How to Identify Your Target Audience to Make Writing Easier & Better

As a healing, helping, or wellness professional, your mission goes well beyond just offering services. It’s about transforming lives, fostering growth, and igniting hope. But there’s a marketing challenge you, like many others, face: crafting high-quality content that genuinely resonates. It’s one thing to have a wealth of knowledge and a heart full of passion. It’s another to communicate that effectively to those who need it most.

The reason most have difficulty creating compelling content is they’ve not answered the fundamental question: How to identify your target audience in writing? Fully answering this question is pivotal. By focusing on your specific audience, you don’t merely make writing more straightforward; you ensure that your content attracts those seeking guidance in their wellness journey.

For healing and wellness professionals, the connection with the audience isn’t just a marketing strategy. It’s an extension of the care you provide. So, you must understand and connect with those individuals who stand to benefit most from your expertise.

What is a Target Audience?

Let’s make sure we’re all on the same page by starting off with a definition. You can think of your target market as your tribe – those special people who, when they hear what you have to say, nod their heads thinking, “This speaks to me.” They’re not just anybody; they’re the ones whose lives light up with the solutions you offer.

Now, if you’re in the healing, helping, and wellness space, this gets a touch more magical. Your target audience isn’t just browsing for the next fancy product. They’re searching for a solution, a guide, maybe even a transformation. When you truly write and create content that speaks directly to these people, they won’t just skim or scroll past your content. Instead, they’ll feel it, embrace it, and choose to follow (and potentially work with you) on their journey of well-being.

Now, if you’ve been doing any other reading or research on “target audience”, you’ve probably run across a lot of other terms. Content marketing, like most niches, has its jargon. What can make it confusing is that there are multiple terms that all mean about the same thing. Some of the terms you may have run across include “ideal clients”, “core demographic”, “user persona”, and “target market”.

I think of it like this, a target audience by any other name is still just a target market. In other words, don’t be confused by the jargon.

Why Do You Need a Target Audience?

If you’re tired of writing and publishing or posting marketing content that goes largely ignored, you know at a gut level why you need a target audience. To create content that resonates, you need to deeply understand your target market. And when you don’t focus on them during the writing process, your content marketing will fall flat.

Imagine you’re a top-notch physiotherapist. You’ve crafted a brilliant piece on spinal health. However, the only eyes it’s getting on social media are those of teenagers looking for fitness tips. They’ll scroll past, not because your content isn’t gold, but simply because it’s not what they’re interested in.

You already know that every individual walking into your clinic, yoga studio, or therapy session is unique.

They’ve got their own stories, dreams, and maybe even a couple of dragons to slay. When you know your target audience, you can tailor your marketing messages to resonate with their personal tales, making them feel seen and understood.

We all know time is our most precious resource. So, instead of casting a wide net and hoping for the best, focusing on your target audience is like picking the ripest fruit from the tree. It streamlines your efforts, saving you time and energy, and supercharges your growth trajectory.

When your message consistently resonates with a particular group, they don’t just consume your content. They become advocates, cheerleaders, and loyal supporters. It’s not just about securing a client or patient. That won’t assist you in having the impact you want to have on people’s lives. Instead, it’s about building a community that cherishes and champions your expertise.

In other words, by taking the time to identify your target audience BEFORE you, or your team, begins writing any marketing materials you’ll be better positioned to get the attention of your audience, craft personal connections, make your writing easier and better, and build a loyal community.

5 Steps to Identify Your Target Audience

Now that you understand the driving forces for identifying your target audience before writing another piece of content, it’s time to start putting together the information you need to describe them.

1. Dive Deep with Demographics

Demographics are the basic details about your audience like age, gender, location, occupation, and income. Knowing these can shape how you tailor your content.

There are 3 basic ways in which you can gather this information.

• Surveys & Feedback Forms

  Use tools like SurveyMonkey or Google Forms to capture information directly from your audience. Offer incentives for completion to boost response rates.

• Website Analytics

  Platforms like Google Analytics can provide insights about your website visitors. Monitor these for patterns in demographic data.

• Direct Conversations

  Encourage open discussions during consultations or workshops. These insights can often capture nuances analytics might miss.

2. Understand Psychographics

Psychographics describe your target audience’s personality, habits, hobbies, values, and more. You can get a better understanding of your audience’s psychographics by engagement analysis and direct feedback.

Engagement analysis is looking at which posts or topics get the most interaction on your website and social media channels. If you’ve got a podcast or a YouTube channel, they can also provide a wealth of engagement information. When you know what gets the most attention, you have more information about your audience’s preferences and values.

You can get feedback from your patients or clients in various ways. You might have them complete a feedback form after a service, ask for their comments on your content, ask for a review, or have the individual who checks them out ask specific questions to elicit feedback. Whichever format you choose, the goal is to have your clients or patients voice their opinions and feelings about your services and/or content.

3. Identify Their Challenges

This may seem overly simplistic, but you’d be amazed at how many practices don’t explicitly know what the primary problems their clients/patients look to them to solve.

As a wellness professional, you’re in the business of solving problems. It’s imperative that you know exactly what your target audience struggles with so that whatever you choose to write acknowledges their struggle.

A few ways you can gather this information are client interviews, reviewing past clients, and online forums. I find that most practices I work with are inclined to think they already know the top challenges their patients face. However, if their writing isn’t resonating with their target audience, then I’m suspicious that they don’t know it in as much detail as they could.

Most find it eye-opening to actually work through the process because they suddenly understand how their target audience actually talks about their problems.

4. Listen to Feedback

Constructive criticism can also help refine your content and better understand your target audience. Again, this is fairly easy to do.

You can use feedback tools on your website or in the delivery of your services that allow easy feedback submission.

You can also keep an eye on review sites relevant to your profession to understand the concerns and kudos clients might have.

5. Examine Current Clientele

Your current clients can offer insights into the larger audience you can attract. By periodically surveying your clientele, you can identify why they chose you and what they hope to achieve. You can also ask about the content pieces you’ve written that are most engaging to your current clients.

Crafting a Comprehensive Target Audience Description

Once you’ve gathered all the necessary information and insights about your target audience, it’s time to put them together in a coherent and detailed description. Which is really easy for me to say and could leave you with some big questions. To help make sure you understand what your target audience description could look like, let’s go through an example.

A comprehensive target audience description doesn’t just list the facts. It paints a vivid picture of a specific individual or group of individuals who are the prime beneficiaries of your content and services.

Here’s a sample structure of a target audience description:

Demographic Details

Start with the basics. This includes age, gender, location, occupation, and possibly income bracket.

Example: “Females, aged 30-40, based in urban areas, working in mid-level corporate roles, with an annual income of $50k-$70k.”

Psychographic Insights

Dive into their mindset. Their habits, hobbies, values, and even their fears and aspirations.

Example: “Values holistic wellness, frequently attends yoga classes, seeks balance in life and work, and is concerned about long-term health.”

Challenges & Pain Points

What problems are they facing that your content or services can address?

Example: “Struggles with chronic stress, has difficulty in finding time for self-care, seeks guidance on natural healing techniques.”

Goals & Aspirations

What are they hoping to achieve?

Example: “Aims to find more balance in daily life, wishes to adopt a more natural lifestyle, wants to reduce reliance on medications.”

Content Preferences

How do they consume content? Do they prefer videos, blogs, podcasts, or eBooks?

Example: “Prefers reading informative blog posts, follows wellness influencers on Instagram, and occasionally listens to health podcasts.”

Putting this all together, your target audience description might read something like this:

“Females in their 30s, based in urban environments and working in corporate roles. They value holistic wellness, regularly engage in activities like yoga, and seek a work-life balance. They face challenges like chronic stress and a lack of time for self-care, but they aspire to live more naturally and reduce their reliance on medications. In terms of content, they are avid blog readers and follow wellness influencers on social platforms.”

Having such a detailed and vivid description empowers you to craft content that speaks directly to their needs, aspirations, and preferences. It’s like having a conversation with a friend: the more you know about them, the more meaningful and relevant your discussions become.

The Power of a Singular Persona

Many professionals, especially in the content marketing realm, find immense value in creating a singular, detailed persona to represent their broader target audience. Think of this persona as an embodiment of your typical client or reader. By personifying the collective attributes, challenges, and aspirations of your audience into one “character”, you can achieve a sharper focus in your content creation.

Imagine writing or crafting content for a friend. You know their likes, dislikes, challenges, and aspirations. This intimate knowledge allows for deeper, more tailored communication.

The same applies to content. By picturing this singular persona — let’s call her “Wellness Wendy” — you have a clear image of who you’re speaking to.

Wellness Wendy

Name: Wendy Williams

Age: 34

Demographics:

• Location: Lives in a bustling urban environment, within a downtown apartment complex.
• Occupation: Corporate role as a Senior Marketing Manager at a reputable tech company.
• Income: Approximately $68K annually.

Background: Wendy graduated with a degree in business management and swiftly climbed the corporate ladder. She’s been with her current company for over a decade, earning respect and a comfortable living.

Psychographic Insights:

• Hobbies & Interests: Wendy has been practicing yoga for five years and often attends weekend retreats to rejuvenate. She enjoys cooking with organic ingredients and often experiments with vegan recipes.
• Values: She’s a strong advocate for holistic wellness, believing that the mind, body, and spirit are deeply interconnected. Wendy is also eco-conscious, supporting sustainable brands and products.

Challenges:

• The hustle of corporate life, deadlines, and managing her team often results in chronic stress.
• Wendy grapples with carving out time for herself amidst work and social commitments.
• She’s started to experience mild anxiety, prompting her to explore natural remedies over medications.

Goals & Aspirations:

• Wendy’s primary goal is to achieve a harmonious work-life balance.
• She’s keen on reducing her stress levels and aspires to incorporate more holistic wellness practices into her routine.
• Eventually, Wendy dreams of taking a sabbatical to travel and join a wellness retreat overseas.

Content Preferences:

• Wendy starts her day scrolling through her favorite wellness blogs and catching up on new posts. She’s a regular follower of several influencers on Instagram, often turning to them for inspiration, product recommendations, and wellness tips.
• Podcasts have recently piqued her interest, especially those discussing mindfulness, yoga, and holistic health.

Then, when you draft content, you’re addressing Wendy’s concerns, answering her questions, and providing solutions to her challenges. This technique ensures that even though you’re writing for many, your content feels personal and directly relevant to each person who consumes it.

Furthermore, having a clearly defined persona like “Wellness Wendy” can streamline content planning, ensuring consistency in tone, style, and relevance. Every time you’re in doubt, simply ask, “What would Wendy want to know?” or “How can I help Wendy with this issue?” This approach not only humanizes your audience but also makes the content creation process more intuitive and empathetic.

After you’ve created your target audience description and singular persona, you’ve got a great foundation for writing and creating content. However, understanding your audience isn’t a one-and-done exercise. It’s an evolving journey.

As the wellness landscape continues to shift, so will the needs and desires of those seeking your expertise. So, you’ll want to periodically revisit how you’ve identified your target audience and make appropriate tweaks to ensure your writing and content remain relevant.

Illustrating the Impact of Target Audiences on Writing

Now, let’s take a peek at some examples that can help you see the profound impact different target audiences can have on writing.

First, imagine you offer a holistic approach to mental wellness through both talk therapy and yoga meditation.

Let’s see how this business might approach blog titles for two different target audiences.

Title for Busy Corporate Professionals:

“Stress-Busting Yoga: The 15-Minute Office Routine for a Clearer Mind”

This title recognizes the time constraints and high-stress environments of corporate professionals. It offers a quick and efficient solution they can integrate into their tight schedules.

Title for Parents of Teenagers:

“Bridging Gaps with Yoga: Finding Common Ground with Your Teen through Meditation”

Here, the emphasis shifts to using yoga as a tool for bonding and understanding, acknowledging the challenges parents might face in connecting with their adolescent children.

The difference between the titles for the two target audiences is profound.

Now let’s see how this business might approach social media posts about a mindfulness workshop for two different target audiences.

Post for Senior Citizens:

“Remember the calm of yesteryears? Dive into our Mindfulness Workshop and rediscover that serenity. Perfectly tailored for our golden generation, let’s embrace peace together.”

This post pulls at the nostalgia strings, making it relatable for seniors by reminding them of the tranquility of the past.

Post for College Students during Exam Season:

“Drowning in exam stress? Breathe. Join our Mindfulness Workshop and find your focus. Ace those papers with a calm mind!”

This post recognizes the immense pressure students face during exams, offering them a potential solution to better focus and perform.

The thing I really want you to notice is that the workshop is the same. It’s just the target audience that makes the message so very different.

Learning to craft content for a specific target audience can transform the effectiveness of your message. It’s not just about what you’re saying or writing, but also how and to whom you’re saying it.

Hopefully, now you have a much greater appreciation of how vital it is to identify your target audience and have the skills to begin creating your first target audience description to make your content creation and writing easier.

One of the concerns my clients often have when we go through this process is losing potential business by being too narrow in their description. What I explain to them is that although it might seem that you’re narrowing down your potential audience, it’s really about leveling up your communication so that you stand out for your unique understanding of your audience’s problems and your unique way of helping them resolve those problems.  

Need a little or a lot of help identifying your target audience? We can help. The first step is to schedule a consultation with one of our content marketing experts.