by Kimberly Blaker

Professional Freelance Writer & Blog Writer for Hire

Engage and Compel blog

“You have to respect your audience. Without them, you're essentially standing alone, singing to yourself.” – K.D. Lang

Lang refers to singing in a literal sense. But her quote couldn't hold more true for writing. As a business professional, you've got to respect your readers if you don't want to be writing to yourself. This means providing them something useful, relevant, that speaks their language and touches their emotions. Figuratively, it sings to them.

This holds true whether you want to educate or inform readers on a particular topic or market a product or service to them. All in all, you need to show you respect them. That's why the first crucial steps to writing engagingly are to know your audience and your purpose, then narrow down a topic accordingly.

Know your audience demographics

So how do you know your audience? If you're writing for your business, the first step is to gather basic demographic information about your buyers or clients (your target audience). This is the shared characteristics of a particular population. It typically refers to populations for which there's statistical data.

Some common demographics you'll likely consider include:

age

race

gender

income level

marital status

education level

occupation

place of residence

religion

political affiliation

family size

These are only some of the more common demographics you might consider. But it's far from an exhaustive list.

So let's say your company is an outdoors sports gear company. You've decided to write a blog post on wilderness hiking and have narrowed your topic to “how to survive hiking the Appalachian trail for 180 days.”

What are some of the demographics you need to know for this topic and your blog's readership? Age and gender are probably important. So with a little research, you determine your blog readers cover a broad age range, but primarily ages 18 to 42. You also have both male and female readers. I'll show you the importance of this in just a minute.

Digging further into your audience's psyche

Now you've narrowed down some basic demographics. You also know your audience likes the outdoors, obviously. At least a portion of your audience is specifically interested in hiking, as well. So now what? You need to dig further into the readership's psyche. You need to know what makes them tick. This is known as psychographics, which I'll cover in depth in a future post.

As an outdoors person and hiker yourself, you know you have a bit of a grasp on the audience already. The readers, particularly those drawn to such a monumental hike as the Appalachian Trail, are likely adventurous. They certainly have a strong appreciation for the outdoors, and therefore, probably nature. As serious hikers, they're also goal-directed and have great endurance. This means they're likely to be physically fit.

The initial demographics above were important to know. But these more personal characteristics create a much deeper understanding. Now you know your audience on a more personal level.

Putting it all together

So how do these demographics and more personal information help you write engagingly? For starters, the broad age range of your audience, 18 to 42-year-olds, can help determine the best style or voice to use. You're writing for a mixed gender audience. So you also know you need to maintain gender neutrality.

Beyond that, you know the readership will consist of many experienced hikers. But as an outdoors blog (and company) that's not solely dedicated to hiking, some readers will be amateurs at best. You won't want to leave out details that are important and of interest to less skilled hikers who may consider the trek, or at least a portion of the trail. At the same time, you want to make sure the more experienced hikers don't feel like they're reading Hiking 101. Otherwise, the more experienced hikers will lose interest. You know you need to keep a fine balance.

Speaking your audience's language

These outdoorsy people, skilled or unskilled, will probably be very receptive to learning about some of the breathtaking sights; the peaceful tranquility of a particular stream; or waking up to the earthy scent of the forest after a fresh rain.

Did you notice what I did? I wrote this last paragraph (see italics) as if I were the hiking writer and as if you were my nature-loving readers. I chose imagery that would resonate perfectly with my audience. Now they're engaged. Maybe I would have written this way regardless. But knowing my audience more deeply helped to ensure I touch them in this very personal way. This audience will appreciate that I'm speaking their language.

But that's not all. We also know many of these readers are likely fit, either physically or mentally. They're probably both. This audience wants to be inspired by the details. They want to know about the more strenuous challenges they'll face if they take on the five million steps to complete this adventurous hike.

One such detail, in particular, will arouse them. They'll need to be prepared to ascend and descend the grueling rocky terrain of Southern Maine. Much of the trail in that area is eroded – and by rocky, I'm speaking boulders.

Notice again, I presented a vivid image. This time I spoke of a 'challenge.' I know this, in particular, will intrigue these readers.

As you can see, by knowing the specific details about the psyche of these readers, I'm able to engage them and hook them. I know what particular things to talk about and also where to use imagery to sustain their attention. I maintained gender neutrality and used a voice suited to a broad age range. I spoke to their sense of yearning for the outdoors; traits of strength and endurance; and desire for adventure.

Kimberly Blaker is a professional freelance writer. She's written for hundreds of publications as well as businesses. If you need business writing, articles, content, editing, or blog posts, she offers real value to her clients. She's also an expert SEO content writer. Kimberly will help you save time, achieve more, and increase your bottom line!