You know that great communicators deliver amazing messages that their audiences love. To do that, you have to know who your audiences are and what they care about!
Who are your audiences? Think about every aspect of your business. Your customers may be in large organizations with users, managers who oversee those users, people who sign checks and a C-Suite that sets the company’s direction. All of these different customer groups need to hear about your product in a way that addresses their concerns.
Customers are just the beginning. If you’re in an industry like AI there are academics, pundits, independent researchers, regulators around the world, analysts, journalists, leading edge providers pushing the envelope on use cases, concerned consumer groups and more. If you’re in medicine there are doctors, hospital administrators, nurses, researchers, insurers, regulators, suppliers, etc. Every industry is its own layered and complex world. Map your ecosystem.
Once you know who all of your audiences are (most companies I’ve worked with identify between 10 – 15 key audiences), the next huge step is understanding what they want. Two great options to get you started are the Who What What table and Donald Miller’s Storybrand approach. Donald Miller has you identify your story’s hero (not you – your customer) and your hero’s aspirations, obstacles, fears. It’s a tremendously valuable exercise!
Identifying your audiences and their concerns is like mapping a new planet. You’re going to live on this new planet for a long time – with these fascinating people you’re meeting. It’s a pretty awesome thing to be Magellan for a new planet and a new population. You’ll learn as much from the great people you meet as they will from you!
Your business must scale, and you must scale with it. Great communicators create the change they want to see in the world. poseycorp helps innovators build powerful messages and the skill to deliver them so they can break through the noise and be heard! Click here to receive pragmatic communications advice in your inbox every month. If real time advice sounds good to you, join a poseycorp Ask Me Anything. Click here to register!
