One of the most common conversations I have with my branding and blog design clients is about figuring out more information about your audience. In this episode I’ll share two questions that will help you understand your audience on a deeper level than just demographics. 

Can’t listen to the episode? Read on for the transcript!

If you sometimes feel like knowing your audience is a bit of a mystery, you are not alone. Even if you know a few members of your audience or recognize them within your Instagram DM’s, you might not feel like you really know them. 

Do you know what your audience is struggling with? 

Do you know the right content to create to really help them solve that problem? 

I think for most people, you may feel like you are just guessing. That’s pretty common! 

When I updated my branding questionnaire that I use when I work with branding or custom blog design clients, I added a few questions to it that I learned from another designer. These two questions can really give you a picture of what your audience is struggling with and more importantly what their life might look after you help them. 

The first question to think about is how does your ideal reader spend their day right now? 

The second is how do they wish they spent their day? 

If their average day is spent juggling kids, errands and working, but they want to be spending their day with family and cooking for fun, that gives you an insight into a struggle they have that you can help with. 

Yes, you’re providing new recipes, but you can make sure that the recipes you share fit the lifestyle that they want. In that situation creating recipes that take hours to prepare wouldn’t make sense for that audience, because they want to be spending more time with family. 

Each of my clients from this year has a different answer to these questions. Each of them has a different story of what their audience struggles with. Some of them want more time with their family but don’t want to sacrifice flavor. Another audience wants to unwind after the workweek by baking homemade bread. For another client, her audience wants to enjoy a family meal, even when a family member has a food allergy. 

In just those three examples, they are each looking for recipes for a different reason. They are looking for their life to look differently, through the recipes they choose to make. 

It’s so important to understand the answer to these questions so that you can understand what your audience struggles with. 

In episode 34, I talked about discovering your audience by asking them questions in a few different ways. 

The example from that episode that will help the most with this question is getting your audience on the phone.

You may have to infer the answers to these questions or if you are comfortable with them, you can ask them directly! You can ask them what they wish they had more time for and that answer will help you understand their struggles that will give you a picture of how food may fit into their daily life.