their "felt needs."

The information you want to share or the entertainment value you want to provide is only relevant to your audience if it's something that satisfies those felt needs. You may have a great deal of information, insight, and inspiration to offer, but you have to meet your readers where they are in order for them to benefit from your words.

And speaking of words . . .

Understanding what to say and how to say it to effectively communicate with your audience is extremely important.

Raise your hand if you'll read a 1000-page fantasy novel, but will merely skim an email of more than three paragraphs.

While you may happily read a lengthy newsletter, the same amount of content on Facebook can appear overwhelming, causing you to skip over it entirely.

Using words your audience understands and can relate to in a format that grabs their attention is incredibly important. Meeting their expectations, based on what you're writing, is also important. Using proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling in your texts is fine. Expecting others to do the same (and, worse yet, correcting them when they don't) will shut the door to effective, ongoing communication.

As an editor, people ask me if poor grammar and incorrect spelling and punctuation bother me. I can honestly say that, for the most part, I notice these mistakes but don't allow them to hinder the message the writer is seeking to convey. (It's different when someone hires me to notice these issues and correct them of course.)

As a writer, it's important to define your target audience, discover where they spend their time, learn what their felt needs are and how you can meet them, and seek to effectively communicate with them in a way they understand.

M is for Mission Statement by Carol Harrison

 

M is for Mission Statement

There is a lot of information about finding our target audiences for marketing our writing. Where does our writing fit into the publishing world or is it for family, friends, and ourselves? What if we also enjoy doing a variety of creative endeavors? How do they fit together?

These were questions I asked myself often over the years. I am a writer who enjoyed sharing my writing with family and friends but also publishing it. I struggled with the marketing aspect of my writing. But I also enjoyed teaching workshops, speaking at various events and summer Bible camps and now I have added making Junk Journals for myself and others as well. How do these all fit together?

I took several workshops about discovering our vision for our creativity and then developing a personal mission statement to gel everything together. Rather like opening an umbrella over all the activities I liked to do, wanted more time to do, and how that would relate to others.

A mission statement reminds you and tells others about what you want to do or accomplish and what contributions you can make. It defines our purpose and ties all the aspects of how we use our God-given gifts together in one package that can also be shared with other people.

Here are some questions to ponder as you design your own personal mission statement after seeking God’s wisdom in doing so.  

-        What do I do?

-        Whom do we do it for – target audience?

-        What values are we bringing?

-        How do we do it? – speaking, workshops, writing, teaching, mentoring and the list can go on.

-        Why is what we do important to others?

-        What strategies can or do we use?

-        How would writing a mission statement help with our writing?

o   Finding target audience

o   Tying various aspects of creativity together

A personal mission statement is as unique as the individual writing it and their Gifts and abilities.

It took me a long time to think through and pray about what I do and why I do it. I asked myself often if I was moving in the right direction, the direction God wanted me to travel. Here is the end result of that journey to writing a mission statement.

Carol Harrison is passionate about mentoring people of all ages and abilities to find their voice and reach their fullest potential while encouraging them to find glimmers of hope and glimpses of joy.

I work towards this in my writing, my speaking, teaching, workshops, and even creating and sharing junk journals. It ties everything together as means of helping others find their voice, reach their potential and know that there is hope even in the tough times of life. 

Do you have a personal mission statement? What does it say? 

Carol Harrison enjoys sharing with people of all ages and abilities through her writing and speaking from her home in Saskatoon.