The age-old question. If ever there was a thing to be sold or a service to be offered, there was a person trying to find inventive ways to share it. In 2023, we are spoiled for choice with a number of digital avenues to create exposure for our businesses. But at the same time, we have to compete with millions of other businesses trying to do exactly the same thing. So, how do I connect with my audience? I’ll show you.
I’m doing it right now with this blog post. This is your working example of what you can do for your business. Ta dah! Create content around a topic that you know your audience is thirsting after. Is that it? Not exactly. That’s the goal, but I’m going to show you the actionable steps you can take to get to that point. Let’s dive in.
Why Do You Need To Connect With Your Audience?
You’d have to be very optimistic (or have the cure for world hunger) to think that you can simply create a service, put it out on the web, and it sells itself. It would make our lives so much easier, but it would also put me out of business. No. There is a process to follow and work to be done in order to get your products, services, and solutions recognised and purchased.
According to Forbes, as of February 2023, there were 1.13 billion websites on the world wide web, and a new website was built every 3 seconds. There’s no doubt it’s more now, which results in a lot of competition in already flooded markets. The good news is that there is only one YOU and you will make your business stand out simply by doing things differently; your way. However, you still need to market your work effectively by tapping into your audience and creating content that answers their questions and pain points.
How To Create Content Your Audience Wants And Needs
Generally speaking, when it comes to creating content that addresses a need, you would first look at the problem that needs to be solved. You would then describe the solution and tell people why they should listen to you over and above anyone else. But in this instance, we are going back to ground zero. Because we are going to assume that all you know is what your solution does. So, we will reverse engineer the above process.
You Have A Solution To A Problem
Great. You do this one amazing thing and it helps people out in certain amazing ways! Good for you. How would you describe this solution to someone who has no idea what you do or even an inclination toward the niche you work in? There is a quote attributed to a great man that you might have heard of:
“If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, then you don’t understand it yourself.”
Albert Einstein
How would you explain this solution, this magical service, this can’t-live-without product to a six-year-old so that they understand?
Using copywriting as an example, I would explain my services in a core phrase like this:
I write about the jobs that people do, the services they offer, and the things they sell in a way that makes it easy for everyone to understand.
Now unless we’re selling toys or storybooks, we all know that six-year-olds are not going to be buying from us. So, we need to expand on that a little to make it relatable for our real audience, but the exercise of simplifying it takes away all the clutter and allows us to focus on the root of what it is we want to communicate.
I am a copywriter, which means that I write content for a living. I write about different businesses, the services they offer, and the products they want to sell in descriptive ways that resonate with their audiences.
To summarise:
- Simplify your offering in a way that makes it easy to understand to remove the clutter and jargon.
- Once you’ve got your core phrase, flesh it out a bit to make it more relatable for the humans who would actually buy your service, solution, or product.
- Make a note of the keywords that you use for this exercise because you’re going to need them later.
Addressing The Pain Point
Almost every person out there has a need or want for something. We all have questions that need to be answered and problems that need addressing. In finding solutions for these, we will almost always turn to Google (or ChatGPT) for answers. As a purveyor of a product or service, you need to tap into those pain points to understand what it is you need to provide for your audience and how you can best communicate that.
Now that we have a description of the solution, we are going to dial it back to the problem that this solution solves. We are also going to simplify it in the same way we did before.
Using copywriting as an example, I would explain the problem that I solve like this:
I do this because not everyone enjoys writing, so they don’t know how to write about what they do. I help these people write what they want to say so that other people can read it and decide if it is something they are interested in, if it is something they need, or if it is something they want to buy.
Our keen little six-year-olds should have a good idea of what copywriting is from reading this, but again, we want to elevate the level of content that little bit more.
Not everyone wants to or has time to write copy. Some people struggle to find the right words to describe what they do or the service they offer. I help businesses and individuals with their copywriting needs so that they can effectively communicate their core offerings to their target audience.
Something like that… I mean, you can spend loads more time on this. I’m just making a quick example. From this, you can clearly see that the pain points that would encourage people to seek out copywriting services are not having enough time or struggling to find the right words to explain what they do.
To summarise:
- Understand what it is your solution solves… the problem that your audience faces.
- Simplify the explanation of this problem or pain point.
- Then expand on that core message to get a clear statement that speaks to the pain point.
- Make note of the keywords you use.
Why Should They Care?
Oooh, this is a goodie. Why should anyone care about what you’re doing, offering, or selling? What makes you special and why should they trust that? It’s a triggering question that needs to be asked, and I know a lot of clients try to speak their way around it using a range of benefits and features. But, seriously. There are probably a million businesses like yours out there… why should anyone care about yours?
Take your time with this one because if you let the trigger prevent you from diving deep into the answer, you’re going to end up with some generic waffle that sounds like every competitor in your space. Find your secret sauce and let your words marinate in it.
To summarise:
- Take some time to think about what it is that makes your offering unique. What is your secret sauce?
- Write it down in a way that only you (or your brand) can write it.
- Make note of the keywords you used.
Conducting Keyword Research Around Your Findings
And now we get to the grand finale! Find out what it is your audience is searching for so that you can answer their queries. In doing so, you can connect with your audience. There are a few ways that you can do this, but the most obvious is to use actual data that speaks to the activity around your target audience’s searching habits.
Gather Your Keywords
Start by gathering all the keywords you’ve highlighted in your core phrases above. Those will be your starting point. You want to use that information to get to know them a bit better. By conducting research into this, you can see what questions they’re asking, what topics are of interest to them, and how they search for what it is you offer.
Use Google Search
Start with a simple Google search using each of the keywords that you’ve made a note of. While doing these searches, I want you to take note of a few things:
- What websites come up in the first few results (let’s say ten) and how are they formulated?
- What is the title tag displayed on the search result?
- What is the meta description displayed?
- Click through to the result to see what keywords are being used and how the content is being written.
- Then look at the paid ads that come up – these will be under a small heading that says “Sponsored”.
- What keywords are used in the text of the ads?
- What do the ads say and how do they say it? Pay attention to the language used.
- Pay attention to the extra information that Google offers you.
- This could be at the top of the search results via the “People also ask” feature. These are relevant to you because they are an extension of what you’re trying to understand. They will give you great ideas for content as they’re based on actual questions people type into Google.
- This could also be at the bottom of the page where Google lists additional related questions that are relevant to your search query.
Make a note of all your findings and put it in a spreadsheet for easy reference. This is something you are going to be refining over time, so create a living, breathing document that can grow with your research.
Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner is a free keyword research tool that helps marketers and businesses create Google ads that are relevant to actual searching habits. It gives you data on search volumes around different keywords as well as the competition for those keywords. What that means is that you get an understanding of how many people, on average, are typing that keyword into Google every month (search volume), and also how many businesses are using that keyword to try and gain attention from the general public (competition).
I’m not going to go into the specifics of this tool, as you can learn how to use it in the free course I have linked for you below.
Use SEMRush
SEMRush will be your BFF once you get to understand what it can offer you. I’ll be totally honest with you, it’s pricey AF, but if you work in the search space, it is so valuable. There is a free version that you can use for one account, so go ahead and plug in your business website and start playing around. Tools to look out for that will help you understand your audience’s searching habits include:
- Keyword Overview
- Keyword Magic Tool
- Keyword Manager
- Position Tracking (plug in your keywords here and monitor their performance over time)
- Organic Traffic Insights
You can also take a look at all the tools within the Competitive Research section, where you can analyse your website and content alongside your competitors. You can get some really juicy info from there.
Conclusion: Write Content To Connect With Your Audience
Now that you’ve got all the ingredients in your basket, you can whip them all together to create the final product. The content that your audience is searching for that’s going to answer their questions and solve their problems. Take your research and craft some clear, simple content that includes the keywords and speaks to the findings of your research.
For example, during your process of discovery, you might have found that your audience actually uses different terminology than what you’re used to using to describe your products or services. You absolutely must use the terminology that your audience favours. You are trying to connect with them, so you need to speak like them in order to create resonance. Obviously, me and my team are on standby to help with this process (it’s what we do, yo) so you can always reach out for either a consulting call, a workshop, or to take up our done-for-you copywriting service.
If you’re ready to venture out on your own – yeah for you! I am fully celebrating you and this process. Take a look at the resource down below to help you on your way to connecting with your audience.
Take Your Learning Further
If you’d like to get stuck into conducting your own research around a given topic, I’ve put together a short, sweet, and super easy-to-follow FREE keyword research course that will help you do that. It’s called:
Mastering Keyword Research: Attracting Your Audience To Your Business.
It’s free, you can do it any time. It was done using my old laptop so there are moments where it sounds like it might take flight, but aside from that, it’s super easy to follow.
