How to Find Your Audience

Whether you’re writing a blog, novel, memoir, or even social media content, it’s important to know for whom you’re writing and how to find your audience. Without a clear audience in mind, it’s impossible to tailor language, style, and content toward your targeted reader. Will they resonate with your characters? Are they familiar with your setting? Will they appreciate steamy romance, or shy away from it? You can’t answer these questions until you know who your readers are in the first place.

First, you should consider your selected genre. Which demographics most consume this type of content? Are they often a specific gender, race, ethnicity, or social class? Where do they tend to live? Do they reside in rural or urban environments? Write down a description of the person or persons which typically read this genre, listing their unique demographics.

Once you have this basic information, you can begin asking more specific questions about your reader. Might they be religious? What kinds of jobs might they work? What’s their community culture like? These more specific questions can offer insight into your readers’ personalities, likes and dislikes, and even core beliefs. Once again, write these things down, being as descriptive as possible and taking note of whether you know anybody in real life who fits this description. This will help you find your audience.

Perhaps you end up with one clear audience in mind, or maybe you end up with several. Either way, you’ll have a much clearer image to tailor your writing toward your particular audience. By reflecting on this and reading other texts targeting a similar audience, you can gain clarity regarding your own writing style and approach, asking yourself what would most resonate with your audience as you create your story, blog, caption, etc.

By identifying your audience before beginning the writing process, you’ll simplify your journey to writing a successful, relatable, and commercial piece to help you find your audience. And, as we all know, any step which simplifies the often fulfilling,  writing journey,  is a step well worth taking.