Develop your Ideal Audience as a Conscious Business
What is ideal audience?
My simplest answer — a community of people who you deeply understand and serve.
A common misconception
“I serve everyone” or “I don’t want to limit my reach”.
Developing an ideal audience may sound limiting or exclusionary, but it’s truly the opposite. Your business doesn’t have to serve everyone. There is such a diversity of human experiences, values, beliefs and backgrounds that if you are catering to all these qualities, you’ll likely feel completely overwhelmed or your business will be perceived as generic and safe. It is possible to serve a wide audience, but how deeply are you connecting with them?
If your ideal audience is “serving everyone”, you will miss out on the opportunity to deeply connect with the right people. The magic of building community is trusting you’ll connect with people just by being your true, unfiltered self.
How do I find my ideal audience?
The first step is to understand yourself/your business. What is your unique quality that you bring to your industry? What is your personality? What experiences in your life give you empathy towards others? Why will people connect with you?
No worries, you will change and your offerings will adapt as you grow. No personality is fixed.
Once you’re feeling self-aware of your strengths and points of connection then ask yourself, who are my people? Who are the people that light me up? Who are the folks I know I serve well? Who are the people I deeply understand or share a common bond?
I encourage you to develop your ideal personas holistically. See the whole person. These are the four categories I take into consideration:
Demographics
These are the most common and essential qualities to understand but it’s just the start. Limiting your research to only demographics won’t get you very far. It’s important to understand their age, gender-identity, ethnicity, community memberships, family-life, education, income, etc. This creates an understanding of how they live their day-to-day lives.
Psychographics
Since you want to deeply connect and inspire your audience, you have to access their intrinsic motivations and intentions. What are their values and challenges? Why is family important? Why are they a part of an activism community? Why do they value a sustainable lifestyle? Where do they spend their time and money? What roadblocks do they keep facing?
Community
When life isn’t being viewed through an epic magnifying glass of value and challenge, what does it really look like? It’s incredibly insightful to understand who they spend their time with. What virtual and in-person communities are they a part of? Who are their friends? This is an opportunity to reflect on common interests/values you share with them. If you were to meet in real life, would it be at a pottery class, yoga studio, farmer’s market? What circles do they occupy?
Service
Now it’s time to connect all the dots, in case you weren’t already heading that direction. Once you understand their values, challenges and communities — how do you make a connection to them? Why would they resonate with your values and business offerings? How will you acknowledge and serve them? How will you solve their problem?
I understand who my audience is, now what?
Speak directly to them. It’s really that simple. No longer do you have to yell into the void that is the internet. Now, you have people to visualize and talk to. Acknowledge where they are at. Understand their obstacles and serve them. Use these developed personas to guide your business decisions. Will this content be valuable to them? Is this new offering going to serve them? Am I respecting their time? Will they care?
There is a reason why people feel as if you are speaking directly to them. It’s because you are! It’s not by chance. It’s because you truly connect, care and want to serve them.
IDEAL AUDIENCE WORKBOOK
Connect and serve your community holistically
Start developing your ideal audience now. Download this free workbook to guide you towards connecting with your community.
Start here
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