Your audience's demographics aren’t important

Your audience's demographics aren’t important

Bold statement for a marketer to make.

I’m not saying that knowing your audience’s age (or at least generation) along with other characteristics won’t help you figure out where to find them.

But when it comes to messaging—what you actually say to them—it’s not nearly as important as what I’m about to delve into in this issue.

But first, here’s what I use to grow my audience and send you these rather charming newsletters. 👇️ 

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Not only do you have everything you need to grow and build a connection with your audience, you can actually get paid to do it. I made money from week one of sending my newsletter because beehiiv send me ad opportunities every week.

Plus, it’s easy to use and budget-friendly.

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So what’s more important than knowing your audience’s demographics? The answer lies in that classic storytelling framework: The hero’s journey. 

The hero’s journey is at the heart of every great story. It’s the journey the protagonist goes on, in which they face challenges and overcome obstacles in pursuit of their goal. 

Related.👇️ 

Your hero is never your brand

So many people (including marketers) get this wrong. They place their organisation as the hero in the story and then wonder why their marketing efforts don’t gain any traction. 

Your hero is your audience, and their journey is central to your messaging.

But how do you position your audience as the hero?

There are two simple parts to this. 👇️ 

(Plot spoiler: You brand is going to help them overcome the challenge you identify.)

You may already know what your audience wants, or you may need to go digging.

At the not-for-profit I work at, one of our core audiences is looking for work in social care, so I might confidently say: “My audience is looking for a fulfilling job where they can make a difference.”

That seems clear enough. 

When it comes to understanding what challenge or obstacle stands in their way though, I need to go much further.

Where most marketers go wrong

Brands tend to market to people based on what they think their audience wants. Most are doing an OK job of that, but a mistake some marketers and copywriters make is that they craft all their messaging based around this alone.

Then they wonder why it’s not resonating with their target audience. Where’s the engagement? Where are the conversions?

Their approach is not wrong, it’s just incomplete.

We have to identify and understand the challenges and obstacles our audience faces. For my jobseeker’s example, an external obstacle might be: “The pay for care work is low.”

Again, this seems clear enough. Are we done?

No.

Because while most brands create messaging based on what their target audience wants—and even go that step further to address a challenge they face in getting it—they skip the messaging that really resonates and forges a deeper connection: the part where they address their audience’s inner struggle. 

Understanding your audience

Brands are selling external solutions to internal problems. What they need to do is address those emotional struggles too—because that’s why audiences engage.

We know that emotions play a powerful role in decision-making and action. While rational information and logic are important, it's the emotional connection that drives people to take the next step and engage with your messaging.

To create an emotional connection with your audience, you need to tap into their core values, desires and aspirations. How?

An inner emotional challenge might be doubt, insecurity, fear, embarrassment or any other of those pesky voices in our heads.

Just don’t be a douche about it. Don’t play on people’s fears. Show that you understand them—because you really do.

For my job seeker’s example, I might find that their inner struggle is frustration at having to pay to travel across town to work—this on top of not being paid well to start with. That is frustrating.

So I might craft my messaging like this:

When you’ve got an idea of what your audience wants and what’s stopping them from getting it, you can shape your messaging around how you can help them overcome these challenges and achieve their goals.

Then great things will happen.