Understanding your audience is at the heart of successful marketing and the product creation. 

Marisa Shadrick [00:00:13]:
Hello, hello, and welcome to the Amplify Your Authority podcast. I’m Marisa Shadrick, your host. I’m also an online marketing consultant and certified copywriter. And today we’re going to go very granular on a topic that seems like we talk about it a lot, but it’s a moving target, and we really need to go deep and understand audience because this is the make or break when we’re trying to sell when we’re marketing and all our content revolves around that audience. So I thought I’d do a podcast episode where I break it down and I simplify it step by step, because your audience will change depending on their awareness level and also their experience. And so there’s a lot to know, and that’s why surveys are so popular when we poll people, because we’re trying to figure out where they are. So before I get ahead of myself, I am going to pull my notes here, and we’re gonna start from the very beginning to understand audience, and this will be key when you’re creating not only content, but your products. And I always think it’s best to start with your products.

Marisa Shadrick [00:01:22]:
What is it that you want to sell? What type of model do you wanna have? Do you wanna have 1 on 1 coaching? Do you wanna do courses? Do you wanna do group coaching? What is it that you wanna sell, or is it going to be something where you’re hands off that maybe it’s something like a subscription model where you provide some free resources every month, and you’re not really there to coach. Depending on what the products are and who your audience is, once you know pretty much who you wanna target, think of the awareness level, and I’m gonna give you a real simple way to look at it, and it’s acronym open. So the o stands for, are they oblivious? Do they even know they need your service? The p stands for pondering. Have they been pondering this, and they just haven’t really found an answer yet? Engaged is the e, and that means they’re seriously thinking about a solution, and they’re looking. They’re maybe searching the Internet. Need is n, and it stands for they needed it yesterday. I always add that in. It’s so urgent that they really need this now.

Marisa Shadrick [00:02:30]:
They’re at that peak of needing it. And so when you have content that leads them to the next step, they’re ready to engage and maybe schedule a call with you. So we understand awareness level, but you need to also understand their experience level. Because in each one, we ourselves go on a journey in what we’re learning and maybe the one thing that we’re an expert in, it didn’t come overnight. And we started at a beginner stage, and we grew from there, and we became very proficient. Well, your audience is the same. They will have a starting point and they will be somewhere in the middle and then they will be proficient. And so it’s hard to kind of navigate and figure out where they are.

Marisa Shadrick [00:03:17]:
We don’t wanna create content or courses that’s just too elementary for them if they’re already proficient, and we don’t wanna create courses or content that’s for the proficient level when they’re just starting out because it’s gonna overwhelm them. So there’s a balance, and it’s not easy. It’s really understanding audience and being very engaged in conversations and trying to create those conversations, trying to really assess where your audience is at. So I often compare this to raising kids, and we’re gonna keep it really simple so you understand audience. Now, if you’re a parent or even if you’re an uncle or aunt or you have maybe a friend that has kids, they go through stages. Right? They go through different stages. From the very beginning, they don’t know how to do anything. You’re doing everything for them, and you’re quickly trying to teach them how to do simple things.

Marisa Shadrick [00:04:14]:
And so your process is to recognize the stage that your child is in and give them the appropriate learning for each stage. So before they’re in school, they’re still kind of learning how to get dressed, how to make their bed, how to brush their teeth. Maybe they get to a point where they’re learning how to tie their shoelace, but they need very detailed instruction and they need repetition to learn those skills. And then as they get older, you’re teaching them everything from riding their bike all the way to driving a car. And then as they’re adults, it’s a different type of relationship, but you’re still there because they still need you. You’re a mentor type of person, and you’re always there when they need a babysitter. Whether it’s a kid or a dog, it doesn’t matter. So it changes.

Marisa Shadrick [00:04:59]:
And so that is my point. The stages of growth changes. And so that’s why I compare it to raising kids because your audience is in different stages as well. So as we look at this, let’s start if we can break it down into 3 stages, introductory into development, right, the development stage, and then the established stage. And when we think of our kids, we think of that as well. The introductory, we’re teaching them how to do things from the very, very beginning, from walking, taking their first step, all the way to driving a car, and maybe balancing a checkbook, and those type of things that are gonna be life skills for them. And so that would be a lot of that would be in the development throughout the years that they’re in your home. And then established, they’re on their own.

Marisa Shadrick [00:05:48]:
They’re out of college. They have their own place. They’re maybe married. Maybe they’re having their own kids now. So we need to understand what stage they’re in, their experience, their awareness level, and we’re gonna translate that to business. So in business, when people are in the introductory stage, your audience is in those beginning stages. They don’t have all the pieces yet, and they’re trying to figure it out. So regardless of your industry, if they’re in the introductory stage, you’re going to be very much a voice that shows them how to do certain things.

Marisa Shadrick [00:06:30]:
And so they may be very problem aware, but they don’t know how to figure it out. So they’re not solution aware. So at this stage, they crave that how to content. Now it’s interesting too, depending on your industry, if you’re explaining how to, and it could be done in a blog post, great. But sometimes, how to’s really need a demonstration, and so a video would be a better fit. So depending on your audience, it may give you a clue as to what platform you should be on. If articles and text is enough to explain in the inter introductory stage how to do something, then that’s great. But if you’re actually gonna have to show people how to do something, then maybe video is better, and probably podcasting wouldn’t be a good idea.

Marisa Shadrick [00:07:22]:
So you begin to kind of understand where you need to be in the social platforms to be able to create content that’s gonna resonate with your audience. So at this stage, the introductory stage, they’re craving how to. They’re trying to figure all this out. This is a stage where maybe they’re buying courses. Right? So maybe a course might be something you would create, or maybe it’s a book because they’re trying to understand the ins and outs in your particular industry. Your role is to provide the basics when they’re in the introductory stage. Take them step by step and give them the tools that they need and cheer them on when they do a good job and they implement, right, because they’re growing. And these first steps are critical because you’re giving them the foundation for what’s to come when they begin to go into the development stage.

Marisa Shadrick [00:08:12]:
So a lot of the first stage is about learning, but it’s also implementation. It’s also about consistency, and it’s about community and feedback and collaborating and being able to have someone to ask questions. So that gives you an idea If your audience is in the introductory stage, then that’s kind of the type of content that you would create. So you would first have some type of product that would help them. Like I said, it could be a book. It could be a course in the introductory stage. Maybe it’s a community. Maybe it’s a membership of some sort.

Marisa Shadrick [00:08:47]:
But you think, what can I give my audience if they’re in the introductory stage? What can I give them, or what can I sell? And then create content around that. So the type of content you would create that would align with the product that you wanna sell would naturally be things like step by step tutorials, like why is it important? You would first explain why. And the reason why you explain why is when they get into it, you know, it’s really easy to start very enthusiastically. And as soon as you get into it, kinda lose your momentum and go, oh, this is a lot more work than I thought. Maybe I can just do this later. Maybe this is not a good time to do it. I I there’s a lot to learn here. And they get discouraged, and they don’t implement, and they don’t carry it through to the end.

Marisa Shadrick [00:09:36]:
So if you give them the why and you give them kind of the macro and the micro view, why this is going to be essential and be part of the building blocks and why it’s foundational for you to succeed, Then when they get in that messy middle, they’re gonna say, oh, this is really important. I need to stick with this because I know once I get through this on the other side, it’s gonna help me with the things that I’m building. So it’s very important to explain the why and give them that big picture. And that way, when it gets complicated, they’re not gonna get stuck. They’re gonna stick with it, and they’re gonna complete it. So another type of content you can create are q and a sessions. Like, you can curate some questions that people give you, and you can create posts or maybe audio, maybe video on common questions that people bring and unpack that and answer the questions. And if you do have a product that is like a community, you can invite them to your community.

Marisa Shadrick [00:10:32]:
And that way, you’re able to understand where they’re where they are in their journey and how quickly they’re learning and adapting and when they’re ready to go into the development stage. So anything that could be a beginner friendly guide would be a lead magnet that would be really helpful. So, again, this is the journey you’re bringing them on. You’re reverse engineering your product, and then you’re thinking around this product, understanding their awareness, understanding their experience level. I’m gonna create this type of content. If I create this type of content, what makes sense is create this type of lead magnet. So it begins to create what people call funnel, but funnel is so I don’t know. It’s kinda dehumanizing.

Marisa Shadrick [00:11:13]:
I just call it a journey, And it creates that journey and that way of them entering and becoming part of your ecosystem. So if you’re creating how to use, you could create a downloadable PDF guide, a checklist, something that is structured, because they need structure right now. They need structure. And when you think of your kids, when you were teaching them things, you would give them step 1, step 2, step 3. I can remember when I was teaching my granddaughter tire shoelace, it was the same thing. I got a piece of cardboard, and I put a couple holes in it, and I put the shoelace in there. And I was showing her, step 1, what to do with that shoelace. Step 2, what to and everybody does it different.

Marisa Shadrick [00:11:53]:
They do rabbit ears and everything. I had my own way, and I was showing her how to do it on a piece of cardboard with a shoelace so she wouldn’t be, like, working on her shoe and her shoelace. So she sat at the counter the kitchen counter, and it just sat there. And whenever she had a chance, she went over and she practiced, and she got really good at it. And just in the day or so, she was able to tie her shoelace. Was simple as that. But my point is it was step by step. So you can create a free resource, a PDF resource that gives them that structure, that step by step guide, so they can get those quick wins.

Marisa Shadrick [00:12:24]:
And that way, you grow your email list, which is a wonderful thing. Right? You grow your email list, and you can take them now down another path. Once they’re part of your ecosystem, you can write emails and then do some email marketing, and then lead them to the next step. Right? So that’s what we’re going to think about when we’re thinking about our audience when they’re in the introductory stage. Now say they’re a little bit more savvy, right? They’ve been doing this for a little while, and they’re in the development stage. And so we start introducing the maybe the how to’s and we explain things for them so they have that foundation, but now we need to see if we can implement a little bit of coaching of some sort in there because they’re in the development stage. It’s no different when, your kids were teenagers. Right? They knew how to tie their shoelace.

Marisa Shadrick [00:13:17]:
They knew how to ride a bike. They were already in school. They were learning how to do math and geography and everything else. They were learning how to drive a car. So we want them to be independent. So we’re not gonna be giving them how to on every single thing. We want them to start making decisions for themselves. Right? So development stage for your audience, just like it would be for parents and teenagers is very similar.

Marisa Shadrick [00:13:41]:
Their experience, they’ve achieved some success, but customization of systems and strategies is needed now. So they need to figure out how does this work for me. And that’s where the coaching component can come in. So you can do this with Zoom q and a calls, and so that’s a great way to do that. And then you kinda understand your market too depending on what questions. Those questions can be content you create. So you begin to get some ideas as to what type of content you’re gonna create for them as well. So it’s all about offering that blend of teaching and coaching and giving them some insights, some customization so they can implement what they’re learning.

Marisa Shadrick [00:14:23]:
So this audience now in the development stage, they’re gonna need a little bit more than the foundational. They’re gonna need a little bit more of advanced tips and that personalized approach because they’re trying to refine what they’re doing and they’re trying to do it better. So we’re helping them do it better. So they need a coach to help them through challenges and to encourage them to keep pushing forward and help them realize that a lot of things you’re going through is normal. That it’s no different for anyone else, that this is part of the process and that they’re okay. They’re doing fine. And so some content creation ideas would be more like advanced tips and tricks. Now, again, if it’s something that needs to be shown, you might consider video.

Marisa Shadrick [00:15:06]:
If it’s something that you can write about, you can just do articles or blog posts or audio, like a podcast. So it would give deeper insights and strategies for those who are ready to level up. You can also include, during the development stage, case studies so that people can hear what others, what their peers have done, and then realize, oh, okay. That is similar to my story that I can apply this to and it will help me as well. So case studies or success stories that inspire and reassures your audience that their struggle is just part of the growth process. And then you can also, share when they’re in development stage, they may need insights in systems and building teams or maybe outsourcing some work. So in the development stage, you think, okay, their awareness level and their experience level and where they are in this journey, I need to help them create systems and strategies and maybe ways that develop teams. Even if they can’t hire someone yet, maybe they can outsource some of the work that they’re doing so they don’t burn out.

Marisa Shadrick [00:16:18]:
So a lead magnet idea could be maybe best practices or common mistakes when they’re in the development stage. And then finally, when they’re more in the established stage, you become the trusted mentor. When they’re in the established stage, that means that maybe they’re not exactly where they want to be in their business, but they have the basics down. They know what they’re going to sell. They have a lead magnet that’s working for them. They know how to create a campaign. They know how to create an event, whether it’s a course or whether it’s a webinar. They know those things.

Marisa Shadrick [00:16:55]:
Right? So it’s no different than when we’re parenting and our kids have married and have kids. We don’t have to teach them everything. Right? We’re available and there for them when they want advice, when they come to us to get our opinion, to maybe compare notes with what they’re doing, or to problem solve something. And that’s kind of the role that we take with our audience too. So your established audience, even though they have things in place, there’s still room for growth and learning, And they need more of a mentor, they need more community, they need more networking to grow. So this is where you provide an opportunity for them to maybe be a part of something that you have that allows the community and the networking so there could be collaborations. This is maybe where they learn to partner, and maybe they have some type of affiliate partnership. So, again, this is all part of the growth, but we don’t wanna get too far ahead if they’re in the introductory stage because that would be overwhelming for them.

Marisa Shadrick [00:18:00]:
So if they’re in this stage, now it’s how do I scale? Do I pursue public speaking events? You know, what is it that I should do now to give my business more exposure? Should I write guest articles and or should I reach out and try to do collaborations and events with other peers? You know, what is it that I can do? So it’s more about taking what you’ve already established. You’ve got your products. You’ve got your content creation. You’ve got your routines, your systems. Now how do I put fire to this? How do I get more exposure? How do I amplify my business at to get more clients? And so this is where you become that mentor, and you help them more with the strategies that best fits them. It’s all customized. So some of the content creation ideas for the stage would be maybe helping them with SEO driven content. So helping them really dial that in so they start leveraging organic traffic.

Marisa Shadrick [00:18:58]:
And so they could do their own articles so they can maybe guest post as well. That would help them to boost their visibility. Some of it might be content that you create, maybe roundtable discussions where you bringing experts and you talk on a topic and content creation could be that, and it could be in written form too. It doesn’t have to be podcast, or it could be a podcast, or it could be a video. Whatever you decide you wanna do, you can have a roundtable discussion on a specific topic, bringing all of these different minds together, maybe 3 or 4 people together and talking on a topic, or you can have an expert guest. We see this a lot in podcast when they bring on guests onto the podcast, but you can have an expert guest in a lot of different ways. Even if you have a community, a membership, you can bring an expert guest to speak on a topic. You could do a webinar where you have an expert guest speak on something, and you have maybe some type of partnership affiliate partnership with them.

Marisa Shadrick [00:19:57]:
So there’s a lot of things that you can do with that too. And then, lead magnet, you could create some type of networking event. You know, there’s different things that you can do when you’re at this more advanced level. So you can see that knowing your audience is more than just demographic. Is it a man? Is it a woman? What age are they? You know, where do they live? You know, do they live in the United States? It’s more than that. And it’s more than just their emotional needs. It’s understanding what stage they’re in, their experience level, and really, keeping your finger on the pulse, which I’ve said before, really using a lot of polls. Anytime you have a gathering, kinda got out of the habit of this, but there was a point that every anytime I had a gathering on Zoom, I always would have a one question, survey.

Marisa Shadrick [00:20:47]:
And I would just be one question to rate it and give me a little comment. And it could be positive, it could be negative, whatever, but always trying to figure out how can I get feedback from this? And I do this even in my community. And my membership, I have already automated questions on Friday that drip out. And some of those questions, not all of them, is really trying to figure out what’s happening with my market and asking them something that will give me some insight. Don’t do it all the time, but I do periodically put those questions in there. So think about ways that you could have questions. It could be something in your email. It could be something after a little Zoom call.

Marisa Shadrick [00:21:30]:
It could be something after a group coaching call. Get some feedback so you understand where they are, and this could be really, really helpful for you. So what I hope you get out of this particular episode is just like parents understand and recognize their kids’ stages of growth, we need to understand our audience stage of growth, experience, background, where they are, whether they’re in the beginning stages development or they’re already established and tailor our content and our products for them. This is why many people end up segmenting because in any given day, you know, if they’ve been doing this for a while, they’re gonna have people that are already established, but they’re gonna have new people coming in that are in the beginning stage, and maybe they’ll even have some people kind of in the middle. So this is why when we begin to have lead magnets, we begin to tag those because if the lead magnet is really addressing those in the beginning stage, we wanna tag it so we can begin to segment and take them on this journey step by step without overwhelming them. Because the content that you produce for your email marketing can’t be the same for all of them if you’re having people in different stages. It just depends how your business is set up. But this is why we have different, what we call segments, different groups, depending on their experience, on the stage that they’re in, and we begin to separate those groups so that when we do send out emails, it makes sense to them if they’re in the introductory stage or if they’re the opposite extreme, they’re more established.

Marisa Shadrick [00:23:10]:
We can begin to send those emails out appropriately to each group. So it does get a little bit more complicated as we go because we’re bringing new people in or we should be bringing new people in, or maybe you decide you’re not gonna target the introductory stage audience anymore. You’re just gonna target those people that are established. You need to make sure your messaging is very, very clear. And that’s why when they say, what is it that you do and who is it that you serve? You need to be very, very clear on who you serve. Because if you start an introductory, you know that they’re gonna end up being in development, and then they’re gonna be more established, and then you gotta make a decision. Am I always going to be gearing up for the introductory group? What do I do with the other people? So you have to start making some decisions there. So hopefully this was helpful for you.

Marisa Shadrick [00:23:58]:
I just wanna make sure that whenever you’re creating content, there’s a a method to the madness that we understand why we’re doing it and who we’re targeting and why it’s important and how it fits into our business, and that we understand this very clearly because we are gonna create lead magnets and we’re gonna create content. We’re gonna do a lot of work and we’re trying to bring them to our products and services. So this clarity is really important so that we make sure that we provide the content that’s gonna serve our audience and help them thrive at whatever stage they’re in. Alrighty. Until next time. Take care. Bye bye.