#019 How To Connect With Your Audience

Great day. It's Personal Brand— it's Personal Brand Breakthrough day, and I'm trying to just get out of the way of cars that are coming by. And yes, I am always trying to seek clarity. So let's start this off by talking about messaging. So when you are building a business, it's really important to connect with your ideal audience. Isn't that what we're all really trying to do? So on today's episode of Personal Brand Breakthrough, I want to talk about how to make what you say online meaningful. Let's get started. So I'm up at the cottage right now, and I think what I'm going to do is actually maybe even just go for a little walk here as we talk. And today I want to talk about how to make your message resonate with your ideal audience. Um, and let me tell you a story about how this came to be and why I was inspired to talk about this. Because of an experience that happened, uh, just not too long ago, actually. My parents-in-law have a place up here and we were at their place, uh, just, you know, talking and chatting. And they have next door neighbors who are older in age, you know, they're in their late 80s. And so we went over to visit And as we were sitting there talking, it came to be, this conversation came up about technology, and so they were talking, this older couple was talking about how confused they were about their television and how they couldn't really kind of get it going. They didn't know how to get the right channels. I mean, we're talking in the late '80s, right? So, you know, technology is not necessarily their forte. Fine. So they said, you know, 'Could you help?' And I said, 'Yeah, let me take a look.' So I go inside and come to realize that there are 3 different converters, like 3 different clickers for different boxes, and there's lots of different technology and cords and satellite box. You've got the TV, and then there's an old VCR and a DVD player and all this stuff. Well, no wonder they were confused. So I went in and I said, 'Okay, no problem, I'll help you out.' So I started clicking around and Didn't take me too long to figure out that they were using the wrong clicker. And so we got that sorted out and he came in and said, oh, can you show me how to use it? And I said, sure. So all you do is you click this and here's the order in which you do it in and what have you. So that's fine. And so we get that all sorted out and he was so happy. He's like, you're such a great teacher and thank you so much for taking the time to show me all this stuff. Now here's why this is an important story for this particular topic. He didn't know how to use the clicker, the converter. He didn't know which buttons to press. To me, it's, it's kind of second nature. To me, it's second nature, but not to him. And I think that that's a parallel that we have to make in our businesses and in our communication style when we're talking to our audiences. So our audiences don't always know what we know and the things that we take for granted. So in this case, I kind of take for granted that I'm pretty good with that kind of stuff. Like, I know what to click and where to click, but not everybody knows. So in your business, as you communicate your messages, whether you're doing video, whether you're writing copy or making a sales page or whatever that is that's around the marketing of your business, you have to be mindful that there's a, there's a thing called the curse of knowledge. I don't know if you've ever heard of this. I actually just learned about this not too long ago. The curse of knowledge is a cognitive bias that occurs when an individual, when other, when an individual communicating with other people unknowingly assumes that the others have the background to understand what they're talking about, right? Does that make sense? So, It's basically saying that don't assume that other people know what you're talking about. Sometimes we have a tendency because we're so close to something, our field of expertise, our knowledge, to speak over top of our audience. So today I want to talk about how you can give meaning to what it is that you're expressing online and 3 tips on how you can actually really truly connect with your audience. Okay, so we're talking about truly connecting with them, speaking their language, and not having that curse of knowledge, right? We know what we know, but not other people do. Not everyone knows your industry. Let's say you are a health coach, as an example. Well, you might know the ins and outs of nutrition. You might know the ins and outs of working out in the gym, and you know what all the machines are called, and then the Nautilus this and that, and the kettlebell bell bells and the whatever, you know. But to someone who's new to starting to work out, they don't know what those things are. So we need to speak their language. So let me give you 3 tips. And by the way, if you have any questions around this, you can leave a comment on the Facebook video here because I broadcast this live on Facebook, and then later on I'll put it on YouTube and you can also ask questions there if you happen to be watching on YouTube. Feel free if there's anything around this topic that you want some advice on and some clarity around, please just comment. I look at all the comments and I'm happy to get back to you with, with an answer. But what I want to share with you really now is 3 tips on how you can connect better with your audience and to make your messaging more meaningful to the people who are watching. And the first thing is don't make assumptions. Don't make assumptions about what people know and don't know. If you've done the work to really understand your ideal audience really, really well, then you should have some clarity around what their knowledge is around your topic. So don't make assumptions about what they know about your topic so that you, you know, you can avoid really speaking over them if you don't make assumptions. Number 2 is to use examples. So in your content marketing, you can use examples that really help to better support what it is that you're talking about. Because a lot of times people who are looking to connect with you and they're trying to understand where you're coming from, they understand examples best, best. So for example, it could be a testimonial of someone who's worked with you, or maybe again, it's a video. Video is a really great— that's my world, right? A video is a great way to communicate with someone and to show something rather than to explain it. So sometimes we can use the imagery and the moving the moving pictures to better tell the story and communicate that than through words. So using examples is a really powerful way to connect with your audience. And number 3 is to think like a newbie. Think like somebody who's new to whatever it is that you do, right? They might not understand the ins and outs of your industry, and your job as a marketer is to help them better understand how you can help them to achieve that transformation or whatever it is that they're looking to do. So thinking like a newbie and putting yourself in the shoes of that person, and it's hard to do because we have the curse of knowledge, right? We have the curse of knowledge. We very quickly forget what it was like to be a beginner. We forget