You’re focused on growth. And you’re doing everything the “gurus” tell you to do.
You’re posting on social media.
Maybe you maintain a blog, or dabble in podcasting.
You send an email to your list every few weeks, letting them know what you’re up to.
And yet…
…crickets.
We’ve all been there, by the way. We’ve tried everything that we thought would work, or that perhaps even did work in the past!
But what got you here won’t always get you where you want to go.
So, take a few deep breaths. Keep your core values in mind (they will protect you from going too far, or too far astray!). And then take bold action.
Step 1: Picture your most valuable audience member, and then look at all of your content through their lens or point of view.
When we say picture your audience member – this isn’t just a hypothetical. You may even find it helpful to select a real person or come up with a stand-in avatar, with complete details.
Example: John, a 42-year-old married father of three, who works as a construction manager during the day and leads a Bible study at his church twice a week. He has an annual household income of $125,000/year, drives a pickup truck, owns a 3-bedroom home and is preparing for his oldest child to start college within the next three years.
When you can more clearly decide who your most valuable person is, you can then decide what platforms he spends time on, what kinds of content catch his attention, what his main challenges are, how he makes purchasing and investment decisions and much more.
While other brands may be focusing on a specific niche, your cause-based organization can get better results by focusing on a specific type of person.
From there, it’s best to use a consistent checklist and approach for determining what each type of new content and messaging must include, or to do a final review before posting it to your website or online platform of choice.
Consider the following questions:
1. Do you identify their deeper needs?
2. Does your content stand out in their feeds or inboxes?
3. Do you give them ways to engage?
4. Are you in their exclusive and unique channels?
5. Are you trying new things or just re-posting things that you created and used in previous years?
6. Is the content or call to action disruptive enough to stop the scroll?
This is also a checklist your team can use, to ensure that the very beginning of an idea of initiative considers these items.
Let’s dive into each point a little deeper:
1. Do you identify their deeper needs?
What truly make your ideal audience member take action? What are their real pain points and challenges? What do they do (or not do) when they want to feel like they are part of a greater mission themselves?
Keep in mind that if you identify their fears, you don’t have to highlight them in your content. Instead, focus on the solution you provide for those fears.
2. Does your content stand out in their feeds or inboxes?
Sorry, not sorry. Your audience has the attention span of a gnat, so you must get creative and keep the hook in mind, with your headline, your caption, your photo, your subject line and more.
You don’t need to water down your mission, or violate your core values. But you do need to cut through the clutter. Engage them – then educate them.
3. Do you give them ways to engage?
Don’t make people guess what to do after they’ve found you and connected with your content. Make it clear and simple to take the next step.
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What is the most valuable thing your ideal audience member could do for you? Decide that, then make the ask.
4. Are you in their exclusive and unique channels?
Once you’ve established your ideal audience, you may think: well, I’ll just post on the standard channels and they’ll find me!
WRONG.
Where are the unique channels for your audience? Maybe it’s an online forum like Reddit or Quora. Perhaps your audience isn’t on TikTok but they can’t get enough of YouTube or LinkedIn. Do they prefer text messages over emails? Lean into that!
If your audience isn’t where you are, it’s your job to make the move: not theirs.
5. Are you trying new things or just re-posting things that you created and used in previous years?
It can be overwhelming to stay on top of trends and even more confusing to decide how to take advantage. But don’t work harder than you have to.
People often need to hear or see a marketing message at least seven times before taking action, so make sure those seven touchpoints feel different. (But here’s a tip: small changes to captions, photos, headlines and more, all pointing to the same call to action, get the job done!)
6. Is the content or call to action disruptive enough to stop the scroll?
Do you use things they hate or bleed for in your strategy, to get a response? How willing are you to offer counter-programming or a strong point of view, if it means that you attract and engage the right person? So many brands and organizations are afraid of alienating their audience or “getting canceled,” but that fear also prevents growth and creativity. You have a mission and a message. Stand behind them.
More than anything: you need to stay curious, and keep looking around the corner to see what’s new in your industry, and what is your ideal audience member doing, thinking about and taking action on?
