Who is your audience?
Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash
It might seem obvious, but you’d be amazed at how often the question of audience is overlooked. Do you know who you’re writing to? It’s essential to clarify that before you start writing.
Once we have something to say, we can get excited. Inspiration has struck, and we’re off and running. We get into a zone, the words are flowing. We think, ‘This is great! They are going to love this!’ But when we get carried away with writing, we can forget to ask, who are ‘they’? Who exactly am I writing to? If we neglect to answer this crucial question, we can waste a lot of time and end up neglecting the relevant audience.
It’s most efficient if the first thing we note down is who we’re writing to as specifically as possible. If we don’t know the individuals in question, we can write down the characteristics of our readers.
You might find that the audience you’ve listed is varied or numerous. Perhaps you’ve noted down so many characteristics that they need to be grouped into categories. Review the list. Are you confident that each group’s comprehension is at the same level? Consider age, literacy levels and neurodivergence. How complex is your writing? Have you included jargon that could form a barrier to understanding? Consider using plain language, which takes up less time and cognitive processing for all readers.
Without clarifying the audience as specifically as possible beforehand, we can drift off and start writing down everything we know about the topic, rather than only what’s relevant. Trying to be too many things to too many audiences can hurt us.
If there’s a risk that some readers will not immediately grasp your message, then it’s a good idea to tailor your writing to specific audiences, even if this means creating several different documents. Consider the risk to your brand if you avoid this, and burden one document with the task of meeting diverse needs or abilities.
Writing several versions is less time-consuming than it may sound. Start at the beginning, and write for one audience first, then tailor that document for any other audience who may need to be catered for differently.
The best writing is achieved when your message is understood on first reading. How frustrated will readers be if they can’t quite get what you’re saying? Frustrated enough to walk away from your business? It’s just not worth it, and informing your audience of something they need to know or do is the reason you’re writing to them in the first place.
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