How to Work With Freelancers #1 - Communicating Your Target Audience

I went for a dip in our local lake this afternoon and, let me tell ya’… it was about as clear as mud. Recent torrential downpours had the water so clouded with silt that I couldn’t see the bottom when I was only ankle deep! I hesitated to walk further. I couldn’t see what I was stepping on! Compared to that one plunge I took in a sparkling Montana creek a few years ago, this just didn’t measure up.

This cross-over may feel like a bit of a stretch, but hang with me.

Any copy or content that’s written for your small business by a freelancer that doesn’t have a crystal clear picture of your target audience is going to be like slipping and sliding in murky waters when you can’t see the bottom.

Hesitantly, with halting steps and slips and trips along the way…

The importance of knowing, of seeing your target audience in our mind’s eye can’t be emphasized enough. If we don’t know who we’re writing to, how can we possibly know how to appeal to them and pique their interest?

Make Sure you communicate Your Target Audience Early

This past week, I began outlining a rough framework for a web copy project. I'd spent hours staring out the window on my recent road trip, dreaming up a theme and direction for the client's new website. It was smart, edgy, and subtle... though I do say so myself!

BUT…

A follow-up call with the client revealed conflicting internal ideas about who the target audience was. What I'd initially heard put the consumer in a specific tax bracket. What I was hearing now dropped the guys/gals down a peg.

It probably didn’t seem like that big of a shift to the small biz contracting with an agency to manage the website build and working with me for the copy.

Demographics may just look like numbers on a page to you. But they're part of a very detailed picture to the creatives behind the scene.

The copy I was working on initially spoke to a high-dollar customer who would be consuming 'down,' hopefully on a very regular basis. My entire theme was around how this would be a go-to product for them, enjoyed for everyday kinds of moments. But now, given this new information, I know I need to talk to someone who may still feel like the purchase is a bit of a stretch. I need to paint a picture of a lifestyle that can be theirs, and how this product can be enjoyed now that they're advancing in their careers and it's within their reach.

That's a HUGE shift for a writer to make! I’m grateful the murky waters were cleared early in the process.

Ask your freelancer what info they need to be successful.

For the record, I don't get sore about this type of murkiness at the beginning of a project. It's just part of starting from square one with small businesses sometimes! But if you want to make your freelancers fall in love with you, you can.

Get crystal clear about your audience. We'll appreciate you forever!