Want to Improve Your Writing? Get Clear on Your Audience

Art is a dialogue between two parties: the creator and the audience. If you want to sharpen your craft, it’s crucial that you get crystal clear on who your audience is.

I could show you the most clever, engaging, expertly-written blog post you’ve ever seen, but if it’s on a topic you care nothing about, you won’t give a darn. For instance, I’m not a fan of football, so if a friend shares with me a world-class article about football, I probably won’t read it. I’m not the right audience!

Find your audience. For new blogs it’s OK to experiment, try some different angles, and mess around with a bunch of topics. But at some point, if you want to be successful as a writer, you must narrow your focus.

Write for them. Once you’ve decided what your focus is and who will appreciate what you have to say on those topics, write for them! Keep those imaginary faces at the forefront of your mind.

Grow with feedback. As your words begin to resonate with your audience, you’ll receive valuable feedback which you can incorporate into your writing. But be careful: it’s easy to get pulled sideways and lose track of your main focus. Listen to feedback, but stay true to your own compass.