When it comes to communication, no aspect of the dialogue between producer and consumer is more important than this: language. And yet, too often, we are so busy speaking our own personal language – whether it’s inter-office market-speak or fresh from our MBA business-ese – that we alienate our audience by not speaking their language.
Communication can’t be a one-way street; there must be a dialogue between both parties if either one is to benefit. So part of measuring the distance between you and your audience is learning to speak their language.
Hear me now: this DOES not mean grabbing a few buzzwords or soon-to-be-outdated slang and sprinkling them through your ad or Web copy. Nothing screams desperate like using words, phrases, or terms you don’t understand – or that aren’t authentic to your company’s message. Here’s a hint: If you’re using a term on your site that you wouldn’t use in conversation without feeling phony, delete it. You’re dealing with a very savvy online community that can see through a phony faster than you can say “my bad.”
The key is to speak on the same level with your audience, not too high or too low. Put your copy on a diet: cut out the fat phrases, starve the bloated sentences, and serve up fewer five-dollar words.
To make sure you’re speaking the audience’s language, read your copy out loud. Do you stumble? Falter? What words stop you up? Eliminate them. Don’t talk down to your audience, but speak to them in language they are comfortable using themselves.
To help you communicate more effectively with your audience, follow these five helpful hints:
1. Read what they read: Every demographic has a canon of literature unto itself. Sports lovers have their bibles, knitters read what appeals to them, aspiring actresses follow all the Hollywood trade papers, and skater boys devour their skateboard mags faster than their wheels eat up the concrete. When you’ve isolated your audience, go one step further and identify their reading material of choice; then read it.
2. Hear what they hear: What radio stations appeal to your core audience? Is it talk radio for your target CEOs? Is it punk rock for your surfer dudes? Is it adult contemporary for your stay-at-home moms or maybe golden oldies for the Boomer set? If you don’t know, you can’t hear; if you can’t hear, you can’t speak effectively.
3. Watch what they watch: Get to know the viewing habits of your bull’s eye audience. Know when they are tuning in – and to what programs. Are they watching ESPN or HGTV? Are they fans of MTV or more inclined toward CNN? Who are the celebrities that appeal to them? For instance, if you don’t know the heavy hitters of the knitters, like Lily Chin and Debbie Bliss, how can you understand why they are so appealing to fiber fanatics?
4. Know what they know: Every set, subset and sub-subset of the American public has a core set of knowledge they subscribe to. Fishermen live by the tide charts and seasonal ebb and flow of Mother Nature. Nurses get plenty of rest in advance of a full moon or holiday weekend because injuries are more frequent during these periods, piling up the patient count. As you read, watch, and hear the materials your audience devours, isolate those truisms that are repeated over and over and know them by heart. When you know what they know, you can finally speak authoritatively.
5. Go where they go: What does your audience do? Where do they do it? What is it about this place or these places that appeals to them? Can you go there? Or at least learn about these destinations? The more time you can spend in the natural environment of your audience, the more comfortable you become there – and with them.
When you follow these five simple tips, you will better communicate with your audience in ways that sound realistic – and not regurgitated. If effective communication is key to reaching your audience, then knowing your audience is the key to effective communication.
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