I categorise my workshop clients into two groups:
- Those with boundless ideas on sharing meaningful content.
- Those without.
The initial question they ask will dictate the path the workshop will follow.
Knowing what you want to say
The first group are seeking ideas and inspiration. They ask ‘how can we develop our content ideas into something our audience will love?‘ They are looking at how best to reach their audience, their targeted audience. How to build their brand and their culture into the content they’re ready to publish. They care that the content is presented in a meaningful way. They want to offer help to their online audience. In return, they believe their content will have a fundamental impact upon their online business.
Asking what’s best to say
The second group. They ask ‘how can we create content that our audience will find?‘ They look at what their competitors are doing and believe they should be doing something similar. They feel that their competitors are intruding upon the space they believe should be theirs. They see their competitors outperforming them on search engines. They view their Twitter followers and Facebook likes as marketing collateral. They know that they are losing out and there’s an opportunity for them in creating a social brand.
I work with both groups. I believe I can help both categories of client. We take very different journeys to reach their end goal.
The difference
I don’t work from a slide-deck or a pre-planned agenda. Conversations never flow in the way you’d expect. What I do is ask questions. Those questions outline the day ahead, the focus and the objectives.
The first question I ask is ‘how close to your audience are you?‘
The first group will talk me through conversations, the trends they see and the insights they’ve gathered.
The second group will always talk me through personas. How they believe their customers act. They’ll present graphs and analytical findings. They’ll tell me about who they believe their audience are.
The first group will never struggle to create great content. They’re in tune with their online audience.
The second group see things different. When you reflect upon a graph or a stream of data you rarely think about cause. The data is there to provide answers. What you’re really looking for are further questions. Why are people looking for your service, your craft, or your products in the first place?
Listening to your audience, and understanding your audience, gives you a far greater perspective to start creating and sharing worthwhile content. Reading your audience doesn’t. The content that’s successful is the content that is created from a position of strength – knowing your audience. That’s the content where stories are shared, insights are offered and views are put forward. That’s the content we all really want to be reading.
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