But You Don’t Have to Take My Word For It: Writing to Your Audience

Growing up, one of my favorite shows was Reading Rainbow. I watched it enough that the theme song still gets stuck in my head from time to time (“Take a look, it’s in a book…Reading Rainbow”; you’re welcome, dear Reader). Every episode, LaVar Burton would leave the viewer with Book Reviews. He’d always introduce the segment by saying:

In that same vein, I’d like to share a recent article from The Huffington Post on the importance of writing specifically to your audience. This is something we often stress, and it’s one of the reasons that our work often begins by doing research and learning the “ins” and “outs” of our clients’ target audience. When you’re able to write specifically to your audience, you can reach them in a more powerful way. The conversation feels more human–more collaborative. But you don’t have to take my word for it:

From Michael Kempner’s “If You Want Me to Care About Your Brand, Then Know What I Care About”:

A colleague once gave me a piece of advice about writing – “Write as if you’re writing for family members.” This advice has always served me well, until I sat down today and really thought about the meaning behind these words. See, the problem is that it doesn’t specify which family member I’m writing for – my wife? My son? They’ll both interpret what I have to say differently, and while my words may be relevant to one, they may miss the mark with the other.

Therein lies the challenge many marketers are facing today. With all the avenues of communication available to brands – from traditional advertising and marketing to 140-character tweets and even wordless Instagram photos – the issue is not just about reaching consumers, but rather resonating with them.

We agree.

Read the full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-kempner/if-you-want-me-to-care-ab_b_6303526.html