How To Write for Your Audience (And Find Out Who They Are in the First Place)

Today you’re going to share the news with your best friend, and also with your manager at your current job. Imagine the conversations you would have with each of them. Which details would you emphasize? Would your rationale be different as you explain reasons why you’re making the move? What would your tone of voice be for each conversation?

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Chances are you’d excitedly give your friend all of the personal details, like how much more money you’ll be making or how bored you’ve been in your role. But when you share the news with your manager, you simply say that you have a new career opportunity you’d like to pursue and emphasize how you’ll help ensure a smooth transition.

The bottom line is: The information you share and the way you deliver your message changes drastically depending on your audience.

So, who is your audience in writing? Your audience is your reader(s). Tailoring your writing to your audience is the difference between content that gets ignored versus content that invites more engagement as it moves them to feel, think, or act in the intended way.

Here are three tips to help you write for your audience and make your content more relatable:

1. Know your audience. In order to write something that resonates with your audience, you need to know who they are. Knowing your audience helps you make decisions about what information to share, which details to include, and the tone you use. What’s important to them? What frustrates them? What are they worried about? What do they enjoy? How much do they already know about the topic? If you’re not sure, ask! Create a poll or send or post a message asking your audience to share a little bit about themselves so you can get to know them better. When you have a general idea of who your audience is, create a persona—an imaginary person that embodies the audience as a whole. Give this persona a name, age, describe their family, their career, their hobbies, and what might motivate them to want to hear from you. When you write, imagine that you’re writing to this one person. That will help make your content and language decisions much, much easier.

2. Be helpful. Now that you have a clear idea of who your audience is and what they want, how can you help them find, get, or achieve it? Be specific. Suppose you have a blog teaching beginning cooking skills, and you’re writing a new post sharing a recipe for a simple beef stew. In your research you came across person after person asking how to cut an onion without tearing up. Because you know that your audience wants this information, you include onion-chopping tips in your recipe instructions—and now your blog post is helpful in the specific way your audience needs it to be.

3. Be personable. Use language your audience understands. Tell a favorite story, share a personal experience, or talk about the impact of a recent event. No matter how personal or factual your content is, make sure it sounds like it came from a human, not a robot. Let your warmth come through in what you write, so your readers feel an easy connection to you. Use a built-in editing tool to scan your document for readability, tone (casual vs. formal), and concise language.

Knowing your audience is the key to delivering helpful, successful content and deepening your connection. Take the time to learn about your audience before you write, and check in from time to time to make sure you’re still hitting the mark. Then watch as your audience becomes even more engaged.