audience

Aug

2020

Start By Shattering the Earth

Visionary Writing Techniques #001

by John Onorato

I’m going to start by sharing a tidbit about writing that positively rocked my world.  I learned this at the beginning of my freelance writing career, in 2013.

I’d been writing for years before that, but my words weren’t that effective.  Sure, I had a certain facility, but wasn’t everyone taught how to write in school?  Was I really that different than everyone else?

Turns out, I was.

It would be fairly accurate to say that “Writing is my life.”  And if you were to say that to my face, I’d follow it up with “And my life is writing.”

But when I learned this one thing, my writing changed forever.  It became immeasurably better.

What is that wisdom, you ask?

It’s super simple.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.

That’s it.  Just know your audience.

Are you writing for yourself?  Great!  Let it all hang out.  Do what you’re gonna do and don’t think too much about it.  You can always re-read your work later and pull it into a piece meant for public consumption.

Are you writing for clients?  Then use their language.  Use the same words you hear them using.  So doing gets you inside their heads.

Are you writing to share knowledge or wisdom?  Then make your best guess as to what language will be most effective.  Use words and phrases that will be accessible to the largest segment of your intended audience.

Avoid using “jargon,” or language that’s used by smaller segments of the population.  If you feel that’s the best way of getting your message across, then explain your use of the terms.

Here’s another tip, closely related to that one:  Know your subject matter (as much as you can, anyway).  Do your research.

Writing about anything positions you as an “expert” on that thing.  But you don’t have to actually possess expertise in that subject — you have to know just a little more than your audience.

In other words, don’t “wing it.”  If you do that, your reader will figure it out.  It might be super subtle, but it’s easily seen by a person who knows about the subject.

It’s the same as when my daughter was 14, and I tried to “be cool.”  I would use terms I didn’t fully know the meaning of, and I looked a fool to her friends.

So that’s about it for today.  Just to let you know, I’m planning on releasing these short pieces about writing periodically.  I’m envisioning 2-3 times a week.  I’ll keep the pieces short, for easy digestion.

But I want to front-load this process with the tip that moved the needle the most for me.

Know your audience.

That’s all.  Just know your audience.

As you write here, in the Visionary Group, your audience is a lot like you.  But when you start messaging for clients, when you start writing for others with the intent to be read … that’s when you really have to know your audience.

Stay tuned to this bat-channel for more tips and tricks!

May

2019

You Need to Identify Those Pain Points!

I’d like to talk about pain points again today.

Now that we know what a pain point is, how do we identify those points?

So I’m walking around in my house as I’m talking to you. And – OUCH! I step on a Lego brick that my hypothetical 6-year old son Kieran left on the floor.

Say hello, Kieran! 😍

Well, he can’t, because he’s hypothetical. But will you look at that? My foot is bleeding.

What’s my pain point here?

Is it that I don’t have a bandage that will staunch this blood?

Nope! That’s a solution, not a problem.

Is it that I stepped on a Lego? Well, partially. (Thanks, Kieran!)

Is it that I have a Lego-induced wound in my foot? Getting closer.

Is it that I’m losing blood and OMG I’mgoingtobleedoutandDIE?

Yep, that’s it!

Problems and Solutions

So my “pain point” is that I’m losing blood, and the bandage is the solution, or one way of addressing that problem.

Now let’s say I’m a bandage manufacturer. Or at least I’m writing for the marketing department of one.

A traditional marketer will try and sell bandages. They’ll be wonderful bandages! They’ll stay on great, and won’t hurt when removed. They’ll keep your body’s natural healing power in, and keep out the ravages of infection. And this Care Bear bandage will swaddle your ouchie in a nice warm hug!

Oh, and it’s 100% waterproof, too! 😁

Yet our traditional marketer (let’s call him Joe) is addressing only the solution, not my actual pain point.

My pain point is that I want to stop my foot from bleeding, right? So I don’t die.

When that’s understood, Joe will address his marketing very differently.

Won’t you, Joe? ❤

Sure, since I work for a bandage manufacturer, the solution will still be a bandage. In this case, at least. But it will be a bandage that clamps one side of the wound tightly to the other, for minimum scarring. It will be a bandage that prevents bleeding even when the skin is sweat-slick. It will be a bandage that acts as a second skin, to keep on healing and keep out germs.

And the solution might not even be a bandage. It could be a butterfly closure or a glue or even some kind of medical tape that stops bleeding right away.

The important thing is your solution needs to directly address the pain points of your customers. Any marketing you do needs to speak to those pain points, and how to fix them. Your marketing is actually not about the product or service itself.

Solutions Provided in Terms of Horsepower

There’s a quotation often attributed to Henry Ford. “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said ‘faster horses.’ ”

Whether he actually said that or not is irrelevant (aside: he didn’t). But if you realize that Ford helped usher in the Industrial Revolution by creating cars made for personal use, it makes sense.

See, this quotation isn’t about turning a blind eye to customer feedback. It’s not about horses, and it’s also not about cars.

It’s about identifying the underlying pain point that his customers had, which was “How do we get from Point A to Point B quickly and efficiently?”

Horses were the fastest and best land transportation at the time, so naturally people thought in terms of horses. (Well, yeah, trains, but did you ever take a train to get a gallon of milk at the corner store?)

Ford didn’t. Ford thought in terms of fixing the problem, not in terms of improving upon already existing solutions.

ThreeOwl Media Helps With Your Problems

It’s important to zero in on the root pain points your customers have. When you do this, your approach changes dramatically. The way you speak to your listeners changes. You don’t promote one solution. Instead, you shine a light on how your solution addresses a specific pain point.

In other words, you connect with your audience.

You build trust with your audience.

Because you understand your audience.

And here’s where I come in. Because I’ve made it my job to understand my audience.

It is my job to understand your audience!

I love people. I love talking to them, I love finding out about them, I love connecting with them, and I love understanding them.

When I was younger, I was never good at this. But I got better — way better — and now I love finding out what makes people tick.

To say that people are my passion is to understate it completely.

Yes, people are my passion. But they’re also my life. We’re all so interconnected, and yet so diverse! We all depend on one another, yet we are capable of so much on our own. Yes, as a child I was never good at social situations. But as an adult, I am fulfilled by them.

Let me help you!

With your marketing efforts, with your manuals and documentation, with your correspondence, with your video scripts … whatever! Any thing you need written, I am happy to write it for you.

And if you already have written material, I guarantee I can improve it.

Simply contact me to arrange a call or meeting! Use the Contact Me link, found under About Me.

I look forward to helping you with your writing projects!