A brand to all, is a brand to none.

Welcome back to Digital Gravity 💪

Every Friday, we share strategies to help you grow your business with content marketing and reach ‘critical mass’ in the great online game.

This week, Katie shares an important lesson in “knowing your audience”

Enjoy 👇

⚡️Don’t Dull Down ⚡️

By Katie Conover

“Let’s keep our beliefs a little vague, so we can reach the most people.”

I’ve come across this multiple times through my career as a writer in the creative world and in the marketing world.

“Don’t make anyone mad.”

Sure, maybe that’s the case if we’re selling cookies at a bake sale. 

But for those of us who are trying to create something worthwhile for an audience that cares, we need to be strategic in our released content. 

No one wants fluff. 

I’ve said it before, but authenticity is worth way more to people than mollycoddling. 

A strong audience that backs your beliefs will back you forever. We’ve seen it happen in our Liquid Death deep dive.

And how do you construct a concrete audience? Speak your truth. 

The late great Kurt Vonnegut once said, “Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.”

I know he’s giving a creative writing tip, but the sentiment still stands. No one is going to listen to basic takes from a generic company/thought leader. 

They’ve heard it all before. They’re going to move on.

But if you speak like you’re talking to one person, you’ll end up resonating with tons. 

!!! Story from my personal life time !!!

I got my master’s thesis notes back last Wednesday.

Two professors read my thesis, a 90-page sci-fi/adventure novella. 

One of the two tore it to shreds. He didn’t find any of it funny. He didn’t get any of it. His overall note was basically ‘scrap this’.

The other one… loved reading it and is excited for draft 2. 

He noted every part that made him laugh. 

He sketched all the characters for me to show me what they looked like to him.

He was my target audience. 

And yes, there is a world where I wrote it, so both professors would like it. But then they’d both like it.

In no world could they both love it, because they’re two completely different people with completely different tastes and beliefs. 

And if someone loves something, they’ll stick with you. They’ll remember you. 

No one is loyal to something they just ‘like’.

So, yes, at first, when I read the harsh notes from the first professor, I was hurt.

But, after reading the excited thoughts from the second, I learned something.

If you throw out your true heart, the right people will grab hold. 

So say how you really feel. 

Your audience may divide, but it will grow in the way that matters.

–Katie