How to Create a Deeper Connection With Your Target Audience
With any business you have two choices if you want to make a decent profit:
- Sell lots of lower margin stuff to lots of people
- Sell higher margin stuff to fewer people
Of course if you can sell lots of high value stuff to lots of people then you will do even better.
Value Versus Visitor Count
Websites and blogs have a similar choice but rather than being about sales think of it with value instead. You can provide a small amount of value to a huge audience or a deep and lasting value to a smaller audience. While some manage to provide a huge value to lots of people, in most cases, at least when starting out, you have the choice of wide or deep.
I do not go for the big traffic option but try to provide advice that will resonate with a subset of the overall “market”. Although I have more subscribers than some, I am actually choosy about how I grow my subscribers because I want a certain group of people that actually want to hear what I have to say. I leave certain subjects to other bloggers even though I know it would grow my readership.
Consider my free flagship content ebook. People do not search for that term, and it is not something that will ever get a Digg front page. In fact, it is something I think people should read if they want to know how to create valuable and compelling content, not something people are scrambling to read because there is an untapped desire.
Conversation Creates Deep Connections
Deeper connections start with how you approach your audience:
- be very visible to the people who want/need you most,
- where they want you to be,
- in the way they want.
Concentrate your time to craft one or two very good posts a week rather than lots of fluff, and make yourself available to follow up with answers and conversation. Yes, I charge for consulting calls because if I didn’t I would be never doing anything else, but many people have found that I always try to answer quick questions in comments and emails. An authentic desire to help is paramount.
Interaction is key. It’s not just about broadcasting your expertise but making the conversation two-way. If you are truly interactive you will learn what people respond to and how, and they will get to know you better and trust you more. The more positive impact you have in your niche community the more referrals and word of mouth you will generate.
The main point is who do you want to attract and why. Traffic with no purpose is vanity, much better to gather readers and prospects you can truly serve in a substantial way.
By Chris Garrett. Posted in Business
Interesting post, Chris.
I’ve always been interested in the different types of blog readers, and more so what techniques entice those different types of reader.
You only have to look at the comments on John Chow’s blog and then compare them to the comments on ProBlogger. Although those commentating on both sites seem to want to learn about the same topic, they are entirely (for the most part) an entirely different breed of people. I think I could sum it up by saying many of those commentating on John’s site seem to blog because they want to make a quick buck (and usually believe they can), while those on ProBlogger (and other blogs) are a little more reserved and are prepared for the long haul.
That’s just the impression I get, anyway.
I can only put that down to the areas in which the two bloggers have gained their readers.
This is a great post and often missed by many, the value of actually connecting. Thank you!
Maria Reyes-McDavis
That is by far the best blogging/business advice I’ve seen on any blog recently. Thanks for sharing, Chris.
Chris, I’m interested to read you about you “limiting” the number of subscribers you have to enable better targeting and greater resonance/connection with your audience(if I understood correctly).
I’m just setting my up my first “real” blog and am interested to know how you arrived at the point where you knew your ideal prospect/target market. Did it evolve or was it a strategic decision at the start ?
Many Thanks
Glen
Brighton
UK
Well put Chris. As a web design firm our blog is aimed at 2 audiences, both being very small. One is to outline our capabilities and experience to new/potential customers. The second is to further educate and interact with our current customers.
I’ve also found the blog to be a referral tool. Someone will share or mention to a customer of ours a specific issue with Internet marketing or web design and then a current client will forward that person a specific blog post we put out on the subject. (I love when that happens)
Makes total sense… the trick, of course, is creating and keeping the connections… I find this takes time and attention… an obvious statement perhaps, but missed by many.